Drainus was announced and launched the evening of last Sunday at less than €15 on Steam, so I took the plunge. It's done by Team Ladybug, developers of Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth, so even in the worst case scenario, the sprite art would have been good.
In fact, Drainus is one step above Deedlit when it comes to sprites, and more than once the game made me go "wow": from the multi-layered close-up shot of the Drainus (your ship) taking off, to the slight perspective shift in larger enemies and terrain, to the often gigantic bosses, rotating enemies, and lovingly animated purple beams, this game is a feast for the eyes. Upon launching the game you are asked to choose a resolution, from 640x480 to 2560x1440 plus fullscreen. On a 4K monitor sprites are sharp with no smudges whatsoever and the game keeps a constant 60fps pace. Sound effects are well used, with plenty of cues for your ship's status, though I don't remember any of the BGMs, mostly because eveything is drowned out by the sound of explosions. You can buy the digital soundtrack but I decided not to.
Playing the game lives up to its graphics. Drainus is a scifi horizontal shooter with a permanent weapon system you can mix and match as you see fit. Enemies drop blue crystals, which fill energy capsules. Energy capsules are used to buy weapons, shields, and enhance the ship. These must be equipped into weapon slots; you start with two slots, but you can buy more, up to 5.
At its lowest power setting, the Drainus only fires the weapon in slot 1; collect a power up (dropped by red enemies, like in Gradius) and the weapon assigned to the second slot powers up; and so on.
Get hit and you lose a slot. Get hit at the last slot, and you lose a life.
Some weapons also increase their firepower with more slots open: for example, you fire two homing missiles from slot 2; power up slot 3, and missiles become four. I have yet to unlock many weapons (you also have different types of bombs), so this will require a bit more testing. Available weapons include 3-ways, ground-following missiles, options with various behaviours (they are the same as Graidus V), lasers, wave beams, backward shots (multiple types), attack power up, and more.
The idea is to change your loadout depending on the situation, but every level and boss are designed so you can clear them with whatever you have available, though some weapons will give you an advantage.
Bombs work on a rechargable gauge, and the type you start with is a focused forward-firing laser (think Border Down) that makes you invicible as long as it's active. Oh, you can also increase the duration of the bomb gauge.
And mechanics are not done: the Drainus can absorb (or drain...I think you get it) energy attacks. Release the absorb button and you'll fire a set of homing lasers, their power based on how much energy you drained. Like in Deedlit, this mechanic is often used to pass through otherwise impassable obstacles, and many bosses require a clever use of this absorption mechanic to be defeated. Enemies also fire physical bullets that cannot be absorbed, and those are easily recognisable by their red outline.
You can absorb as long as you have meter (different from the bomb's own), and there are both visual and aural cues when you stored max energy and when the meter is near depletion. By halfway through the game you'll find yourself constantly absorbing energy and discharging lasers, switching to normal weapons (which cannot fire when absorbing) when the absorb meter is low.
Your ship doesn't show an hitbox, and especially in more "piloted" sections it's easy to hit walls that bring your slot level down, and Team Ladybug really love their user-activated spinning gears, which are not exactly the best fit in a game like this. Luckily there aren't many and colliding with them just takes a slot away (unless you are down to your last one).
Dying will put you right back into the action with a couple of power ups left where you originally died, and continuing...well, I don't really know, because in normal mode the game isn't exactly challenging. The slot system provides plenty of protection before losing a life, and the game seems rather generous with extends. With the exception of one boss where I was a little bit lost on how to kill, I never found a particularly difficult section, though I did take plenty of hits. But again, slots act as lives of sort, and once you have unlock certain equipment, being down to the last slot doesn't mean you are left completely defenceless.
There's also a score multiplier but there's no explanation on how it works, but I guess it's simply based on killed enemies between getting hit (or even losing a life).
At my first go, I was able to reach the halfway point with ease, and after...well, I won't spoil that. Drainus' story might not be particularly original or engaging, but there are a couple of very nice touches, especially in the beginning. I think you'll be able to replay stages in your save to collect more energy capsules to unlock all the weapons and to find the data disks that further expand the story, but I'll have to come back about that.
