Drifting Lands (2017)

Drifting Lands combines some really great genres into its own thing that works really well. Alkemi does this in an all-around clean and crisp presentation. The game embodies the “one more level” mentality as you try to make another run in an attempt to get better loot to outfit yourself for higher difficulties. This is a game you shouldn’t miss.

Drifting Lands should be on the radar for any shmup fan, with the addition of the action RPG elements it adds great replay value and pull in non shmup fans. The grind for loot will grab you and you'll want to spend hours getting your ship calibrated to the way you play. I'm not sure if I can look at shmup games the same way again after Drifting Lands.

Before playing Drifting Lands, it didn't occur to me that adding role-playing game mechanics into a shoot ‘em up was something that I needed in my life, but after playing the game, I can't put it down. The narrative is lacking and serves as a launching point for the missions, but the gameplay is king in Drifting Lands. The visuals are crisp and sharp, and the backgrounds have some great looking effects, such as flying through a lightning storm complete with devastating tornadoes. The soundtrack is comprised of hard rocking beats, but levels tend to be on the shorter side, so it doesn't feel like the repeating tracks overstay their welcome. There are no multiplayer options, but some levels do feature an online leaderboard, which is a nice touch.

Drifting Lands is an entertaining take on the "shmup" genre that adds roguelike elements to spice up the old formula. Backgrounds can be confusing and enemy scaling can feel a bit brutal at times. All in all, however, this is an excellent take on a classic genre.

Drifting Lands takes two fantastic genres and marries the best aspects of them together with flair, creating an original and massively addictive experience that deserves to be on your radar.