When you think of shoot ’em up games, odds are games that classics developed by Cave, Treasure and Taito will come to mind. We are talking about gaming icons like Ikaruga, Radiant Silvergun and DoDonPachi. So, it may come as a surprise when you find out the latest shmup, to take the genre by storm, CYGNI: All Guns Blazing, isn’t some far-east darling. But rather the efforts by an Edinburgh-based studio named Keelworks.

The eleven-strong team had been involved solely in animation up to this point, before their turn to games development. And their first game, CYGNI: All Guns Blazing, is something a bit special. So special that it’s published by Konami, who themselves no strangers to shoot ’em ups.

Special Stage

The first thing that hits you about CYGNI: All Guns Blazing is the visuals. CYGNI is the best-looking shoot ’em up I have ever seen. The game features a lush, layered style that comes to life in 3D. Endless bullets and missiles light up the screen, as you battle both air and ground units at the same time.

CYGNI: All Guns Blazing shmup retro modern

In the grand shmup tradition, there is only a light tale framing the endless deaths you’ll be earning. Humanity is hanging onto life within the remains of a long-lost civilization on the planet CYGNI.

Special One

Humans are pushed to the brink by a biomechanical alien race who want us all but dead. This feeling of impending extinction is then amplified by a surprise attack on the last human forces. This is where you come into play as one of the last pilots on the last carrier in the fleet.

It’s up to you, and you alone, to be the very last line of defence against the unyielding alien bombardment. You are treated to very nice anime-inspired intro cutscene. However, this style does feel a bit off once the tale unfolds.

The war-torn dark tones soon overtake the waifu vibe in play. But, it does set the scene for what will shortly become one hell of a bumpy ride.

Shoot Me Up

CYGNI: All Guns Blazing is far from a walk in the park across its seven stages. The difficulty is tuned to let a decent shmup player hop in and get about half way through the first stage to sample the mechanics and be blown away by the visuals. You will then be met with the game’s true face. The game’s truly brutal, near sadistic face.

In fairness, the developers did sneak in a cheeky tutorial tab, which will tell you, more than teach you, what the games brand of blasting is really about.

CYGNI: All Guns Blazing is a game that needs you to really understand how it wants you to blast things. Diagonal shooting, for example, is faster than the standard X and Y axis blasting. You need to understand that you can select between air weaponry on the right trigger or ground on the left. You’ll have to learn how to use both together to both types of enemies at the same time.

Weapons of Choice

You’ll also get to change your firing pattern as you unlock new ones through play. This is a nice touch as it lets you tinker to suit your preferred combat style in the heat of a battle.

CYGNI: All Guns Blazing power special weapons shield

There is also an energy system at play which will see you switching between powers. There are special shields and weapons to use. And, like the firing patterns, you can choose customise your specials. You can divert energy to the various specials, buffing one by debuffing the other.

Enemies will drop extra power that goes right on-top of your shield. This brings in a little bit of micro management to the game. You’ll have to buff your guns before grabbing another if your shields are maxed. Otherwise it will just be a waste. This balancing and customisation in CYGNI: All Guns Blazing adds so much to the game’s depth, as well as offering different avenues to tackle that unyielding challenge.

Oddly, it seems they only drop power pick-ups and not weapon upgrades or the like. Something you would expect from a shoot ’em up.

Tree of Life

There is a vast upgrade tree that will see you forging a killer ship with an impressive number of options. This also hints that the game is all about getting beaten to within an inch of your life, before upgrading overcoming that challenge and doing it all over again.

This is all on easy mode, so if you’re looking for a challenge, there is a weighty one to be found here, as you ramp up the difficulty. Though the first stage is by far the hardest having three…yes three bosses to beat, so you know the game knows what it’s all about.

Beyond the core mode there is a library where you will be about to get a bit more info in the missions and tales, but here you will likely spot that all the stage takes place on one planet but there are three other planets and six moons – which hints that it’s extremely likely DLC will be coming for the game at some point.

Shock and Awe (and Art)

CYGNI: All Guns Blazing is a stunning and brutal game that delivers a mix bag in a lot of ways, having a bit of a short run time if you know what you’re doing. Though those skilled players will rip through the campaign in about 2 to 3 hours.

Replayability is based on unlocking the skill tree and that will not be for everyone. But, in the heat of the moment, when it all comes together this is one hell of a shoot ’em up, And, hopefully, this is just the start of things to come from Keelworks, who tackled a longstanding genre with hardcore fans and delivered first time around.