Ex-Zodiac

About

Ex-Zodiac is a single player arcade shooter game with a science fiction theme. It was developed by Pixeljam and was released on July 21, 2022. It received very positive reviews from players.

A fast-paced low-poly 3D rail shooter heavily inspired by classics of the early 90's. Join protagonist Kyuu as she fights to free the worlds of the Sanzaru Star System, overrun by the intergalactic terrorist organization known as Zodiac.

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94%

Audience ScoreBased on 833 reviews

music109 positive mentions

Excellent homage to SNES Star Fox with smooth and responsive controls resembling Star Fox 64.
Vibrant low-poly graphics and catchy, high-energy soundtrack that capture a nostalgic 90s arcade feel.
Challenging but fair gameplay with varied levels, creative boss fights, and additional Space Harrier style bonus stages.

Dialogues are difficult to read during intense gameplay due to poor timing and lack of voice acting.
Camera positioning and movement can be sluggish or floaty, making targeting and dodging projectiles harder than necessary.
Limited content currently in early access, short levels, and some mechanics like power-up retention and HUD info need improvement.

music
203 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
54%
45%
1%
The music is widely praised for its energetic, catchy chiptune and retro-inspired soundtrack that perfectly complements the game's fast-paced, on-rails shooter gameplay and nostalgic 90s arcade vibe. Composed by +tek, the soundtrack masterfully blends retro synthesis, jazz, and prog rock elements, often evoking a Super Nintendo or SNES-era soundfont, and is considered a standout feature that enhances the overall atmosphere and player engagement. Many players highlight the soundtrack’s quality and memorability, with some even purchasing it separately due to its strong appeal.
- “The preview version of the game took just over an hour to complete (not much different from Star Fox 64), but there is so much charm here. You can bet I will be coming back. The design is perfect and simple, the sounds are authentic and satisfying, the controls are intuitive and fluid, and the music is energetic and authentic! The graphics look like what the VFX chip felt like as a kid (better in reality and easy on the eyes) and the soundtrack sounds just like it is coming from a Super Nintendo sound chip.”
- “It's just incredible how well this indie game captures the gameplay and feel of the early Star Fox titles and mashes it up with the colorful presentation and the catchy music of a 90's arcade game!”
- “The soundtrack is a pleasing array of chiptune music that sounds like it was lifted from a 16-bit game cartridge. Every stage had its own memorable anthem and I'm sure many players will be humming the first stage theme after longer play sessions.”
- “The music is also something that I believe is one of the best things about the game as it captures the 90s era perfectly.”
- “The music is okay but the "voices" sound like frogs talking at lightspeed and there's no way to turn it off without turning off all the sound effects.”
- “…before having viewed more reviews, my main complaint was about the music itself.”
graphics
180 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
46%
52%
2%
The graphics of the game are widely praised for faithfully capturing the SNES Star Fox aesthetic with vibrant, low-poly visuals that blend retro charm and modern clarity. Players appreciate the nostalgic, colorful, and stylized art style, often described as a tasteful homage to early 3D polygonal graphics combined with vaporwave influences, all running smoothly at high frame rates. While some note minor issues with resolution modes and occasional graphical bugs, the overall graphics are seen as a key strength that greatly enhances the game's engaging, fast-paced experience.
- “With faithful graphics that always feel accurate to the SNES Starfox era even when they do things that the console could never achieve, snappy controls, a good deal of variety, and all-time great music, this is absolutely not one to miss.”
- “The game can be set to emulate the classic SNES Starfox 15fps framerate and resolution for maximum authentic aesthetics.”
- “Ex-zodiac's graphics are a fantastic callback to the early 3D polygons on the SNES thanks to the ol' SuperFX chip.”
- “I think the two graphics modes, low/high resolution, are both slightly too extreme.”
- “The low-resolution graphics are a little too over the top and I struggled to see everything clearly.”
- “I would love an in-between graphics mode.”
gameplay
180 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
38%
60%
2%
The gameplay of Ex-Zodiac is widely praised for its tight, smooth, and challenging on-rails shooting mechanics that pay homage to and build upon classic Star Fox titles, blending retro aesthetics with modern polish. While some find the difficulty high and the missile lock-on mechanics somewhat underdeveloped, the varied gameplay styles, responsive controls, and engaging arcade-style action offer satisfying replayability for fans of the genre. However, the fast pace and intense action can make reading in-game dialogue difficult, and the game currently lacks certain modern mechanics or deeper narrative integration.
- “The core gameplay is built around on-rails shooting, where your ship is constantly propelled forward through handcrafted stages filled with enemy formations, environmental hazards, and cinematic set pieces.”
- “The gameplay is like an elevation of the old Star Fox formula, with the auto-scrolling 3D shooting, the barrel rolls, the homing attacks, and a decent difficulty level.”
- “Gameplay is tight, levels are fun, visuals are great.”
- “Weapon fire is locked to the camera speed instead of stage position resulting in no viable effect to gameplay.”
