Steredenn from indie team Pixelnest is a retrotastic pixel-heaven of a shoot ‘em up now available on PlayStation 4. With permadeath, procedurally generated levels, plenty of upgrades to customize your ship and a metal soundtrack, this one definitely got our attention. Read our Steredenn review to find out why we loved this one so much!

 

I interviewed the team, and we got to talk about the game’s development and its arrival on PlayStation 4, so be sure to click here to check that out.

Once I got started with Steredenn, I was instantly sent to a short tutorial level that showed me the basics. The ship is moved by using either the left analog stick or the D-pad, and the X button activates the ship’s weapons. Speaking of shooting enemies, the game showed me that if an enemy is flashing red, that means my weapon is doing damage, but that if it is flashing orange, it is resistant to my weapon, so it will take extra work to defeat. Finally, if an enemy is flashing purple, then extra damage is being dealt, which is definitely nice.

Flashing capsules will hold a new gun for the ship, and it must be grabbed by pressing the triangle button (you know, just in case a different weapon is not what you want). Weapons can be swapped with the square button, and quickly changing between available weapons is a must so that enemies can be dealt with in the fastest possible way to keep the score multiplier going. Weapon options are varied, with homing missiles, an impaler weapon that grants the ship shots that go through enemies, a very large and destructive boomerang, and more.

After defeating my first boss, I was given five options of power-ups and got to keep one of them. This being a shoot ‘em up, I instinctively went for grabbing the +20% score boost, because who doesn’t like a big high score? Other power-up options are a shield that protects the ship when not firing, an autocannon that will be your best friend ever since it auto locks and shoots at enemies, a boost to weapon damage, and being able to deal damage to enemies when you touch them, to name a few.

During my first run, I managed to “complete” a third of the of the game before being destroyed in space, and this being a game with roguelike elements – specifically, with permadeath – that meant I had to once again begin from the start, with none of the weapons and power-ups available. But that’s part of the fun of Steredenn since you learn from your mistakes and get better at the game, doing longer sessions until you can complete the set of levels for the current run.

The game features ten trophies in total, with two Gold trophies and the rest being bronze. Eight trophies are tied to defeating one of the game’s bosses, one Gold trophy is awarded for completing the game, and the second Gold trophy is a mighty reward for those of you who manage to complete the whole game using nothing more than the Blaster (the default weapon for the ship).

I had a lot of fun playing the game for my Steredenn review, learning the movement and attack patterns of enemies and the deadly bosses, making the most of the new weapons I found and selecting the power-ups that best complemented my playing style. Even once you do manage to defeat all bosses and complete the game, you’ll still have the daily run to test your skills with a new thing to do every day of the week! On top of this, there’s also Arena where you can take on each of the game’s bosses you’ve defeated to try and destroy them as quickly as possible. And then there’s Superplay, but to try that one, you’ll first have to complete the game once. I highly recommend you buy this game today, since at $12.99 it definitely offers more than enough content and entertainment for its asking price.

[review pros=”Excellent shoot ’em up.
Fast-paced and hectic but fair.
Great replay value.” cons=”No complaints.” score=90]

Disclaimer
This review is based on a PS4 copy of Steredenn provided by Plug In Digital