On first glance, Satryn DX doesn’t appear to offer anything resoundingly new. It’s a twin-stick shooter in which you manoeuvre a teal-coloured warrior around single screen arenas, blasting tiny pixel art enemies and saving blob-like creatures. When all enemies are defeated, you’re transported to the next area – with a flashy blink-and-you’ll-miss-it primary-coloured transition screen. All of this is presented with ZX Spectrum-style visuals, colour clash and all.
Upon death, a QR code for an online high score leaderboard appears. Suddenly, everything clicks. Satryn DX is a thoroughbred score chaser, with no extras or filler such as a story mode, missions, or permanent upgrades. If you want to top that leaderboard, or at least break the top ten, you’ll need to learn its ways and master its subtleties.
Success lies within friendship, collecting as many blobs as possible before enemies turn them into puddles of goo. The more you have, the more frequently power-ups are doled. From an early stage, you’re forced to weigh up dashing to friends surrounded by enemies or letting one or two die in order to stay alive yourself. Two lives are granted at the start, with extra available for every sixty friends saved, and upon death your grand total is slashed, forcing you to recuperate to reach power-up heaven again. Robotron: 2084 is the obvious inspiration here, due to its friend saving aspect, but it also reminded me of 2015’s often-forgotten Ultratron.
It’s an experience very much centred around the power-ups, as waves are seemingly tailored to the arsenal available. If you’re faced with countless tiny ominous red blobs, you’re probably going to receive a mini-gun to mow them down. Tank units? A missile launcher. Large boss-style enemy approaching? Here’s a shield. Even if you miss a power-up before a wave ends, it’ll be automatically applied at the start of the next one. The accompanying assortment of crunchy retro-style sound effects is pleasing, with even a chime to warn when a power-up is about to end.
The more you play Satryn DX, the more accustomed to its waves you’ll become. It’s very fond of presenting a dozen enemies, luring you into a false sense of confidence, before adding a dozen more. These moments will catch you off guard initially, but with experience can be overcome easily. Every so often it’ll throw something new into the mix, such as a swirling vortex. Even the first stage can present a new challenge or hazard type occasionally.
The waves themselves vary greatly too. The aforementioned swarm of red blobs requires you to move in a 360 degree pattern, or to back into a corner. Shorter waves may see a trio of armoured tanks, while others entail an assortment of homing missile-launching fiends. Most deaths came at the hand of said missiles – also known as mites – which are barely a few pixels high.
I did wonder at times if those playing on a docked Switch would be at an advantage over handheld players. Satryn DX’s tiny pixel art really is tiny. Additionally, as you destroy enemies, the backdrop becomes coated in coloured plasma explosions, and I occasionally had trouble tracking red enemies on top of red plasma residue. The hues are different; just not remarkably so. It’s still definitely a stylish experience, complete with a bestiary that gradually fills with artwork and hints.
Even though it might leave you squinting, it manages to feel perfect for on-the-go handheld play, with most sessions lasting 10-15 minutes. I couldn’t see it working as well as it does on something like the PS5. As long as you understand that it’s an arcade-style score-chaser and not a modern experience with missions and unlocks, you can’t go wrong with committing to the cult of Saturn DX.
hello_maybell’s Satryn DX is out 18th July on Switch. Published by Flynn’s Arcade.