$7.49 (−50%)DRAINUS
A side-scrolling shooter where you steal the Empire's best fighter and make its bullets yours. Absorb energy shots with the Reflector, fire them back as homing blasts, and spend the saved energy on new weapons. A heartfelt story about a daughter flying home to save her father, wrapped in gorgeous pixel art.
Is DRAINUS worth it?
DRAINUS is worth it if…
- you find most shooters too punishing and want one that meets you halfway
- you like the idea of catching bullets and throwing them back
- you want a shooter with a story and characters worth caring about
- you grew up on classic horizontal shooters and enjoy a good homage
- you prefer vivid pixel art and bold color over grit and gloom
Screenshots
The Reflector: turn enemy fire into your own ammunition
The Drainus can absorb energy bullets. Hold the Reflector open, let a wall of violet shots pour in, then release: the energy comes back out as homing blasts that chase down whatever fired at you. The more you soak up, the harder the counterattack hits, and a full charge even grants a moment of invulnerability.
It changes how a stage feels. Instead of only weaving through bullet curtains, you decide which fire to dodge and which to drink. A boss splits the screen with beams, you flicker the Reflector on for a heartbeat between the red shots you cannot absorb, and its own arsenal comes screaming back at it. Red bullets, walls and solid objects stay dangerous the whole time, so the reflexes never go idle.
Spend your spoils: upgrades you can rearrange mid-flight
Every absorbed shot also charges energy tanks, and those tanks buy upgrades: new weapons, a longer Reflector window, more bombs. You can open the shop at almost any moment, even mid-stage, and swap your loadout on the fly.
The power-ups themselves are forgiving in a way the genre rarely is. Getting hit costs you one power level instead of a life; only a bare ship loses one. And since you choose which equipment sits in which slot, you can reorder your arsenal to suit the moment, putting a wide shot first when the screen is crowded and heavy damage first against something armored. Pause, rearrange, unpause, fly on.
A story with stakes: one girl, one stolen ship, one sick father
Irina is a slave on the distant planet Halpax, watching her father sicken from a disease that only a cure back on far-off Earth can treat. Then Gehnie, a humanoid with a distinctly frog-like face, arrives from fifty years in the future with a warning: a galactic war is coming in which more than 5000 planets will be annihilated by the Kharlal Empire. Help is needed.
So Irina steals the Empire's most advanced fighter and flies it straight at them. Her older sister Layla serves as a commander on the other side, and Governor-General Izumo commands the whole imperial army. The story carries real weight, and the opening launch sequence, where the Drainus climbs and the camera swings down to skim the surface, is a highlight.
Is DRAINUS friendly to shooter newcomers?
Is DRAINUS friendly to shooter newcomers?
Yes, and this is where it stands out. Several difficulty levels are available from the start, and on the lower ones you can push through with the Reflector alone, since absorbing makes you nearly untouchable for a while. Getting hit costs a power level rather than a life, checkpoints are close, and you can revisit earlier stages whenever you like. The higher difficulties and a one-hit-death mode are there when you want the genre's usual teeth.
How long does a run take?
A single loop is six stages, each a few minutes long, so a full pass lands around 45 minutes, and the story asks for a second loop. A first clear fits comfortably into an evening, with room to return for upgrades, collectible data tapes and higher difficulties afterwards.
What does it look and sound like?
Detailed, smoothly animated pixel art with bright, saturated color, plus some 3D camera flourishes for the big moments. Everything is color-coded, so even with lasers filling the screen you always know which ship is yours and which shots are hostile. The soundtrack swells with the action, hitting its stride when a massive carrier rolls into view.
Does the story actually matter, or is it just an excuse for shooting?
It matters. The plot about Irina, her father's illness and Gehnie's warning from the future carries the game from start to finish, with cutscenes and character moments between stages, and collectible data tapes on each stage add backstory and extra dialogue. Fair warning: opinions on the writing itself differ from player to player.
