Review – Cygni: All Guns Blazing

I was eagerly awaiting for the release of Cygni: All Guns Blazing. After literally finding out about its existence during a gaming show, when interviewing its developers out of the blue, I kept waiting for the final launch, as there were many things about it which caught my attention. A bullet-hell shooter endorsed by the publisher of Gradius, Salamander and Axelay, boasting some of the most impressive visuals the genre had ever seen at that point, actually taking advantage of the power of next-gen hardware? Yeah, I really wanted to play that bad boy, even after some delays and bouts of radio silence. Thankfully, Cygni: All Guns Blazing is finally out, and it’s surely an experience.

As expected, this is, indeed, a bullet hell shooter heavily inspired by games such as Radiant Silvergun, Ikaruga, Rayforce, Axelay, and many more. It’s also a middle ground between a traditional bullet hell shooter and a twin-stick shooter, as you have limited aiming capabilities with the right analog stick. You have to pay attention to enemy ships flying in front of you, as well as ground targets, just like in Xevious. You have a weapon for each kind of enemy, but you can only use one of them at a time. Thankfully, the ground laser features homing capabilities, so aiming at ground troops isn’t a hassle. It also looks great onscreen, as these ground explosions look massive.

Cygni: All Guns Blazing doesn’t focus a lot on in-level powerups. Instead, you need to pay attention to your energy meter, and transfer it between two essential components: missiles and shields. You will constantly toggle between making your ship bulkier and spend a bit of your reserves in order to create a barrage of homing missiles, which are essential whenever the screen gets filled to the brim with enemies. That, in fact, happens ever 5 seconds or so. This damn thing is brutal.

Calling a bullet hell shooter a hard game is not exactly shocking news, it’s like calling water wet. But Cygni takes things to a truly bonkers level. I am not joking when I state that Ikaruga is a LOT easier than this damn thing. The sheer amount of enemies onscreen means that your ship will constantly hide itself in the middle of a ton of laser beams, bullets, debris and explosions. It’s jaw-dropping to see the action ensuing onscreen, don’t get me wrong; Cygni might be the best-looking shooter of all time, by a mile. But you are a frail ship, the action is really hectic, the amount of enemies onscreen is astonishingly ludicrous, and if you’re playing on Normal or above, you have no continues.

My best suggestion: start on Easy mode. It’s still challenging, but you have a bit more bulk, and you have a few continues per level. Cygni only features seven levels, even if they are very long for bullet hell standards, so replayability is highly encouraged. The more you play, the more resources you’ll collect to improve your ship. You basically HAVE to arrive on Medium or higher with a souped-up ship, or else you’re toast.

Did the difficulty annoy me at first? Yes, but most levels follow the same pattern and enemy placement. You can learn from your (many) deaths, and there’s also the added benefit that everything is so freaking gorgeous to look at. Between the amazing in-game visuals, the Pixar-esque cutscenes, and the orchestral soundtrack, Cygni: All Guns Blazing is a blessing for your eyes and ears. It would have never worked as a Switch title, as this is the kind of game that NEEDS to be played on an immense screen. I just didn’t care at all about its story, its plot, its characters; this game is meant to be an arcade shooter, and that’s how I ended up treating it.

Cygni: All Guns Blazing is a hair-pulling experience which will enrage many people, if they are not used to how intense (and often unfair) old-school bullet hell shooters can be. Its level of difficulty is borderline insane at times. With that being said, it’s also one of the most engaging, beautiful and immersive bullet hell shooters I’ve ever played. If you can put up with starting off on an easier difficulty, and working your way up to higher difficulties by replaying older levels until your ship is beefed up to a satisfactory extent, you’ll be greeted with a high-octane sci-fi experience that felt like a proper spiritual sequel to classics like Radiant Silvergun and Ikaruga.

Probably the most technically advanced and visually impressive bullet hell shooter ever made, with amazing environments and designs. Your ship is minuscule, however, so it might often disappear in the middle of all ships, bullets and explosions coming at you at any given point. There’s too much stuff happening onscreen.	A middle ground between a traditional bullet hell shooter and a twin-stick shooter. You have limited aiming capabilities. Powerups are limited, with the game focusing more on an energry distribution system. A neat idea, in all honesty.
A symphonic soundtrack is always there accompanying the insanity happening onscreen. The voice acting, or what little of it is included, isn’t bad, but I would have been able to live without any of it, to be fair.	It will enrage many people, as its level of difficuly borders insanity. But it’s also one of the most engaging, beautiful and immersive bullet hell shooters I’ve ever played. Playing your first run on Easy is a necessity.
Final Verdict: 8.0

Cygni: All Guns Blazing is available now on PS5, Xbox Series S/X and PC

Reviewed on Xbox Series S

A copy of Cygni: All Guns Blazing was provided by the publisher.

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