The arcade twin-stick shooter market is not as vibrant as it once was, giving CYGNI: All Guns Blazing a chance to impose itself on a forgotten genre. Its vibrant visuals and cacophonous combination of sounds and scores dominate the meal, but the rest of the experience is undercooked and disproportionate.
As an avid lover of twin-stick space shooters—with Housemarque’s Super Stardust and Resogun still considered must-plays—I was thrilled to hear KeelWorks’ CYGNI: All Guns Blazing was speeding towards us at warp speed…or at least I was until I played it.
CYGNI: All Guns Blazing takes the top-down, frontal view of Space Invaders and awkwardly meshes it with strange design choices to create an uneven and repetitive slog.
We need more guns
Everything started well with CYGNI: All Guns Blazing’s Tutorial. You learn how to fire weapons, eviscerate enemies on the ground, and get the general gist of movement and how to traverse the airspace. All seemed well, and I was excited to see how deep CYGNI could go.
I flew into medium difficulty off the bat (the middle setting of three), died multiple times, and couldn’t get through the first level. CYGNI is not an easy game, but that’s ok—I love a challenge. Within a handful of attempts, however, I was becoming quite bored with the level structure and repetitive nature of the enemy attack patterns and formations.
A quick switch to easy mode gave me better results—helped by its forgiving three-lives system, unlike Medium and Hard, where you get one shot to succeed—and I began to understand the mechanics and how to make the best use of them.
As I ventured into the second of seven missions (a paltry offering for its $29.99 price tag), the repetitiveness was seriously beginning to grate on me—after barely an hour of total playtime.
Lacking ideas and content
CYNGI: All Guns Blazing’s story amounts to a few minutes of cartoon cutscenes with generic exposition to the point that it’s almost negligible. So, let’s move onto the gameplay side of things—the meat of the matter. Every mission is a near 10–minute gauntlet featuring waves of alien ships trying to destroy you. You fly in a linear, on-rails fashion, and the goal is to reach the end of the stage and overcome the boss.
Sadly, CYNGI’s battles seem to go on forever and do little to excite. There’s little variation in enemy types and behavioral patterns, and the basic level design involves either defeating oncoming enemy ships in an open space or swatting annoying, smaller aliens in larger groups on either side of you down a tight-knit corridor. Foes traditionally zig-zag, loop, or mindlessly plow ahead in a straight line, and there are few interesting offensive maneuvers to learn, master, and defend against.
Ultimately, each level concludes with a dramatic boss fight—easily the best part of each level. These showdowns aren’t overtly complex but weave in enough variety to keep you on your toes. It is annoying that you must replay the whole level again if you die, though.
This is one of CYGNI‘s many strange design choices that I can’t help but fixate on. For instance, you can’t block or dodge—I even confirmed this with developer KeelWorks to be sure—making death more likely. The action is simply too frantic, fast-paced, and chaotic to be able to avoid everything without a dedicated dodge feature.
Enemies drop Energy pickups, which replenish your Shield, and they are plentiful, but the idea of compulsory damage doesn’t sit well with me. You can decide how much Shield and Attack Power you have at any one time, and in theory, you can have both full if you want to avoid taking damage for a while.
During sustained fire, I constantly mashed R1 to top up my Attack Power, as taking damage reduces it. Eventually, spamming R1 throughout every level became the norm. While I appreciate CYGNI’s intention to balance attack and defense, it becomes a nuisance rather than a fun niche—and leaves your fingers cramping.
There’s fun here and there, though, and playing the first few minutes of a new level temporarily alleviates previously accrued boredom. Level structures aren’t all cut and dry, with the beginning of one level forcing you to evade oncoming blockades and another disabling your ground attack. These differentiations are fleeting, however, and it isn’t long before the stale status quo resumes.
Premium, polished presentation
I can’t help but wonder if CYGNI’s budget was reserved for its sights and sounds, as they are genuinely a delight. The neon pulse of your weapons fizzing out at high speed never gets old, and while combat becomes overbearing and excessive at times, the continuous fireworks display is a sight for sore eyes. These visuals are backdropped by a dramatic orchestral score that truly elevates your immersion in the galactic action.
This sensory feast isn’t quite enough to make repeated playthroughs worth it, however. While Arcade Mode offers slight variation, you can theoretically run through all CYGNI’s seven missions in about an hour—and likely won’t feel a need to return.
Furthermore, frame rate drops disorientate you and stall any rhythm you have, and explosions (while gorgeous and striking) consume the screen with colors and piercing rays to literally blind you to unintentionally shield on-screen enemies with a fog-like cowl.
Big improvements needed
CYGNI: All Guns Blazing is a functional arcade shooter that’s pretty to look at and pleasant to listen to. Ravenous twin-stick shooter fans might be able to overlook its boring gameplay and myriad of faults, but I can’t. CYGNI is an average shooter with uninspired ideas that add nothing to a genre in need of a renaissance.
