Hello everyone! I’m thrilled to announce that Xenoraid for Xbox One is now available for pre-order and will launch on November 8th!

I loved vertical shooters as a kid, but don’t care much for the current generation of the bullet hell-type. So when it came to designing Xenoraid, choosing its goals was easy. Firstly, the game would focus on shooting and have that be as satisfying as possible. Secondly, no memorizing levels or bullet patterns. Thirdly, I wanted an unique setting and a deep metagame to support the action.

Even if I do say so myself, Xenoraid turned out alright! The focus on shooting came through beautifully. The starfighters in Xenoraid tilt slightly left and right when moving sideways, so you can shoot somewhat diagonally. This makes aiming immediately more interesting, and brings a distinctive feel of piloting to the game.

We also added a weapon heat mechanic, which makes firing short, controlled bursts a much better choice than your usual “spray and pray” strategy. It just feels great to line up a shot, see your burst hit, and shred the target apart.

My second favorite mechanic in Xenoraid is how you can switch between your four fighters at any time. This serves many purposes, like saving a heavily damaged fighter from being destroyed or bringing in a new one with a better weapon loadout for the task at hand.

Fighter switching can also be used as a “dodge roll,” as both the outgoing and incoming fighters are briefly immune to damage. There’s also a reload aspect to switching: sometimes you’ll need to keep firing away and overheating your guns is unavoidable. Simply bring in a new fighter to keep that stream of bullets tearing enemies apart!

All of these novel mechanics tie-in with Xenoraid‘s setting during the first space war, where mankind improvises the first generation of starfighters by arming civilian spacecraft. Similar to that of aerial warfare at the start of the First World War. There’s also a strategic metagame with fighter upgrades and tech purchases between missions, and three endless Survival missions with live leaderboards for replay value.

I hope you like what you’ve seen and pick up Xenoraid on November 8th! Stay tuned for further news on our 10tons Twitter account and I hope to see you on the leaderboards!