The fate of humanity rests on you. At Gamescom this past week, developer KeelWorks and publisher Konami unveiled a new spaceship shoot-’em up that harkens back to the classics days or arcade shooting, while introducing a breathtaking a modern futuristic presentation. Coming soon to PC and consoles is Cygni: All Guns Blazing.
What we know about Cygni: All Guns Blazing
The announcement of Cygni: All Guns Blazing was accompanied by a new trailer, further unveiling the game. Sporting a deeply futuristic tone, Cygni: All Guns Blazing puts players as the last combat pilot of a military fleet, marooned on the planet Cygni. After surviving a devastating attack from a strange bio-mechanical alien race, it’s up to the pilot of the last surviving starfighter to fight back, defeat the alien menace, and win.
The trailer showcases the typical flare that comes with space shooters, from waves of enemies to overwhelming numbers of bullets, but where it really sets itself apart is the mysterious xenobiological enemy, and the dark futuristic world of Cygni. Strange structures, monstrous bosses, and even a hovering sentient being are featured in the trailer, and certainly feel reminiscent of the 2013 sci-fi movie, Oblivion.
The game’s Steam page reveals a few more details regarding the gameplay of Cygni: All Guns Blazing. Cygni: All Guns Blazing features the ability to fight aerial and ground targets across moonscape, neon-lit metropolises, and even outer space. Players can switch their power supply in an instant, switch from defensive utilities, such as shields, to offensive power to the weapons at any moment. Finally, Cygni: All Guns Blazing teases a full orchestral score.
Final Thoughts and Release details
The announcement of Cygni: All Guns Blazing is exciting, especially for spaceship shooter and shmup fans like myself. I firmly believe their simply isn’t enough of this type of genre in today’s gaming market. They are quick, easy to play, exciting, and memorable. I still have fond memories playing RayStorm on my PSOne and even the underrated PlayStation launch title Philosoma, which may have given me some grey hairs just thinking about that title.
However, the news is rather bittersweet, given Konami’s activities since 2015. Following the disastrous creative fallout with Hideo Kojima in 2015, the studio has focused more on mobile games, pachinko machines, esports, and monetizable titles. Konami was once the king of home and arcade games, with plenty of action games such as Lifeforce, Gradius, and Rush’n’Attack, but has been more focused on making money-making products as opposed to games.
Recent releases such as Contra: Rogue Corps, Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner MARS, Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel, and the upcoming TMNT: Cowabunga Collection have allowed Konami to maintain a presence, albeit one that has been dwarfed by the competition. Perhaps between the TMNT: Cowabunga Collection and Cygni: All Guns Blazing, Konami can be poised for a gradual return to video games.
Cygni: All Guns Blazing is slated for release on PlayStation 5 and Steam. No other platforms or release window have been announced yet. Cygni: All Guns Blazing can be wishlisted on Steam here.
