Xeno Crisis aims to recreate the look and feel of classic Sega games alongside its top-down shooter action, bringing the whole package to players through Sega Mega Drive and Sega Genesis cartridges, as well as CD-based releases for the Sega Dreamcast.
Xeno Crisis drops players inside a procedurally-generated labyrinth of alien foes and hostages, tasking them with shooting their way through hordes of enemies while seeing who they can rescue. Players will need to stay on the move, not just due to the number of foes, but also because their weapons all have limited ammo, requiring players constantly grab new guns to stay in the fight. Players are able to use a rolling dodge to get out of danger as they look for a gun, but they’ll want to grab new firearms quickly.
Xeno Crisis gives players three continues to reach the end of its five areas, with running out of health bringing players to the continue screen. They can avoid that by having a second player join the fray, making battle easier but also reviving the dead character by having the surviving player walk safely to another room. However, things get a little more difficult because players will be sharing the ammo pickups that enemies drop, meaning they’ll need to take a bit more care with their shots.
Rocket launchers, vulcan blasters, lasers, and a handful of other guns give players a varied arsenal to battle with. Players can also customize their character with upgrades purchased with dog tags enemies drop, allowing them to change their powers to better suit their play style.
Xeno Crisis is currently raising funding on Kickstarter, with a projected release for the roms and cartridges/cds in October 2018 alongside the 30th anniversary of the Mega Drive’s launch in Japan.
