https://punkcake.itch.io/spectrum-forces

Make up your squads out of 9 unique ships and save 3 planets from hordes of robots in this colorful horizontal shoot-em-up!

Each of the 9 pilots in the Spectrum Forces has unique capacities. It’s up to you to select the right ones for the right job. You’ve been commissioned to clear 3 planets from the residing Abandonware. Try your best to not lose anyone while doing so!

I have to admit, I’ve played a lot of shooters. It’s not often that one surprises me … Ikaruga did, as did the early PC Touhou games. And this surprised me.

This horizontal shooter puts you in control of a squad of ships, each of which has a pilot with an actual character picture and personality, as well as its own unique properties. Only your squad leader is under your direct control and can build up their super move, but you can swap leaders out at any time.

You fly through the usual sorts of planets, blasting enemies, but with an important different from the usual: unlike the “option” drones you get in other horizontal shooters, if one of your squadmates gets hit too often, they’re going down.

In order to win through to the end, you have to conquer three planets, deal with enemies coming from all directions, and beat bosses that feel like they’re specifically tailored to your weaknesses.

Windows/Mac/Linux.