Chris InglisCygni: All Guns Blazing is a twin-stick vertical shooter developed by KeelWorks and published by Konami. The game is set for release on August 6 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and PC, and is a visual and auditory spectacle that immerses players in a relentless barrage of enemies and projectiles. I reviewed the game on PS5 which was a very smooth experience with depth perception on full display as you engage in both air-to-air and air-to-ground fighting from your small fighter.
You play as Ava, a rookie pilot in the Cygni Air Force who flies a small fighter called Orca. She finds herself thrust into a desperate battle for survival against a hostile alien race that has invaded the planet Cygni, a planet colonised by humans. The game focuses primarily on fast-paced action, with the story taking a backseat. However, it establishes a clear premise: humanity is under attack, and Ava is one of the last lines of defence. As you progress through the game, there is an escalating intensity of the conflict, and the growing threat posed by the alien invaders. There is an optional set of tutorials you can complete that utilise basic wireframe graphics, but they do teach you the essentials, particularly about switching your power between weapons and shields.
The vertical scrolling shoot-em-up genre has come a long way since the early days of games like my favourites, 1942 and Raptor: Call of the Shadows. This game features stunning visuals that are brought to life with vibrant colours, explosive effects, and intricate level design. The depth perception utilised in the game is phenomenal, causing you to often switch from shooting at air targets to blasting cannons onto ground targets. I don’t recall a similar game in recent memory that had me switching from aerial to ground combat, so this was a blast to play, though freakin’ hard in parts. The pounding electronic soundtrack perfectly complements the intense action, creating an adrenaline-fueled atmosphere.
A core mechanic in Cygni: All Guns Blazing is the ability to allocate power between your ship’s shields and weapons at the tap of a button. This allows you to react to the oncoming onslaught as there are times where the screen is filled with debris, oncoming fire and enemy units that it’s near impossible to dodge everything. It requires you to make split-second decisions based on the intensity of the situation. The classic shoot-em-up mechanic of dodging enemy fire is crucial for survival and so the game rewards precise movement and quick reflexes.
As you progress through the game, you’ll collect power-ups and defeat enemies to unlock new weapons and upgrades. These enhancements can dramatically change your playstyle and approach to combat. Epic encounters with colossal alien bosses test your skills and force you to adapt your strategies. These battles often require careful power management between shields and weapons, as well as precision aiming.
Boss fights were bloody tough at times where they use a mix of direct firepower utilising heavy armour and other tricks. Some have multi-phases which can require a mix of ground and air weapons, and they certainly pack a punch. Not only do you need to worry about their heavy oncoming fire, at times you also need to deal with other pesky trash mobs firing too. There are even some bosses that use environment effects such as creating barriers with rocks that will splinter and be fired at you.
It all gets quite overwhelming at times and I’m not ashamed to admit that I dropped from medium to easy difficulty early on and the first mission took me many attempts. The very first mission seemed to go on forever and if you die, you must restart the entire thing. It takes about 20 minutes for the first and last of seven missions, while the average time to complete the missions 2-6 were around 9-15 minutes, depending on if you died on easy with two respawns or not.
Cygni: All Guns Blazing is a visual feast for the vertical shooter genre and gave me some great nostalgia of playing old arcade games, with a similar punishing difficulty curve. It is light on story but just enough to get you back into battle quickly, and while Cygni is undoubtedly challenging, its rewarding progression system and strategic use of switching power between shields and weapons helps to gain the upper hand over the seven main missions.
This review utilised a PS5 key provided by Five Star Games and CYGNI: All Guns Blazing will launch on August 6 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam and Epic Games Store (where interestingly the game will be free between August 8-15).
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