As the curtain rises, we follow rookie pilot A-Tak who just commandeered the titular fighter ship in a desperate bid to escape the empire. He quickly joins up with a tattered resistance and its leader, Beam. It’s just as trite as it sounds, and the randomness of the rougelike never gives these characters an opportunity to evolve. A-Tak is going to be just as much the picture of the cocky archtype at the end of the episodes as he was when you first turn the game on, and none of the handful of other characters are much better.

"This isn’t Geometry Wars here, and Galak-Z is crafted to make sure you look before you leap in."

The game separates itself into seasons, with four currently out and at least a fifth season on the way, with five randomly generated stages to a season. The plot of these is basic, and pointless; Meaningless fluff to give context to the objective, which is the only thing that varies. At least the moment to moment gameplay is exciting enough to drive players forward.

Galak-Z uses a control scheme that seems odd at first, relying on thrusters to maneuver over simple control stick manipulation. This choice has a learning curve like a brick wall, and I banged against it again and again until the intended, methodical pace of the game clicked. This isn’t Geometry Wars here, and Galak-Z is crafted to make sure you look before you leap in.

The floaty nature of the controls gives unmistakable impression that you’re in space and demands that even the act of stopping be deliberate. It’s borderline infuriating at first, but once you learn that flailing around and firing aimlessly isn’t going to get you anywhere but dead, the control precision works to the game’s favour. Though whether there wasn’t another way is up to interpretation.

"Creating both an elaborate sense of weight to your actions, and when they don’t work out, a crushing sense of defeat that games in the genre tend to be unable to afford."

The thruster based system gives you just as much opportunity to back out of a bad situation as you had getting into it, and once upgrades are found, the ability to circle strafe around foes, dodge shots and launch missiles to take on tougher foes. Subtle visual markers show offscreen enemy positions and the noise you make, keeping the field of view clear and suggesting light stealth elements, particularly when in a tight spot.

The rougelike structure reveals itself in just how relentlessly punishing death is. It enjoys creating both an elaborate sense of weight to your actions, and a crushing sense of defeat when they don’t work out, A feeling that Rougelikes can’t usually afford.. The game is split up into a number of seasons, with five episodes to it. Should you fail at any point within a season, you’re back to square one, with any upgrades you found along the way gone as well.

That doesn’t always mean starting from nothing though. If you find blueprints during a run, they’ll permanently live in the shop from that point on instead of needing to luck upon the upgrade in the field, and the game has a secondary currency in the form of ‘Crash Coins’ to be found in deep crevices in the stages or dropped by enemies and can be turned in for salvage at the beginning of each new attempt or season, letting you purchase any upgrades you might have the blueprints for. With five of them in hand however, you can save yourself the headache of replaying the whole season and restart a failed mission, though you’ll also have to track down all your acquired upgrades in a special crate floating somewhere in the level for the privilege.

"The mech form is an extra layer on the already nuanced combat, as well as just fun to control. "

The strategy of the game is elevated after clearing the first season, which beat the basic fighter style of play into you before introducing the gundam style robot transformation. The mech form is an extra layer on the already nuanced combat, as well as just fun to control.

Maneuvering it is much the same as the fighter, though it focuses on higher power melee combat and grappling as opposed to the firefighting you learned previously. It’s another way to tackle the further episodes in the game where they throw a few further enemy types at you, but the game from then on barely evolves. Instead of just going to an objective and shooting it, maybe you need to carry it out with the mech.

The Saturday morning anime vibe is carried by the presentation, sitting somewhere between Borderlands and Velocity 2X. The characters don’t look so much hand drawn as they do flash animated, and it occasionally looks strange in the occasional scene where faces besides A-Tak’s are shown. Gameplay is butter smooth though and it’s simple to identify elements around you, even if many of the asteroid cave systems look similar to each other from one mission to the next. This is paired with some background techno beats and atmospheric droning that is neither consequential nor memorable.

"I’m not sure Galak-Z benefits in any real way from its appropriation of the rougelike genre."

Galak-Z is an intentionally designed, thought out, soul beating take on a genre that, while it could honestly use some branching out, I’m not sure Galak-Z benefits in any real way from its appropriation of the rougelike genre. It has some moments where it can be a lot of fun, but it has more moments of pure frustration that just discouraged me from playing further. Fans of the genre might find a ton of enjoyment here, but most might rather bug out.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 4.

GamingBolt had a chance to speak to CEO and creative director Jake Kazdal about the game including overall development, gameplay mechanics, its release on the PS4 and much more.

Ravi Sinha: Galak-Z is considered as “modern Halo and Far Cry 3 combat in a 2D shell”, taking a more physics based approach to the typical shooter. Compared to the shoot ‘em ups we usually see, what will be the main challenge gamers will encounter?

Jake Kazdal: The combat at a glance looks like a classic arcade space shooter, but upon spending just a bit of time with it you’ll see its much closer to something like Halo or Far Cry, played from above with pitch-perfect 2D controls. A large part of combat is maneuvering, it looks like the bullet hell games of old, but this time you are actually using physics-based thrust controls to sidestep, boost forward and backwards, and juke roll over lines of incoming enemy fire and obstacles.

The A.I has eyes and ears, and will communicate with their squad members your position, try to flank you, send for backup, rush off to let their shields recharge before re-engaging in combat, and generally act like real, tiny pilots in this procedurally generated space landscape.

"At my core, I am a dedicated action gamer. I love fast paced turn based strategy like Advance Wars and Shining Force, so those were the inspirations for Skulls of the Shogun, but most of my game collection is adventure and action games."

Ravi Sinha: After Skulls of the Shogun, what prompted you to create a shooter, especially one reliant on physics?

