Take on the false gods in Kromaia.

With the help of Rising Star Games, Kraken Empire released their space shooter game, Kromaia yesterday on the Steam store. This title places you in the depths of space, giving you full control over your ship as you maneuver through a storm of geometry and AI that adapt to you. The game utilizes a 3D compass to help keep you on track to your goal, and you can remap the controls if you wish.

The game feels a bit like a combination of Galaga, Descent, and it feels weird saying this, but even a little like Shadow of the Colossus. The reason for this would be the waves of bug-like enemies (Galaga), the full freedom of movement (Descent), and the huge bosses that act as the game’s main villains (Shadow of the Colossus).

The game begins as you are woken by a mysterious voice. Your soul has been trapped in a spacecraft, and this strange voice has given you a mission: Destroy the four ancient gods in the false universes that they rule. After a brief tutorial, you are set free to explore the depths of space at your leisure, fighting off the waves of enemies and avoiding all of the space debris.

The game’s art style is simplistic, though compelling. Colors have been carefully placed throughout the game, and the silhouettes are quite easy to read because everything has such a distinctive shape.

The enemies in the game are quite clever, moving with you to keep you in their sights. They also tend to work together, performing tactics like flanking, surrounding your goal, and even pulling together and attacking in formations to keep you on your toes.

If you get tired of using one ship, you can pick a different one. Some of your choices include a ship with machine guns, a ship with homing missiles, a ship with lasers, and even a ninja ship that utilizes a sword and shuriken to fight off the enemies.

The game does have its share of bugs, though the love the developers have shown the title make it seem clear that these will be patched out in future updates. One of these bugs occurred early in the game. I started out utilizing a track pad and keyboard on my laptop, and found that the sensitivity with the mouse wasn’t high enough, making it difficult to maneuver. As a result, I went to change up the controls, however was presented with a pure white screen with the three buttons on the bottom (save, default, exit). I was forced to quit to the main menu and adjust the controls there before diving back into the game.

Overall, the game’s bugs do little to dissuade me from recommending the game. If you’ve been looking for a good spaceship title that provides you freedom of movement and challenging AI, then Kromaia should fit the bill nicely.

Final Score: 4/5