Xenoraid

“Xenoraid is a solid and enjoyable scrolling shooter that feels tight and responsive to play with plenty of roguelike options and content throughout. If you are looking for your next Nintendo Switch purchase, this may be it.”

“I liked playing through Xenoraid and definitively recommend it to gamers looking for a good space shooter experience with the option for a lot of customization for your crew. The difficulty was fair, and I think it’ll please fans of the genre. It also contains a Survival mode which throws enemy ships endlessly at you. Oh, and purchasing this game nets you both the Vita and PlayStation 4 versions!”

“Xenoraid is yet another shoot ‘em up that brings something new to the table. While it has aspects of a roguelike and the progression of an RPG, it still sticks to its guns as a shooter. It works and works well in that part. The shooting is tight and when learning the proper way to aim, it felt very satisfying. It has a few issues here and there, and while the look is not really fantastic, it offers up a rather fun experience, if even for a few hours.”

“I like Xenoraid and appreciate what it has set out to do, but at the same time I'm not blown away by it...”

“Xenoraid produces a feeling of excitement and balances it out with an almost somber, hypnotic feel as you fly through the black clutches of space grinding away. Its simplistic nature probably won't lead to many binge sessions, but for quick pick-up-and play action, it does the job well enough.”

“Xenoraid is good. It's neither excellent nor terrible, but it's good. The presentation feels low-budget, and the reset in gained upgrades after every major stage feels like something done to artificially boost the difficulty level. However, the actual gameplay is solid, and the new mechanics make the gameplay feel fresh even if you may not necessarily want all of it in other shooters. It's certainly worth checking out for genre fans, so long as you remember to temper your expectations a bit.”

“Xenoraid is a unique spin on the space shooter genre that offers its own brand of challenge for seasoned players. The short missions are perfect for handheld gameplay, as well, making it easy to pick up and play whenever you have a spare few minutes. Space shooter fans looking for something new that isn’t a dual stick shooter should be fairly pleased with what Xenoraid has to offer.”

“Xenoraid brings some interesting ideas to the vertical shmup genre. Unfortunately, the changes take away from what really defines the genre, leaving it in a sort of limbo between genres.”

“Xenoraid is a shoot'em up that does not fully abide by the classical rules of its counterparts. If the shooting action works fine, the game's structure feels like it's too constricting on the player with its insistence on purchasing every element for the ships, which creates unnecessary burdens on the players.”

“The problem is all the bulk surrounding it. Poor checkpointing, being unable to carry tech upgrades forward, and the persistent wish that I had more control over my own aiming all sort of dampen the experience. I like where this game's head is at, but I've got a list of things they can improve if Xenoraid gets a sequel.”

“Although Xenoraid does nothing to shake up the genre, changing spacecraft in the heat of battle and using different weapons on the fly tries to add spice to an otherwise solid but unspectacular top-down shooter experience. The characters, dialogue and locations are neither varied nor dynamic enough to be very engaging, and the gameplay, while serviceable, will satisfy but certainly not impress anyone who has already played one of its ancestors or contemporaries, either on Switch or elsewhere.”

“Xenoraid does do a lot to try and stand apart from the deluge of similar games out there, and it should be commended for that effort. But with its lack of refinement, progression resetting, and fairly bland overall presentation, it's unlikely we'll be looking back on this one a year from now.”

“There is nothing special about Xenoraid, but it keeps the basics solid. The shooting is fun, the dodging is good, and the upgrading is the best part, which allows for better ships to enter the fray. It is the type of game that could serve as a great platform for a really good game, but as it is, it is a fun romp that harkens back to old-school games. If it can be picked up cheap, Xenoraid is an enjoyable four-hour ride.”

“A traditional vertical shooter with a single good idea but many gameplay flaws, restrained by an anonymous and unattractive look.”

“There is some satisfaction to be found in slaughtering the alien forces that are hellbent on attacking Earth in Xenoraid, but the experience fails to ever be more than distinctly average. Even throwing in the chance for friends to fly alongside you as wingmen seems a flawed move, a couch co-op experience that comes at the cost of removing the best idea that the game has going for it. There are better games in the genre to spend your time with on Nintendo Switch, then – meaning that it’s best to leave someone else to defend mankind in this one.”

“Xenoraid is just not very much fun. It has some interesting ideas, and some that are just confusing, but for the most part it's the same space shooter that has been seen time and time again. It's like the Expert mode of an old shooter, where things have been tweaked, but it largely feels like the exact same game. While the upgrade system and loadouts are pretty interesting, they feel like an exciting game leading into something much less appealing.”

“Everyone's played enough of this type of game by now in order to know what to expect. You're going to be ducking and diving in amongst enemy fire as you tear down waves of enemies coming from the top of the screen. There's just not quite enough here to make Xenoraid memorable.”