So yeah. Drainus: get it.
In fact, Drainus is one step above Deedlit when it comes to sprites, and more than once the game made me go "wow": from the multi-layered close-up shot of the Drainus (your ship) taking off, to the slight perspective shift in larger enemies and terrain, to the often gigantic bosses, rotating enemies, and lovingly animated purple beams, this game is a feast for the eyes. Upon launching the game you are asked to choose a resolution, from 640x480 to 2560x1440 plus fullscreen. On a 4K monitor sprites are sharp with no smudges whatsoever and the game keeps a constant 60fps pace. Sound effects are well used, with plenty of cues for your ship's status, though I don't remember any of the BGMs, mostly because eveything is drowned out by the sound of explosions. You can buy the digital soundtrack but I decided not to.
Playing the game lives up to its graphics. Drainus is a scifi horizontal shooter with a permanent weapon system you can mix and match as you see fit. Enemies drop blue crystals, which fill energy capsules. Energy capsules are used to buy weapons, shields, and enhance the ship. These must be equipped into weapon slots; you start with two slots, but you can buy more, up to 5.
At its lowest power setting, the Drainus only fires the weapon in slot 1; collect a power up (dropped by red enemies, like in Gradius) and the weapon assigned to the second slot powers up; and so on.
Get hit and you lose a slot. Get hit at the last slot, and you lose a life.
Some weapons also increase their firepower with more slots open: for example, you fire two homing missiles from slot 2; power up slot 3, and missiles become four. I have yet to unlock many weapons (you also have different types of bombs), so this will require a bit more testing. Available weapons include 3-ways, ground-following missiles, options with various behaviours (they are the same as Graidus V), lasers, wave beams, backward shots (multiple types), attack power up, and more.
The idea is to change your loadout depending on the situation, but every level and boss are designed so you can clear them with whatever you have available, though some weapons will give you an advantage.
Bombs work on a rechargable gauge, and the type you start with is a focused forward-firing laser (think Border Down) that makes you invicible as long as it's active. Oh, you can also increase the duration of the bomb gauge.
And mechanics are not done: the Drainus can absorb (or drain...I think you get it) energy attacks. Release the absorb button and you'll fire a set of homing lasers, their power based on how much energy you drained. Like in Deedlit, this mechanic is often used to pass through otherwise impassable obstacles, and many bosses require a clever use of this absorption mechanic to be defeated. Enemies also fire physical bullets that cannot be absorbed, and those are easily recognisable by their red outline.
You can absorb as long as you have meter (different from the bomb's own), and there are both visual and aural cues when you stored max energy and when the meter is near depletion. By halfway through the game you'll find yourself constantly absorbing energy and discharging lasers, switching to normal weapons (which cannot fire when absorbing) when the absorb meter is low.
Your ship doesn't show an hitbox, and especially in more "piloted" sections it's easy to hit walls that bring your slot level down, and Team Ladybug really love their user-activated spinning gears, which are not exactly the best fit in a game like this. Luckily there aren't many and colliding with them just takes a slot away (unless you are down to your last one).
Dying will put you right back into the action with a couple of power ups left where you originally died, and continuing...well, I don't really know, because in normal mode the game isn't exactly challenging. The slot system provides plenty of protection before losing a life, and the game seems rather generous with extends. With the exception of one boss where I was a little bit lost on how to kill, I never found a particularly difficult section, though I did take plenty of hits. But again, slots act as lives of sort, and once you have unlock certain equipment, being down to the last slot doesn't mean you are left completely defenceless.
There's also a score multiplier but there's no explanation on how it works, but I guess it's simply based on killed enemies between getting hit (or even losing a life).
At my first go, I was able to reach the halfway point with ease, and after...well, I won't spoil that. Drainus' story might not be particularly original or engaging, but there are a couple of very nice touches, especially in the beginning. I think you'll be able to replay stages in your save to collect more energy capsules to unlock all the weapons and to find the data disks that further expand the story, but I'll have to come back about that.
So yeah. Drainus: get it.
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