Reviewed on: Nintendo Switch

In 1982 one of the most classic arcades came into the world, Robotron 2084. This marvel of game design had two joysticks, one to move your ship and one to control the direction of fire, and was a tremendous hit in its time. More than 30 years later, in November 2003, Geometry Wars rekindled gamers’ passion for shooters controlled with a pair of analog sticks, the Dual-Stick Shooters. With an empire of more than a decade, a challenger to the throne appears, Tachyon Project, promising to strengthen the genre and bring some innovation to a format that was starting to wear thin.

The security of these servers is heavy, so ADA will have a lot of work ahead of her!

Narrative: 8.5

Believe it or not, Tachyon Project is a DSS with a story. In the game you control ADA, an artificial intelligence programmed and equipped to invade and hack servers. After a strange incident, ADA’s “parents” (the couple of hackers who developed her) are caught and captured by the police… leaving her free, loose and abandoned in the internet cloud. Thus, the game’s many levels are the different servers that ADA infiltrates to extract information about the story and whereabouts of her parents, and gradually uncovers a great conspiracy.

The story and the way it is told are not revolutionary, but the game does a good job of integrating its elements and mechanics into the narrative more organically. If your little ship is a virus invading a computer, it makes perfect sense for a firewall to be represented by ships trying to shoot you down.

Customizing and adapting the ship to your style and your needs is the order of the day.

Mechanics: 10

Tachyon Project promises to be a Dual-Stick Shooter different from the conventional, and delivers that experience by borrowing several concepts from a neighboring genre, the Shoot’em Up. The result is a more flexible DSS, with a frightening range of different enemy ships, each with specific attack patterns and intelligence, demanding an enormous degree of attention, strategy and reflexes to navigate and dodge. A well-executed level is a meticulously choreographed dance, where your ship dodges the others and leaves a trail of multicolored explosions wherever it passes… But we haven’t even reached the best part yet.

TP incorporates one of the hallmarks of Shmups: Upgrades. Before starting a new level, you can customize 5 characteristics of your ship: Shot Type, Right Special Weapon (activated with R), Left Special Weapon (activated with L), Upgrade 1 and Upgrade 2. Throughout the game new options are unlocked, revealing an elaborate system for customizing the way you play. You can have a ship with more life (which is the constantly counting-down time), more speed, more damage per shot… You can have precise and devastating shots, spread and imprecise ones, with faster or slower bullets – and you must complement your weaknesses with explosives or drones to cover you in tight spots. Some levels will demand that you try new combinations, since these customization options really impact how you approach the game.

There is also a co-op mode for up to 4 players, and the game even supports the half-Joy-Con controller format, allowing 2 people to play anywhere with just one Switch… But don’t think this makes your life easier, quite the contrary: life (time) is shared, and having more allied ships on screen means the enemies also have more targets to hit. Time is recovered by destroying enemies, so co-op matches are markedly more chaotic and desperate!

There are also several other factors that add to the game’s lifespan and replay value: a combo scoring system, levels in the dark, New Game+ and several Challenge modes with online rank.

Bullet Hell? It’s more like Ship Hell!

Audiovisual: 9.5

At first glance, Tachyon Project stays close to the standards established for the genre: vibrant colors and neon effects… But the similarities end there. Instead of simple shapes made of neon, the attractive colorful glow is applied only as an effect on solid objects, which results in more varied and even more informative designs (indicating, for example, ships’ modes of operation, shields, attacks, etc.), which considerably raises the demands in terms of attention, strategy and reflexes.

The electronic soundtrack is quite exciting and reinforces the mood of a frantic battle that tests the limits and nerves of a pilot facing an immeasurable challenge. The game makes everything even more epic with well-judged image and sound distortion effects when larger, more powerful enemies are brought down.

Ramming head-on into ships with front shields is not a good idea. Positioning is not just important, it’s vital!

Final thoughts

The unwary may look at Tachyon Project and think it’s a new Geometry Wars or just another clone of the game… but just spend a few minutes progressing through its Story Mode to realize that the variety and depth are far beyond any other experience so far in the Dual-Stick Shooter genre. With a vast selection of enemies, local co-op multiplayer and a brilliant ship customization system, the game expands its audience to the most hardcore lovers of the genre and also to the curious who were previously intimidated by the restrictions present until now in games of the genre.