The indie developer Zakichi, known for games like KAIKAN and ZAKESTA-Z, has just released their latest shoot 'em up VARYZNEX on Steam.
VARYZNEX is a new retro horizontal shoot 'em up that is being compared to the Thunder Force games (in particular Thunder Force IV, V, and VI) and seems to be a follow-up to their earlier freeware VASTYNEX.
It features 2D retro-inspired pixel art, as well as a mechanic that sees players acquiring energy points from defeating enemies to fill up a gauge on the upper left of the screen.
Once a certain amount of energy is acquired, players will be able to automatically engage a shield to block incoming attacks and can also engage a powerful "Hyper" attack, which will transform their main weapon into a laser and raise the number of points that they can acquire from destroying the other objects on the screen.
The full game costs £3.43 (as part of its introductory offer), with a demo being available to download for free. Sound like something up your street? You can grab it here.