PAX Australia 2023: Hands on with XALADIA: Rise of the Space Pirates X2
Acquire Corp is maybe a name that you either don’t know, or haven’t heard in a while, but they were at PAX Australia showing off two of their upcoming games. Xaladia: Rise of the Space Pirates X2 is something that is quite a bit different from their previous works, but that is quite alright by me. I was able to get hands on with the game and enjoyed what it was offering.
The the quickest way that I can explain the game is it's basically space invaders meets missile command. Enemies come from the top of the screen and from each side in waves, and it's your job to take them out using your character's weapon or by building equipment along the bottom to help you out. Even though the game uses two different old school inspirations, it actually plays more like a modern twin stick shooter, so try and marry that in your head. The game's premise is fairly simple, you're a member of an elite special force, whose main mission is to explore unknown planets throughout the Galaxy. However, upon setting off for your exploration mission, a group of unknown aliens appear and stand in your way, this is not one or two ships, there Armada covers the entire universe. As they are extremely aggressive new orders have been issued, you ought to make your way from planet to planet exterminating the alien threat, assist in supporting planetary colonisation where possible and eventually making your way back to earth.
In the build that I was able to play there were a number of grades listed for planetary exploration, G grade, F grade and so on. Each of the grades is obviously easier through to more challenging, so jumping into the G grade classification was naturally where I needed to start. What I was then given was a quick rundown of how the game plays, you move with the keyboard and aim with your mouse, with your ability to jump and fire tide this base bar and the left mouse button. Much like space invaders the enemies will come down in various patterns, however there's also a bit of law mixed in as well, as they sometimes come down in single lines and then change directions. Each of the planets that I visited had a set number of waves that I had to withstand in order to complete the mission, some waves very simple some work quite busy. What was interesting is that there's no downtime between the waves, so taking the time to build turrets missile launchers and even a protective barrier, is something that you have to do whilst also shooting down the alien threat.
The first few planets were quite simple, powering through them without too much of a hassle, eventually though I got to a planet that only had five waves instead of the usual 10, with the final wave being a boss fight. What was interesting is that in order to build planetary defenses, you have to use the amber that the aliens drop upon their death and while the earlier levels weren't too challenging on their destruction, this boss fight was the exact opposite. A giant spaceship sat in the middle of the screen constantly spawning some very dangerous alien menaces, taking one out in order to gain a clean shot of the ship, just meant that a respawned another one to take its place. Eventually I managed to defeat the boss and move on to a safe planet and while it all sounds very simple, because of the need to obtain the amber as well as maintaining your own health it was more complex than I was expecting it to be.
Every few planets there was a restoration planet of sorts, it was where I could get my health topped back up, as it doesn't automatically refill between stages and I could also upgrade my weapons. Each weapon upgrade doesn't cost a lot, but the upgrade is generally like .1 in each respective field, so to upgrade from two damage to three, takes 10 purchases. Amber does drop fairly frequently from the aliens that you kill so it does seem to provide a lot of resources, but that same resource pool is also what you need in order to build on the various planets. So there seems to be a risk and reward scenario going on, where you can become uber powerful, but then you may not have enough resources to build equipment to support you during a boss fight.
My time with Xaladia: Rise of the Space Pirates X2 was fun, it's a very slow game to begin with and the more I levelled up, the quicker I started to move, but it felt like the enemies were moving just as fast in comparison. The game is expected to launch later this year and while it's not likely to appeal to many, it's amalgamation of classic games released in a new format is something that I think long time gamers will definitely get behind.
The game is dated to release in 2023, however there is no firm date on it yet. Once it is dated, it is expected to hit PC, PlayStation 5 and Switch, with Steam having a demo you can play right now.
