Valve’s The Lab is home to a number of fun mini-games, all of which feel like great blueprints for a full VR game. Developer Clear Ink Studios has stepped up to the plate to flesh out Valve’s unique VR ‘bullet-hell’ mini-game, Xortex, into a standalone experience dubbed Galaxis Wars.
Set to launch on Steam on May 30th, Galaxis Wars builds upon the same ‘bullet-hell’ gameplay from Xortex, but now with a more substantial experience featuring 100 waves and 20 unique upgrades.
In Galaxis Wars, your hand becomes your tiny drone ship (as if you were once again a child flying around a spaceship toy making accompanying sound effects; whoosh! pew pew pew!). Enemy ships fly all around you, firing deadly lasers which will kill you if they hit your ship. The resulting gameplay is part shooting, part strategy, and part dance, as you weave your ship through the hail of fire and try to destroy the enemy ships without getting caught off guard by a latent spray of lasers.
As you defeat enemies you’ll collect energy which can be spent to upgrade your ship. Developer Clear Ink Studios says there are “20 unique upgrades” and while it isn’t clear yet exactly what they might be, we imagine the basics: improved armor, weapons, health regeneration, etc.
If you can battle your way through the game’s 100 waves, the studio promises you’ll learn “the secret of the Galaxis Wars,” which, according to the game’s lore, you are training for via simulation.
Once you’ve conquered the 100 waves, there’s also an endless mode allowing for leaderboard competition.
Galaxis Wars is due to launch on May 30th, priced at $12. The game’s Steam page currently only lists the Vive as officially supported, though it’s possible that the developer may expend that to include other headsets over time.
