GALAK-Z

During its metamorphosis from a straightforward, space-based shoot-'em-up to a unique roguelike hybrid, Galak-Z's challenging, ship-to-ship dogfighting has remained unchanged. Our recent hands-on time with Galak-Z's first “season” introduced us to a variety of power-ups that complement the sprawl-ing asteroid fields and intense shootouts.

A Season one tasks lone-survivor-turned-hero A-Tak with collecting resources to repair and maintain his mother ship. Each episode features one such randomly selected mission, which is really just an excuse to explore the procedurally generated level, get into some dogfights, and collect a variety of power-ups for your ship.

Developer 17-Bit’s CEO Jake Kazdal says Galak-Z will ship with four seasons (each containing five episodes), with a fifth season releasing for free sometime after launch. A separate series of tutorial missions teaches you basic abilities such as boosting, sliding, and juking, and can be skipped on future playthroughs.

Readjusting to the cockpit takes a while; unlike a twin-stick shooter, Galak-Z’s controls require you to independently manage your front and reverse thrusters via the triggers, which makes dodging and chasing down enemy ships a tough but rewarding challenge. The studio has added more dialogue, environmental traps, and enemies since we last played, but the major improvement comes in the form of expanded ship customization. Dozens of different power-ups affect every aspect of your offensive weapons, including bullet pattern, fire rate, and projectile shape. General upgrades let you boost the health, shields, and speed of your ship. As a roguelike, much of the fun comes from seeing what random assortment of upgrades you come across in a given playthrough, and what kind of ship you Frankenstein together from them. In addition to the power-ups, collectible blueprint pieces permanently unlock upgrades across play-throughs – though you still need the credits to buy them.

The first four episodes of each season are procedurally generated, but the final episode is always a boss battle. For season one, A-Tak must take on a legendary space centipede known as White Tusk. The first two times I reached this final encounter, the monstrous, snaking creature tore through my ship, promptly sending me back to the beginning of the current season. I turned the tables on the mighty beast during our third showdown, however, thanks to a string of powerful upgrades that transformed my humble fighter into an unstoppable death machine. The Autofire and Pellet Particles upgrades allowed me to unleash an endless stream of projectiles, while Supercooled Core added stun damage and Penetrating Shots allowed each blast to punch through multiple targets. The ensuing boss battle was a cake-walk, as my glowing shots burned through the creature’s segmented body in a matter of seconds.