Satryn DX review

Evolving a coin-op classic. 

While there are a multitude of twin-stick shooters on the market, few channel the potencies of Robotron: 2084. Created by Eugene Jarvis and Larry DeMar and released to arcades in 1982, the coin-op delivered one of gaming’s first doses of manic intensity. Essentially, you had two straightforward goals: save members of a suburban family and gun down every last cybernetic abomination from the single-screen playfield.

Like most arcade titles of the era, the first wave allowed you to grow accustomed to moving and firing in eight directions, acting as a confidence builder. But soon, your self-assurance would be shattered. Subsequent waves were crammed with an ever-growing inventory of fuming foes, testing your ability to prioritize your targets. Largely, the Switch release of Satryn DX builds on this basic blueprint. Pleasingly, developer Maybell delivers frantic action better than Robotron’s own forgettable follow-up, Blaster.

Mutant Menagerie

Like Robotron, Satryn DX’s sprite-based graphics are deliberately simplistic, helping you to sort through the visual chaos to come. Initially, you’ll face packs of tiny red Bulbs, who doggedly pursue you about. After a few waves, many will mutate into Bomb Bulbs, who denote when shot, potentially killing anything caught in their blast radius. At its best, Satryn DX is like aikido, as you redirect your opponents’ potency against them.

Neglect to kill Mite Mamas quickly enough and you’ll face a struggle, as their larva fills the screen and the whole damn hive swarms toward your position. Pompis recall the space rocks from Asteroids. Shooting these geometric objects splinters them into smaller pieces that quickly ricochet off the edges of the screen.

Undoubtedly, one of the most challenging enemies are bubbles that can generate a rapidly revolving energy ray. You can shoot the beam, triggering a Dragon Ball-style struggle, but when other adversaries are harassing you, these showdowns can feel like fighting on two fronts. And while being able to shoot down enemy projectiles feels compassionate, occasionally the bullets blend in with the environmental hazards and Satryn’s backdrop that’s awash with enemy kills. It’s not a dealbreaker by any means, but you’ll have to learn how to ‘read’ the screen for threats.

Life Gets Easier with Friends

And it’s not just the robo-scorpions and tank-looking opponents you’ll need to eyeball. Each wave scatters a number of friends on the screen. Save these survivors from being slaughtered by roving adversaries and you’ll increase your score multiplier. And as you increase your score, Satryn DX drops temporary weaponry. From guns that fire in two, three, and even four directions, a flame thrower, and even a grenade launcher, there’s plenty of blissful moments where the hunted becomes the hunter. When these happen, you’ll realize that this is what a Robotron sequel truly needed.

Although there’s only a single game mode, Satryn DX does extend two welcome ancillaries. Naturally, a local high score is recorded. But if you want to compete globally, the game offers up a QR code, permitting you to acquire a coveted spot on the online leaderboard. Oddly, you can’t view the table within the game. Additionally, play gradually fills out the in-game manual, which chronicles enemies once they’ve been spotted and tracks the number of times each has been killed. I savor this kind of superfluous information. I also really appreciate how any unsaved Friends or power-ups are acquired at the end of a wave. It’s these kinds of little design decisions that make Satryn DX an essential experience for fans of arcade-style titles.

Satryn DX was played on Switch with review code provided by the publisher.