Unshine Arcade: a crunchy pixel roguelite set inside an abandoned arcade
I love games that are hard to describe, and Unshine Arcade, a $10 indie from mardt, is one of them. You are stuck in an abandoned arcade, playing what is basically a creepy take on Pac-Man that turns into an isometric shooter, all to win tickets that might free some kind of sentient computer.
Each round has two stages. As a little alien in a UFO-like ship, you move through maze rooms avoiding enemies and grabbing gacha balls, bonuses and coins. Reach the weapon at the end and the game flips into a shooter where you hunt the enemies you were just running from, earning tickets for each one. Clear a round and you open your gacha balls and pick a new ability, then choose your next step on a Slay the Spire-style map: another round, more gacha balls, a shop, or upgrades.
Failing is softened because you keep every ticket, and there are a surprising number of things to spend them on: that needy AI, a claw machine, a battery vending machine that powers up other machines, a Pong knock-off, a slot machine. The real meta-game is finding codes that open new rooms, discs that change the core game, and even cheat codes. The more you explore, the weirder the story gets.
Visually it sits close to CloverPit, with the same dark, crunchy pixel look, though Kotaku notes Unshine was in development long before CloverPit came out. The advice I liked: don't try to beat it in a day. Leave it running and play a few rounds here and there.
It is out now on Steam, and there is a demo that covers a good chunk of the game, so I'm definitely trying it.
Source: Kotaku
Each round has two stages. As a little alien in a UFO-like ship, you move through maze rooms avoiding enemies and grabbing gacha balls, bonuses and coins. Reach the weapon at the end and the game flips into a shooter where you hunt the enemies you were just running from, earning tickets for each one. Clear a round and you open your gacha balls and pick a new ability, then choose your next step on a Slay the Spire-style map: another round, more gacha balls, a shop, or upgrades.
Failing is softened because you keep every ticket, and there are a surprising number of things to spend them on: that needy AI, a claw machine, a battery vending machine that powers up other machines, a Pong knock-off, a slot machine. The real meta-game is finding codes that open new rooms, discs that change the core game, and even cheat codes. The more you explore, the weirder the story gets.
Visually it sits close to CloverPit, with the same dark, crunchy pixel look, though Kotaku notes Unshine was in development long before CloverPit came out. The advice I liked: don't try to beat it in a day. Leave it running and play a few rounds here and there.
It is out now on Steam, and there is a demo that covers a good chunk of the game, so I'm definitely trying it.
Source: Kotaku
Comments 0
Leave the first comment, in any language.
Log in to comment