Stasis Core

It would seem like shoot ‘em ups are not as popular as they used to be, mainly because none of the big studios would touch the genre anymore. However, indie developers are constantly releasing new material, and some of the games are quite good. Not only that, but there are also many new gameplay mechanics that work like a charm and inspire other developers to come up with their own ideas.

Stasis Core is a 2D retro shooter in which you are challenged to defeat an enemy in sixty seconds, all while avoiding the bullets and staying alive yourself. It’s not a very complex game, but the gameplay is alert enough to keep you engaged, and the difficulty level is high enough to warrant multiple tries until you are able to deal with the unruly cube.

Speaking of which, your enemy is some sort of giant cube that shoots bullets in a variety of patterns, although not much is said about the setting or the story. There’s no information on the main character either, although you don’t need to know too much anyway. All that matters is that she is trying to destroy the cube, and for some reason it must be done in sixty seconds or less.

You can’t pick up better weapons along the way, but you can improve the one you currently have by shooting as regularly as possible. There’s a bar that fills the more you shoot, and your weapon transforms into a shotgun capable of firing multiple bullets at once. On the other hand, it goes back to default if you stop shooting, which is a neat way of forcing you to stand and fight.

You can also take advantage of a shield that protects you from bullets for a few seconds, although it drains pretty quickly. As with the weapon, you can recharge the shield by shooting more, which means that everything is designed to keep you alert at all times. On the other hand, the level design is actually just a black background with a platform, even if the retro graphics look pretty nice.

At the end of the day, it’s the non-stop action that makes Stasis Core so addictive, even if it features so little content. However, the foundation is solid enough for a proper game to be built upon it in the future.