Beyond the Storm

About

Beyond the Storm is a single player arcade shooter game with a science fiction theme. It was developed by Leandro Gabriel and was released on October 3, 2022. It received mostly positive reviews from players.

Beyond the Storm is a love-letter to the iconic shmup Tyrian, bringing back the same experience from the past while adding improved visuals, new stories and a lot of more content!

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

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76%

Audience ScoreBased on 21 reviews

music3 positive mentions

story3 negative mentions

Visually stunning with a detailed world and captivating atmosphere, enhanced by an excellent soundtrack.
Introduces interesting gameplay mechanics like power management and an open-world map, allowing for more exploration and customization.
Fans of the original Tyrian will appreciate the nostalgic elements and the effort to modernize the gameplay experience.

The storyline feels disjointed and predictable, with underdeveloped characters and unclear motivations.
Gameplay can be frustrating due to an awkward combat system, high difficulty spikes, and tedious resource management.
The game suffers from technical issues, including low-resolution graphics, poor menu navigation, and a lack of polish that makes it feel unfinished.

story
9 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
11%
56%
33%
The story aspect of the game is criticized for its lack of clarity and coherence, with missions scattered across an open world that disrupts the narrative flow. Players find the reliance on randomly dropped data cubes and fuel to progress frustrating, leading to grinding and potential soft locks in the campaign. Overall, the storytelling is deemed insufficiently supported by the game's mechanics and presentation.
- “Firstly, the game now needs a clear story, with missions being scattered around the map. You have to have a method to pick the next place to go, and the writing (and presentation of the story via dropped data cubes) doesn't support this.”
- “Firstly, the game now needs a clear story. With missions being scattered around the map, you have to have a method to pick the next place to go, and the writing (and presentation of the story via dropped data cubes) doesn't support this.”
- “Secondly, the need to travel means fuel, and that fuel (along with the data cubes that drive the story) is randomly dropped during missions. You might get 0, or you might get 7, but often you'll get just one.”
- “Worst of all, I ended up seemingly soft-locked in what I think was the story campaign as no data cubes would drop when I reached my destination.”
gameplay
7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
29%
28%
43%
The gameplay in [i]Beyond the Storm[/i] introduces several new mechanics, such as power management and a non-linear map, but many of these ideas feel underdeveloped and hinder the overall experience. Players note that the open world design disrupts the flow of the game, leading to excessive grinding and inconsistent level lengths, while the ship controls can become unwieldy at higher speeds. Despite having a solid foundation, the game would greatly benefit from further refinement in its mechanics, art, and writing to enhance the core gameplay experience.
- “Not content to merely recreate the old game, 'Beyond the Storm' adds a power management mechanic (with an in-flight slow-motion if you make adjustments on the fly), a grid-based space map which the player can traverse non-linearly (by spending warp fuel cells), and the ability to select from and repeat levels (sectors).”
- “There is the core of a good game here and, for a one-man show, the product so far is pretty impressive; but the game would seriously benefit from a professional artist reviewing the new art-set (and being ruthless), dedicated translations (some of the 'database entries' are outright incomprehensible), perhaps a punchier synth mix for the soundtrack and a tighter view on the gameplay.”
- “That theme continues into the gameplay - most of the new ideas are conceptually quite good, but fall flat: the new power juggling dynamic is basically pointless, once you fine-tune the front-firing guns to have enough juice (by default the game only allocates half your generator towards them, and resets whenever you upgrade the generator); the open world idea breaks up the linear flow of Tyrian to its detriment, forcing you to grind levels to have enough fuel to move to the next area; that's exacerbated by what seems to be a semi-procedural aspect - while enemies might be the same in replaying the same mission, the levels do (not always but sometimes) vary slightly; the sheer number of required levels (which is probably what is driving that procedural generation?) also means that some are outrageously short (30 seconds at most), while a couple were comically long (like 5 minutes, with the last minute being almost completely silent flying with no enemies).”
- “The Tyrian gameplay is here, but it's hidden behind some design decisions that obstruct and obscure the core of the game.”
- “Mechanically the ships work fine, but once you move to faster ships, the movement becomes too fast to get fine control (unlike the original, ships don't accelerate up to their fastest lateral speed), which is criticized by some below.”
music
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
17%
33%
The music in the game is generally praised for its fitting and nostalgic quality, with some tracks being remixes of original songs and others being new compositions that capture the essence of the classic Tyrian. While the soundtrack is well-received, some reviewers suggest that a more polished synth mix could enhance the overall experience. Overall, the music effectively evokes the old-school vibe that fans of the original game appreciate.
- “The music feels good and fitting, with some remixes of original songs and some new tracks that I think are great.”
- “The art and music are instantly recognizable as updated takes on the original; there's a similar sense of humor in its writing.”
- “The game would seriously benefit from a punchier synth mix for the soundtrack.”
- “Music really captures the old school Tyrian vibe.”
graphics
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
17%
50%
The graphics in the game exhibit a mix of low and high resolutions, with some elements feeling uninspired due to their reliance on upscaled original Tyrian graphics. While some players appreciate the nostalgic touch, others criticize the blending backgrounds and lack of a distinct artistic style, suggesting that improvements could be made through better upscaling techniques. Overall, the visual presentation is seen as inconsistent and in need of refinement.
- “If you've played Tyrian, you'll recognize some of the graphics from the game, touched up for the higher resolution, and I don't mind that.”
- “Some graphics feel quite low resolution, while others are very high resolution; the low ones could be upscaled with AI or a high-quality algorithm to enhance their appearance.”
- “Some graphics feel quite low resolution, while others are very high resolution. The low-resolution ones could be upscaled with AI or a high-quality algorithm and then put back into the data files to make them look better than whatever filtering GameMaker has (which looks like simple bilinear).”
- “The graphics are upscaled versions of the original Tyrian graphics, which is a little uninspired.”
- “But the background blends in and isn't aesthetically pleasing; sometimes it feels like someone went a bit too wild with Photoshop, rather than developing a distinct style.”
grinding
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find the grinding aspect of the game tedious, particularly due to the limitation of collecting only nine energy cells, which forces them to repeatedly farm missions to progress. While the open map concept is appreciated, the necessity to grind for resources to navigate effectively detracts from the overall experience.
- “Since the world map routinely has you moving 9 spaces to the next mission, that means grinding the one available mission at the current location 9 times. If you try and go halfway, you might get lucky and find some fuel as you go, but more likely you'll have to pay to go back to where you were when you run out of fuel.”
- “I don't want to be stuck in an empty space square, farming cells to get to my next destination.”
- “The new open map style is nice right now, but using energy cells to traverse the grid and grinding up more cells once you reach your destination to make your next jump feels tedious.”
humor
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is highlighted through the quirky personalities of the datacubes and amusing advertisements, as well as the comedic situations that arise from managing damaged power cells during combat, adding a lighthearted touch to gameplay.
- “The datacubes in Tyrian had personality, whether it was the characters or the funny little ads.”
- “Another change regarding power: your power cells can be damaged in combat, meaning you may need to re-route power on the fly (hilarious, I know) to compensate for damaged cells.”
replayability
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Reviewers highlight that the game's updated art, music, and humor, along with its modular spaceship equipment system, contribute significantly to its replayability, offering players a fresh yet familiar experience that encourages multiple playthroughs.
- “The art and music are instantly recognizable as updated takes on the original; there's a similar sense of humor in its writing; and of course, there is the same modular spaceship equipment system that gave Tyrian its depth and replayability.”
monetization
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The monetization in Tyrian is characterized by its engaging and humorous approach, featuring personality-infused datacubes and amusing advertisements that enhance the overall experience.