Bright explosions, film static, and cute anime girls. The 80s are back.
Rogue Flight is a brand new rail shooter similar to the Star Fox series. Except instead of furries we’ve got old school anime characters. Nadia (who reminds me a lot of Noa Izumi from Patlabor) is the only one with piloting experience left in the resistance of humanity and it’s up to her to save the day.
Humanity created an artificial intelligence called ARGUS, which soon went rogue and overtook all of humanity’s automated systems. After discovering a prototype starfighter in a hidden military base, humanity has their best shot at freedom and it’s all in Nadia’s hands.
Rogue Flight
Developer: Truant Pixel
Publisher: Perp Games
Platforms: Microsoft Windows (Reviewed), PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, Nintendo Switch
Release Date: October 25, 2024
Players: 1
Price: $19.99
Our first impression of Rogue Flight comes from its opening cinematic and story. Admittedly, a story about a rogue AI taking over isn’t exactly original, but it can be done in so many ways it’s basically a genre staple. So let’s set that aside.
The human resistance has uncovered a hidden military installation called Bow, and within it is the experimental starship aptly called Arrow. As Nadia, the player is the only one in the resistance capable of piloting Arrow and saving humanity.
Players are taken through a set of three paths, Alpha, Beta, and Gamma. Each one has a different story and set of stages to progress through. For my first playthrough, I went for the more ambitious Gamma route which has Nadia hit up Io, Umbriel, and Saturn on a one-way mission of destruction against ARGUS.
Each stage is punctuated with fully voiced cutscenes, allowing us to get closer to Nadia and her support crew back on Earth. The scenes are partially animated with 3D renders, mostly showing Nadia piloting in the vastness of space and grappling with her own self-reflections.
I’ve played a handful of bullet hells from Touhou to Darius, and the most important thing to me is clearly telegraphing attacks. Unfortunately, I’d consider this the weakest part of Rogue Flight. Enemies and bullets alike blend into the background which sacrifices clarity for immersion.
I thought the enemies and boss fights were cool to look at, but too often I wasn’t able to understand what I was shooting at and whether or not I was actually doing damage. Combine this with the most common enemy attack being a thin red-black laser that you can barely see (especially on the lava stage) and it can be frustrating.
The game does give you some forgiving tools to compensate, since it’s almost a given that you’ll take damage. First, your health regenerates as you combo enemies, and most bosses have smaller enemies that appear in waves during their rotation. This allows players to recover after mistakes. The other thing is the barrel roll maneuver. There’s no downside to just spamming it, it’s not the most immersive solution, as it looks goofy to just spam barrel roll, but it really helps. Especially since there’s not very many i-frames after being hit; a barrage of shots or a laser can quickly chunk your health.
There’s also a variety of weapons, and the default weapon is perfectly fine for beating the game (and I didn’t find any unlockable weapons during my first playthrough). In fact, that’s another thing that Rogue Flight could stand to do better, letting you know that you can upgrade your ship mid-campaign. I did the first five stages with the default loadout, and on the final stage I realized I had some upgrades unlocked. My maneuverability skyrocketed, I increased my shields by 50% and I increased my shield regen by 600% (at least if I was reading the upgrade correctly). It made a huge difference I probably could have used earlier.
Despite my complaints, it’s still a fun rail shooter. Comboing enemies and using your special to wipe out horizontal lines of them is satisfying, and as you play you learn each enemy type and how to prioritize them (kill dudes who shoot lasers first). The music has this cool synth vibe that fits with the retro anime feel the game is trying to evoke.
The game includes multiple customizations including decals, trim colors, and even a callsign. You can unlock most of these by just playing through the story once.
In addition to the story, there’s not only a New Game+, but also a roguelike mode where you only have one life and pick up exciting upgrades along the way in a bid for a top score, giving the game even more replayability.
Ultimately, Rogue Flight is a love letter to retro anime and manages to impress with its story and voice work. The combat is a bit too hectic to be considered strategic, but conversely that makes it an easier game to pick up.
Rogue Flight is launching on October 25th for Windows PC (via Steam), Xbox Series X|S, Switch, and PS5.
Rogue Flight was reviewed on PC (via Steam) using a code provided by Truant Pixel. You can find additional information about Niche Gamer’s review/ethics policy here
