The Shoot ‘m Up That Can Change a Genre

[Note: The author of this article is directly affiliated with the Roche Fusion project which just launched on Steam.]

Let’s be fair for a moment. Shoot ’em ups (shmups) made in the last twenty years have been labeled many things – boring, repetitive, old-fashioned, unfair, and purely dependent on memorization. This all made the genre stop growing until it was only appealing to a certain niche market.

Trying to break the mold without breaking the core of what makes shoot ’em ups fun, the team behind Roche Fusion worked hard to create a game that can bring back this genre for mainstream gamers. Since the team consists of two different generations, we were easily able to take what people loved about the shmup genre and combine it with all the things they currently love in newer genres.

We got the old, the new, and a lot of crazy, and mixed it up to create Roche Fusion.

The Old:

• Loads of familiar weapons: We threw in all the awesome weapons seen in the genre
• Hordes of enemies: Sooner or later you will be swamped by enemies, depending on your skill set
• Lots of bosses: Who doesn’t like a good boss fight?
• Hard as nails: Although the game does many things differently, at the core remains the sense of challenge the genre is known for
• Tons of upgrades

• Multiplayer: Play with your friends

The New:

• Regenerative shield: No more one bullet = You die
• Six different ships with unique upgrades and ultimates: Guaranteeing six different experiences in playing the game
• Variety: Never get the same upgrades per game, so every run feels fresh
• Procedural gameplay: no more memorization
• Unlockables
• Achievements: 60+ achievements to set your teeth into

• Leaderboards: There are different leaderboards, in which everyone has the chance to shine for a moment

The Crazy:

• Unique upgrades: You’ll put in a lot of hours before you’ve used them all
• Unique upgrade combinations: To make things more strategical
• Easter eggs
• When playing in co-op, the veteran is the target: Enemies attack the better player more frequently, giving the other player some air to get into the game
• Ultimates: Each ship has a special ability that lets you go wild, destroying dozens of enemies in mere seconds
• Feel like a demigod: Not matter how new you are, everyone can feel like a demigod in this game.

• Explosions!

But Ultimately, we need YOU for the revolution!

So far, all the people that have played Roche Fusion have given positive reviews. (It even scored a 10/10 on 3rd-strike!). But in order to make a revolution happen in the shmup genre, we need the help of the public, YouTubers, bloggers, and press.

Want to help start a revolution? Test the game on Steam and share your reviews! Tell us and everyone else what you liked about it. But don’t hesitate to mentions the things you don’t like, too. Criticism will help us make better development choices in the future.

Help us get this awesome genre back into the hands of the mainstream gamers, the way it was back in the 80s and 90s – but with a few upgrades to match current gaming standards.