Varuna

Although people are complaining about modern video games being too simple, you have to remember that they used to be insanely difficult back in the day. That may have even discouraged many people from giving them one more chance. Hence, a balance between the two would be the best choice, or at least a way for the players to choose how tough the experience should be.

Varuna is a retro shoot ‘em up that has no intention of being easy on the players. Instead, it tries very hard to make you give up from the first few minutes. Everything about the game is designed to be frustrating and difficult to anticipate, so that you’ll have to base your strategies on trial and error most of the time. Even still, the graphics are gorgeous, and it’s always nice to remember the good old times.

There is not much of a story in place as of right now, but the game is still a prototype at this stage. You just have to get to the end of the level and kill everything that moves, although avoiding the danger is an option as well. The enemies are alien in nature, but since they only attack you on sight and give no sign of intelligence, it’s probably better to just shoot them.

To stay in tune with the games it tries to emulate, Varuna works best with a controller, otherwise you might have a hard time staying alive. Once you connect one and start playing, you’ll quickly remember how nimble your fingers used to be, and how they don’t seem to work the same now. On the other hand, the controls are very responsive and accurate, so you’ll only die because of your mistakes.

As far as the visual quality is concerned, the basic graphics are reminiscent of a simpler era in video games, back when 16-bit color palettes were the norm. The level design is actually quite mesmerizing and interesting, at least if you do not mind the lack of smooth gradients. Most of the soundtrack is alert as well, albeit some tracks just sound like they do not belong here.

In the end, Varuna is quite clearly not done yet, and there is plenty of work left to be done. However, if the developers keep doing a good job and stay on track, this could turn into quite the fan favorite.