Loads of people out there love the shoot ’em up genre. There have been just so many excellent titles to choose from over the years! Every so often folks attempt to iterate on the formula in their own unique way (some more successful than others). One of the latest attempts comes to us via Pythetron, which is currently crowdfunding on Kickstarter. Created by just one person, TJ Townsend, it is quite the unique game – and visually striking as well. What exactly has this developer done to differentiate his shooter from a huge library of others? Well, there’s a few differences. For one, levels are super bite-sized (around 15 to 60 seconds apiece).

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How in the heck does this create compelling gameplay? Well, it’s thanks to Pythetron’s systems at play. For one, players control how fast they’ll move through stages instead of puttering along at a predetermined speed. Dare to speed through it all? Try! Or, players can deliberately make their way through, destroying every single thing in their path. With more money accumulated from levels you’re able to permanently upgrade the ship in a variety of ways. Of course, stages still have their own power-ups. Levels themselves are presented non-linearly, meaning you choose where to head next. Unlike genre classics you can also save between stages.

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Want to help Pythetron succeed? The Kickstarter requires $5,000 to make it and, considering the work already put in, it hardly seems outlandish. If funded, the game will come to Windows, Mac, and Linux PCs. You can check out an alpha build on the official website.

Track the progress of the Pythetron Kickstarter in our Campaign Calendar.

About the Author

Marcus Estrada

Marcus is a fellow with a love for video games, horror, and Japanese food. When he’s not writing about games for a multitude of sites, he’s usually still playing one. Writing about video games is something he hopes to continue doing for many years to come.

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