Since the launch of the PlayStation 5, I’ve felt a giant shoot-em-up-sized hole growing in my library of games. Itching to see a shoot-em-up that looks, feels, and plays like a truly next-gen game. Thankfully, the developers at Keelworks have risen to the challenge to give us their debut title ‘Cygni: All Guns Blazing’ published by Konami. Seeing that a shoot-em-up juggernaut like Konami was backing this project had me excited to find out if my itch was finally going to be scratched.

Encamped within the remains of a long-lost civilisation on planet CYGNI, Earth forces are decimated by a surprise attack from a powerful, biomechanical alien race. Playing as one of the last pilots on the last carrier in the fleet, you are the last line of defence against the unyielding alien bombardment. Prepare yourself, pilots, get to that flight deck and go in all guns blazing. This is a story of the human race’s struggle for survival on an alien planet, and, boy, did we manage to piss off our enemies.

Throughout the campaign, you will try to achieve 2 objectives across all 7 stages. First, you must survive the onslaught of enemy forces who will stop at nothing to ruin your run. Second, you must defeat the giant biomechanical boss to complete the level. The objective seemed easy enough to complete, given that I’ve had decades of experience with shoot-em-ups. The onslaught I went up against next showed me exactly how wrong I was.

Holy Hell, what an onslaught it was. Enemies come thick and fast, and the initial barrage of their gunfire is incredibly overwhelming. Surviving this seemingly endless flow of enemies is challenging, especially in the beginning.

Not only do you have the air forces to worry about shooting you down, but enemy ground forces are just as hellbent on ruining your day. Learning where and when to prioritise your attacks is key to your survival. There are many ways to blast your enemies to bits, so let’s dig into the glorious mechanics.

In the beginning, you are equipped with the bare minimum to survive, you have a standard air-to-air weapon with a forward-facing bullet spread. Also equipped is a standard salvo that shoots air-to-surface projectiles. You also have a shield with a unique function that can divert your shield energy into weapon power. Finally, rounding out your arsenal, you have your trusty missiles, which come at the cost of weapon power with each use.

As you progress, you will find yourself gathering energy points from defeating waves of enemies. The energy points collected serve 2 purposes. The primary function is to restore shield energy, which can be fed back and forth between weapon power. The second function is that these points collected are used to purchase various upgrades that improve your firepower and survivability.

Upgrade your air-to-air firepower with side drones, homing projectiles, and a powerful beam weapon known as raylight. Unleash total destructive force on the ground troops with the ability to purchase a salvo upgrade and the ability to also lock onto the nearest ground enemy.

On top of these handy upgrades, you can even purchase different bullet spread patterns for your gun and drones. I found this particularly useful when going up against such a massive force often going between a widespread pattern for clearing enemy waves and a more focused fire pattern for going up against the epic boss encounters at the end of a level.

Upon completing the main campaign, you will unlock the more traditional arcade mode. Arcade mode is the toughest of the tough and will challenge even the most seasoned of shoot-em-up veterans. As it is with old-school arcade machines completing a loop in arcade mode will bump up the challenge and make it even harder. How long will you last? I’ve been at this a long time and being pushed harder than I have been in such a long time, I consider this my itch successfully scratched.

The devs promised eye-popping visuals and for the most part, this has been delivered. The cutscenes alone look spectacular though they do suffer a few instances of visual blurring during a few of them. Enemies come so thick and fast that on occasion even the PS5 suffers a few frame drops making the game appear as if it’s slowing down. I would have loved to see some enemy models included within the games library tab to appreciate what I just blew to Kingdom Come. Enemy bosses are phenomenal and highlight the team’s art design extremely well.

Much like the visuals the audio experience also suffers a minor setback or two. There are occasions when you are still decimating the enemy that the sound effects for the explosions and gunfire cut out entirely and you become completely overwhelmed by the in-game soundtrack. The sound effects themselves coupled with the incredibly cinematic soundtrack make me feel as if I’m the star of an action-packed sci-fi movie, it’s just a shame for it to be let down by these issues.

Visual and audio issues aside this is a brilliant entry into the shoot-em-up genre. Once the issues have been patched I firmly believe I will struggle to find a better shoot-em-up for quite some time. Keelworks have debuted strong with Cygni: All Guns Blazing, delivering an eye-popping, jaw-dropping onslaught that will test the most seasoned veteran. Well, What are you waiting for? Pick up a copy on PS5 today, you won’t regret it. I can’t wait to see what Keelworks come up with in the future.

Written by: Gary Nielsen