VARYZNEX
Release date: Jan 22, 2025
Developers: zakichi
Publishers: zakichi
Genres: Action, Indie
Categories: Single-player, Steam Achievements, Full controller support, Steam Cloud, Steam Leaderboards, Family Sharing
Supported languages: English, Japanese

*The DEMO version is under production and may differ from the product version. A side-scrolling shooting game where you attack enemies with bits that can change the attack direction. By defeating an enemy, an energy item is released, which can be drawn to your aircraft when you release the attack button. The faster you acquire energy items after they appear, the more points and energy you will gain. The light blue gauge at the top is the hyper gauge and also serves as shield energy. (The small particles that move as if clinging to your aircraft indicate the number of times that it can be blocked by the shield.) When the energy is full, you can use 'Hyper'. When Hyper is ready for use, the BIT will light up with a sound indicating that it is ready for use. During Hyper, the shield will be turned off, but your own BIT will be able to block attacks from pink enemies. (During Hyper, the light blue gauge decreases over time, and when it runs out, it returns to normal) During the first hyper stage, your aircraft's attack will be changed to laser and the enemy's points will be doubled. If you collect more energy in that state, you will be able to use the second stage of Double Hyper. (The yellow gauge above the light blue gauge is the double hyper gauge) The hyper laser can collide with the laser of a boss or large enemy, and energy items will be released during the collision. Also, the energy ball generated by the collision deals a lot of damage to the enemy. Double Hyper becomes usable when the yellow gauge is at least half full, and when Double Hyper is activated, the yellow gauge moves directly to the light blue gauge, so the duration differs depending on the amount of accumulated energy. (When you exit Hyper without using Double Hyper, the yellow gauge is added to the light blue gauge as is) During Double Hyper, your aircraft will attack you with guided bullets and your score will be 4x. Enemies of medium size or larger have a timer, and as time passes, the damage will change from 8x → 4x → 2x → 1x. Combined with the hyper multiplier, you can get up to 32 times the score. During a boss battle, an energy item will be released for every 1/4 of the boss's physical strength, and the less time elapsed during the boss battle, the more items will be released. Also, the shorter the time it takes to defeat the boss, the greater the amount of 'defeat bonus energy'. (Score multiplier does not affect only the time to defeat) If your aircraft does not receive any damage in that STAGE, you will receive a NO MISS BONUS. If you get NO MISS BONUS in a row, the BONUS will increase. If you miss, the BONUS will return to its initial value. Also, the NO MISS BONUS on the final stage will be doubled. It is up to the player to decide whether to use Hyper to get a high score or use it for defense. *Settings on the settings screen BLUR :MIN allows you to turn off the blur effect in areas related to play. SHAKE:MIN allows you to turn off screen vibration in play-related situations. EFFECT: Set to MIN if you want to suppress the screen effect. WALL???: When ON, you will be warned of danger if you approach terrain with a collision detection. BUTTON: Change button notation to xbox or number LOW SPEED: OFF with no speed change, move at low speed while holding down the shot button (from ver.1.0.2, a separate low speed switching button has been added, ``change between low speed and normal speed each time the button is pressed'', and ``move at low speed while holding down the low speed button'' can be selected.The button must be assigned in the key configuration) HITBOX: Hit detection display during shot, or always ON or OFF BATTLESHIP:Stage 3 Giant Battleship music change BIT: Changed the way BIT is operated. *Bit operation method (type can be changed with SETTING) TYPE-A・TYPE-B You can change the BIT position each time you press the R button (default). TYPE-C・TYPE-D Change the position with the control lever while pressing R. When you release R, that position will be determined. TYPE-E・TYPE-F When R is not pressed, it will be fixed in the front, and while R is pressed, it will be fixed in a different position. (Position varies depending on whether lever input is used or not) *Config screen Separately from the settings screen (in the initial settings), you can use the ESC/start button to configure settings such as ``key configuration'', ``pad vibration'', ``volume adjustment'', ``full screen/window switching (window size is irrelevant in full screen)'', and you can also exit the game from here. *Difference between NORMAL HARD On the title screen, you can press the left and right keys to switch between NORMAL and HARD. (X-NORMAL and X-HARD have the same enemy attacks but different game rules.) On HARD, the number of energy items released by enemies other than enemy attacks is doubled, and the amount of energy that can be obtained from one item is halved (the score for one item remains the same). The amount of energy required when being hit is doubled, allowing you to withstand 3 attacks with full energy (6 times with NORMAL) After losing your aircraft, NORMAL will have the energy for one shield, but HARD will start from 0. *X-mode (X-NORMAL, X-HARD) The main difference from previous modes is the rules for shields. When the light blue gauge is at 1/6, you can hold one shield, and when the gauge is at half, you can hold one more, for a maximum of two shields (X-HARD is half and only one). When hit with a shield, the gauge does not decrease, and you cannot gain additional shields unless you decrease the gauge by activating a hyper or losing your ship. When you activate a hyper while holding a shield, you get a bonus of 10,000 points (X-NORMAL is 10,000 points with 2 shields remaining, 1,000 points with 1 shield remaining). When not in hyper mode, you can increase the light blue gauge by hitting an enemy with a shot. *Replay playback may not be normal depending on the content of the game update. Thank you for your understanding. 

Press reviews: “VARYZEX is a fantastic little SHMUP that is as fun for those getting into the genre as it is for those looking to take on the leaderboards thanks to its unique scoring system.” 4/5 – GAMBIT MAGAZINE