Developer Vlambeer has done a great job with Nuclear Throne, a fast-paced top-down shooter that is easy to learn, but difficult to survive. The game was first released in 2015, and is in the spotlight again as a part of Epic Games’ ongoing campaign of offering a free pair of weekly games for the rest of 2019. Players should not miss out on this great shooter, even if it appears punishingly difficult at first glance.
Light On Story, Heavy On Action
In the strictest sense, there is a story and motivations for your characters, but primarily what matters is that the game offers non-stop action in a world where mutants fight for control of a throne. The objective in each of the procedurally generated levels is to take out the overwhelming number of opponents that come at you, upgrade your weapons and skills, and move on to the next action-packed area.
The premise sounds simple enough, but in practice, this bullet-hell quickly becomes too much to handle for the uninitiated. To overcome each group of enemies, players have access to a broad range of weapons from small pistols to massive plasma cannons and more. Players need to tread lightly however, as even a simple mistake can bring swift death to their character.
However, dying often and starting again is half the fun. The game is so fast that one never feels like they have too much to do in order to get back to where they were before dying. This, of course, is only partially accurate, since each level is procedurally generated, and so too are the weapon drops to choose from, making the game feel fresh and unique even after playing through it many times.
In many ways, this freshness feels similar to The Binding of Isaac series of games, where one becomes familiar with the broad range of weapons and enemies, but because they never appear in the same place or in the same order, the game always feels new.
This is compounded even further with the skill system in place. Defeating enemies makes them drop radioactive energy, which serves as experience points. Players have a choice of which skill to take or mutate into when moving from one area to the next, and these bring in a nice level of customization.
For example, players who want a slower playstyle might decide to select Hit Point upgrades, whereas if one is more confident in their ability to survive, they might instead take skills that weaken enemies, meaning you can eliminate them more quickly.
In the end, it is the broad selection of skills that can be combined with practice to make what first appears as a difficult game to one that is far more enjoyable and beatable with a little practice. Nuclear Throne stands out from other bull-hell or roguelike games in this sense, where RNG plays less of a factor in your survival. The game provides the tools necessary for anyone to get far and defeat the opponents that at first might appear overwhelming.
Great Looking Old School Design And Sound
The look and feel of the game can play heavily on feelings of nostalgia for older players, combining pixelated characters with colorful areas and explosions. The simplistic look works well in Nuclear Throne and feels like a great game right out of the 1990s. The sound too is great, both when firing a weapon and in the satisfying noises made by opponents when hit.
While Nuclear Throne might at first appear to be another difficult bullet-hell or punishing roguelike, a little practice quickly reveals a system that is meant to make the game accessible by a broad range of players. Thanks to the procedurally generated levels, weapon drops, and opponents, the game has virtually endless replay value and is an outstanding free game from Epic Games this week.
A copy of Nuclear Throne is available for free through November 14th to everyone on the Epic Games Store.