Just a brief post to start out the week, thanks to some screenshots that were released today for the horizontal scrolling shooter, Vritra Hexa.
For quick background, Vritra is an obscure shoot ’em up that was first released to mobile platforms in 2017, with a “Complete Edition” port to PCs in 2018. It is kind of like Dragon Spirit meets Darius, a unique blend that becomes its own thing. It is coming to arcades via the Exa-Arcadia platform sometime this year, where it is receiving a number of updates so that this should be the final-final directors cut of the game. Among the new screenshots that were released today, this one shows a brand new boss that was created just for this edition:
UPDATE (July 1): A trailer has just been released for the game:
Another addition that we know about that you won’t find with other versions is the ability to play with a friend at the same time. I think this is always welcome, as single-player only games do tend to be poor earners these days (although maybe that will change depending on how things go with social distancing norms):
The weapons system has also changed. In the PC version, you have two sets that you can choose from, with certain colors popping up through gameplay. In this version, you can instead choose any combination of the available weapons in a set of three. It also shows that they are on a scaled difficulty ladder, and the arcade version will have new weapons to use, such as Black:
I’ve been following the developer on Twitter for a while now, where he has been keeping everyone interested in the Exa edition’s progress up-to-date. These have been occasionally shared during Newsbytes posts, showing things like stress testing and an online ranking system. They have also shown that the game moves very fast – while safe to say 60fps, often times it appears to be running higher (perhaps 90). It should also be noted that this supports cabinets with 720p, 1080p and 4K monitors; I have to imagine that it’s quite the looker on a 4K screen:
You can find these and other new screenshots on the Vritra Hexa product page, although it is not yet showing an opening for pre-orders. Looking at the progress though, I have to imagine that it isn’t too much longer of a wait; It will certainly show up this year. What you do think about this – is Vritra the kind of game that you’d want your local arcade to grab?