Jake Kazdal: At my core, I am a dedicated action gamer. I love fast paced turn based strategy like Advance Wars and Shining Force, so those were the inspirations for Skulls of the Shogun, but most of my game collection is adventure and action games. I grew up playing games in Arcades, and a ton of NES and SNES, so that’s where my heart is. Galak-Z is a love letter to the classic action/adventure arcade games of my youth, but mixing in cutting edge physics simulation and artificial intelligence. I remember playing the original R-Type as Galak-Z was getting started and thinking “What would this game be like if each of those enemies actually had orders, personality types, an agenda, and intelligence? How amazing would that experience be?”

I’ve also always been in love with physics based gameplay, especially in a very clean 2D environment. There is such a depth, a richness to the encounters, and such a lovely learning curve. I think its honestly a big part of the success of Angry Birds, as well as classics like Asteroids and others like it. It takes a while to master, but it just FEELS so good, and once you are good at it, just maneuvering is such a joy…it adds so much to the experience. A big part of this game’s inspiration comes from the NES classic Solar Jetman, which was all about the physics based maneuvering a ship through space caves.

Ravi Sinha: Will Galak-Z have any co-op or multiplayer options?

Jake Kazdal: Most likely, we’re experimenting with those aspects right now, and have some very fun ideas of how to proceed.

Ravi Sinha: With regards to the weapons, what kind of selection can we look forward to?

Jake Kazdal: Customizing and upgrading your ship will be a large part of Galak-Z. The spectrum of what is possible is pretty fantastic, we’re looking forward to people getting their hands on it!

"Sony has been very proactive about securing amazing indie talent, and it's a huge part of their push for PS4. They confirmed Unity support for PS4 long before Microsoft did, so we approached them first, and it's just been fantastic ever since, no looking back."

Ravi Sinha: Will there be alternatives to using targeting weapons?

Jake Kazdal: There is much more coming, which we’ll be talking about more in the future!

Ravi Sinha: What can you tell us about Galak-Z’s art style? It seems to take a slightly cel-
shaded approach to environments and proceedings.

Jake Kazdal: Galak-Z is heavily visually inspired by the classic spaceship anime of the late 70’s and particularly early 80’s. Macross/Robotech and Yamato/StarBlazers in particular. The stylized explosions, burning lasers, and blue-skinned bad guys! Giant space battles and exploration of deep dark space caves full of weird plant and insect life…good stuff! A rich tapestry to draw from, and we’re hoping to really appeal to people who grew up watching that stuff, as well as younger audiences.

Ravi Sinha: Why is Galak-Z releasing for the PS4 and PC but not for Xbox One? How did you decide on the PS4 as your key platform?

Jake Kazdal: Sony has been very proactive about securing amazing indie talent, and it’s a huge part of their push for PS4. They confirmed Unity support for PS4 long before Microsoft did, so we approached them first, and it’s just been fantastic ever since, no looking back.

"Right now our relationship with Sony is going very well, it's probably too early to say just yet, but I assume we'll continue with them for our future projects. We don't have anything planned for Xbox at this time."

Ravi Sinha: In recent months especially given the success of the Xbox One and a revamp of Microsoft’s policies with ID@Xbox would you consider ever developing for the console in the near future?

Jake Kazdal: Right now our relationship with Sony is going very well, it’s probably too early to say just yet, but I assume we’ll continue with them for our future projects. We don’t have anything planned for Xbox at this time.

Ravi Sinha: What feature of the PS4 has you most excited? What are your thoughts on features such as Gaikai and backwards compatibility which are still to be revealed?

Jake Kazdal: Honestly I love many things about it, the controller is amazing, the great portfolio of indie games that’s coming, and the community features, particularly in something as dynamic and alive as Galak-Z, I can’t wait to see all the crazy encounters people post videos of online!

Ravi Sinha: Will Galak-Z be aiming for 1080p resolution and 60 fps as most games seem wont to achieve these days?

Jake Kazdal: Most likely. We’re actually asking a lot of the hardware as it is, but I love 60fps games!

Ravi Sinha: How will Galak-Z take advantage of the DualShock 4 controller’s features such as the touch pad? Will the touchpad help in any way when it comes to controlling your ship or targeting enemies?

Jake Kazdal: We actually haven’t spent any time on that yet, we’re working on perfecting other game systems right now and haven’t done a specific PS4 pass yet.

Galak-Z: The Dimensional is an upcoming indie shooter for the PlayStation 4. Developed by 17-BIT, the game was first announced during Sony’s press conference at E3 last year. We got in touch with CEO Jake Kazdal to talk how the game is shaping up on the PlayStation 4.

First of all, the developers are targeting to run the game at 1080P and 60 fps on the PlayStation 4. “Most likely. We’re actually asking a lot of the hardware as it is, but I love 60fps games!,” Jake confirmed to GamingBolt.

During our interview we also asked Jake the reason behind not developing Galak-Z for the Xbox One.

“Sony has been very proactive about securing amazing indie talent, and it’s a huge part of their push for PS4. They confirmed Unity support for PS4 long before Microsoft did, so we approached them first, and it’s just been fantastic ever since, no looking back,” he said.

We also asked whether they had any plans to develop any games for the Xbox One in the future given the recent success of the console and a revamp of Microsoft’s policies with ID@Xbox to which he replied:

“Right now our relationship with Sony is going very well, it’s probably too early to say just yet, but I assume we’ll continue with them for our future projects. We don’t have anything planned for Xbox at this time,” he revealed.

Galak-Z: The Dimensional is due for the PlayStation 4 and PC sometime this year. Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.