What happens when you blend the neon pastiche of ’80s cartoons, the side-scrolling action of a game like Contra, and roguelite mechanics all together? Well, if you’re a certain vintage of gamer, you might get a good time, and you also might get Storm Lancers from developer ProbablyMonsters, which has made its full release to PC players on Steam and EGS and to both Nintendo Switch consoles.
“In Storm Lancers, players crash-land on an alien planet harboring a secret source of powerful magic. All of reality is on the verge of collapse, and two magical creatures have chosen these two crash survivors to be their heroes. To save the planet of Cryptica, the pair will fight, die, and bond with the Stormhearts to rise again — stronger, fiercer, and unstoppable.”
The game lets up to two players team up either through Steam Remote Play or the Switch 2’s GameShare feature, meaning that only one person has to own the game to join in on the fun. That fun comes in the form of battling through five different biomes’ worth of increasingly tougher enemies and bosses, where fast action and constant movement appear to be the key to success, as well as a bit of luck in finding loot. Character progression comes in the form of the storm bindings system, which unlocks permanent benefits but also has some trade-offs that will need to be considered.
Additionally, the game is cheap as chips, at a price of $20 on all platforms, though there is a 35% discount for Steam and EGS fans. Additionally, if players get the Nintendo Switch version and later snag a Switch 2 console, they can upgrade to a more performant version of the roguelite on the Switch 2 at no additional cost. A trailer showing the title in action waits below.
