Nex Machina

for fans of the traditional arcade twin stick shooter, this is a must own, but there are some unfortunate caveats.
At a core game design level, Nex Machina is at the top of its genre, offering perhaps the best moment to moment experiences of pure arcade fun and challenge. A few key shortcomings hold it back from being the definitive best, arguably being slightly edged out by Assault Android Cactus as a total package.
1.) Skimpy on modes to add variety and replayability. All that’s really there is the 5 stage arcade mode, individual level mode and “missions”, but the missions are just also individual levels with basically only a single modifier (increasing global game speed). Assault Android Cactus completely clears Nex in this category, offering an endless arena mode, 9 characters with vastly different playstyles, procedural daily challenges, better modifiers like increasing enemies up to 4X, S+ challenges of not dying/dropping kill chain.
2.) poorly thought out death system. In Nex, you are given 3-5 lives, and the difficulty you select changes the number of continues you can use upon losing all lives. The hardest difficulty available at the start gives you 10 continues, or essentially 30-50 lives. The major problem is that upon using a continue, you lose all your upgrades. Depending on where you have to continue, you can be screwed even if you are a good player due to not being powered up to deal with a particularly nasty room or boss. It’s not uncommon to go into one of the later bosses with 10 continues, dying, and then basically burning through all the 10 continues just hopelessly trying to get through the boss without power ups.
3.) visually hard on the eyes. This one is more subjective, but as someone who considers themselves more on the hardcore spectrum of gamers, that this was a problem for me I think says something about the visual clarity of the game. It can be frustrating losing a life due to an enemy you didn’t see or getting stuck in a weird corner of the stage geometry that doesn’t seem like it should be there. These are not too frequent, but it’s still significant enough to bring up. The dash and special weapon recharge icons are also not ideal at all leading the player to have to guess often when their dash has recharged. There is a sound effect for when dash replenishes, but it frequently gets lost in the sound, and visually should have been made into large bars on the side of the screen, as the game gets too busy to be able to look under your player’s avatar for the small white half circle to tell when your dash is recharged.
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Some of these issues exist simply because the game did not sell well enough to be further supported with more content. This game was worked on by Eugene Jarvis, the legendary man behind games that created the genre in the first place like robotron and Smash TV. Eugene is simply a master of game design, and his skill does reflect overall in the game design of Nex. When you play it, you can feel under the hood it was designed by a master. Addressing some of these issues would have probably elevated the game to being the #1 twinstick available on steam, and it may still provide the most raw enjoyment. I would argue Assault Android Cactus still manages to remain king of the genre due to its elegant, demanding yet fair design, but also its sheer replay value and skill ceiling.
Even with some of its severe problems, its excellence in game design still manages to shine through enough to recommend to any twinstick shooter fan.

Steam User 3

Reviewed last year

This is an all-night, eyes-bleeding, monster-chugging, astral-projecting experience. Love it.
Steam User 2

Reviewed last year

for fans of the traditional arcade twin stick shooter, this is a must own, but there are some unfortunate caveats.
At a core game design level, Nex Machina is at the top of its genre, offering perhaps the best moment to moment experiences of pure arcade fun and challenge. A few key shortcomings hold it back from being the definitive best, arguably being slightly edged out by Assault Android Cactus as a total package.
1.) Skimpy on modes to add variety and replayability. All that’s really there is the 5 stage arcade mode, individual level mode and “missions”, but the missions are just also individual levels with basically only a single modifier (increasing global game speed). Assault Android Cactus completely clears Nex in this category, offering an endless arena mode, 9 characters with vastly different playstyles, procedural daily challenges, better modifiers like increasing enemies up to 4X, S+ challenges of not dying/dropping kill chain.
2.) poorly thought out death system. In Nex, you are given 3-5 lives, and the difficulty you select changes the number of continues you can use upon losing all lives. The hardest difficulty available at the start gives you 10 continues, or essentially 30-50 lives. The major problem is that upon using a continue, you lose all your upgrades. Depending on where you have to continue, you can be screwed even if you are a good player due to not being powered up to deal with a particularly nasty room or boss. It’s not uncommon to go into one of the later bosses with 10 continues, dying, and then basically burning through all the 10 continues just hopelessly trying to get through the boss without power ups.
3.) visually hard on the eyes. This one is more subjective, but as someone who considers themselves more on the hardcore spectrum of gamers, that this was a problem for me I think says something about the visual clarity of the game. It can be frustrating losing a life due to an enemy you didn’t see or getting stuck in a weird corner of the stage geometry that doesn’t seem like it should be there. These are not too frequent, but it’s still significant enough to bring up. The dash and special weapon recharge icons are also not ideal at all leading the player to have to guess often when their dash has recharged. There is a sound effect for when dash replenishes, but it frequently gets lost in the sound, and visually should have been made into large bars on the side of the screen, as the game gets too busy to be able to look under your player’s avatar for the small white half circle to tell when your dash is recharged.
————————-
Some of these issues exist simply because the game did not sell well enough to be further supported with more content. This game was worked on by Eugene Jarvis, the legendary man behind games that created the genre in the first place like robotron and Smash TV. Eugene is simply a master of game design, and his skill does reflect overall in the game design of Nex. When you play it, you can feel under the hood it was designed by a master. Addressing some of these issues would have probably elevated the game to being the #1 twinstick available on steam, and it may still provide the most raw enjoyment. I would argue Assault Android Cactus still manages to remain king of the genre due to its elegant, demanding yet fair design, but also its sheer replay value and skill ceiling.
Even with some of its severe problems, its excellence in game design still manages to shine through enough to recommend to any twinstick shooter fan.
Steam User 1

Reviewed last month

This is absolute arcade perfection. The tight gameplay, the gorgeous bright graphics, the fist pumping epic gameplay. This game has it all. The score mechanics are simple but effective, and it's incredible just that feeling of getting better and better and climbing through the leaderboards, as it should be.
Steam User 1

Reviewed 4 weeks ago

One of the best arcade titles ever made, it's polished, challenging and very addicting. I wish we got more Housemarque games on Steam, Resogun is another masterpiece that I wish I had access to on Steam Deck.
Steam User 1

Reviewed last year

Such a great arcade twin sticker shooter! Only a few hours in so far but it's been amazing.
(+) the game is gorgeous! And I didn't really find any jarring situation where the graphics hamper the gameplay here.
(+) simple and very effective gameplay loop
(+) a lot of replayability here!
(-) had to tinker to make it work on steam deck
Steam User 0

Reviewed last month

Top tier gameplay, top tier sfx / music, top tier visuals.
The only thing I miss really badly here is Online co-op (only splitscreen local co-op available)
Steam User 0

Reviewed last month

Pure arcade fun, a must play if you like the twin shooters

Nex Machina

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