- “Getting past stage 1 assumes you understand this kind of gameplay and will not ease you into the game at all - this is a high barrier of entry to get players interested.”
- “Taking damage completely stops you from moving forward for a second or two, slowing down the whole stage and throwing off the rhythm of gameplay.”
story
86 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
13%
84%
3%
The story in Ex-Zodiac is simple and serves mainly as a thematic backdrop rather than a driving narrative, reminiscent of classic retro games like Star Fox. While the gameplay and missions are praised, users feel the story could benefit from more development, clearer presentation, and additional character interactions between missions to enhance immersion. Dialogue during intense gameplay often gets missed, and a more cinematic or voice-acted approach is suggested to better convey the plot.
- “This is an absolute gem that wears its Star Fox inspiration proudly on its sleeve while improving many of the systems and telling a very fun soft sci-fi story.”
- “Tales - story is appropriately Saturday morning cartoon fare that you expect and appreciate in a good retro throwback.”
- “You play as monkey-girl space pilot Kyuu, on a quest to defeat the forces of the terrorist group Zodiac, currently causing havoc all over the Sanzaru system.”
- “Kyuu’s mission to dismantle the zodiac threat across multiple planets functions primarily as a thematic throughline rather than a story-driven experience.”
- “Little in terms of story, needs more buildup.”
- “The story is not there and the two main characters have no character.”
replayability
30 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
37%
53%
10%
The game offers strong replayability through its arcade-style progression, scoring system, rankings, and hidden secrets, encouraging players to improve performance and discover bonus content. While its base content is relatively short, tightly designed gameplay, challenging objectives, and collectibles provide ample motivation for repeated play, appealing especially to fans of classic rail shooters. Overall, replayability is a key strength, with potential for further expansion as development continues.
- “A fantastic take on the 90's rail shooter that's fun and extremely replayable.”
- “The replayability is great, with some very hard challenges to overcome to see it all.”
- “Easy to learn but difficult to master, which lends itself to replayability.”
- “Still, I'm sure it's the kind of thing most people will not see a problem with, and there's definitely an audience that will enjoy it, but for me, it's kind of a bad way to instill replayability.”
- “Despite the inherent replayability of levels both to chase high scores and to unlock those bonus levels, there’s barely more than a couple of hours of gameplay here currently.”
- “(Slight edit: I guess you could also view WS as a game with a lot more playtime, vs this game's hour or so. EZ has some replayability in redoing missions for better scores or for getting secrets, but that's it. I still prefer EZ to WS though.)”
optimization
9 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
34%
33%
The game is well optimized, delivering smooth 60fps performance with minimal hardware strain and a stylish low-poly aesthetic. It includes a scoring and ranking system that encourages replayability and skill improvement, though occasional minor issues like stuttering on resolution changes may require a restart. Overall, the optimization supports fluid gameplay and engaging performance-based challenges.
- “Great stylized graphics that don't heat up a video chip, unlike many modern low-graphic games; very well optimized.”
- “Unlimited by the technical wizardry of the superfx chips, Ex-Zodiac combines excellent score-chasing level design with silky-smooth performance.”
- “The low-poly aesthetic is lovely and flows excellently at 60fps, but for purists, the game lets you set it to 15fps to emulate the Star Fox SNES performance.”
- “If you do switch to hi-res, be warned that a game restart may be necessary to resolve stuttering issues (likely caching issue, should only happen once).”
- “The one thing I kinda don't like is being graded for my performance at the end of levels.”
- “You can also S-rank each mission, so replaying everything isn't just for a score, but overall performance as well.”
humor
7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is quirky and character-driven, featuring cute and amusing characters, with some players finding the writing genuinely funny and enjoyable. However, it may not appeal to everyone, as some found it less charming or funny compared to similar titles. Overall, the humor enhances the game's charm but is subjective to individual taste.
- “You get cute monkey girls for the protagonists, tons of funny-looking furry villains, and a mysterious third monkey girl that pops in near the end for just a few seconds.”
- “The flying, the funny dialogue, the shooting, the upgrades, it's all here!”
- “The writing is funny and enjoyable.”
character development
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
17%
33%
The game receives strong praise for its excellent and visually appealing character designs, though some users feel that the characters' personalities and interactions could be more developed and fleshed out.
- “Incredibly nice visual style and character designs; feels great to control!”
- “One other thing I'd be remiss not to mention is how much I love all the character designs.”
- “The character designs are excellent!”
- “I also like the character designs, but I just wished their personalities were more fleshed out. I'm going to choose to believe that will be worked on in the final release.”
- “I really like the character designs, but the character interaction and banter of Star Fox is missing.”
atmosphere
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
60%
40%
The atmosphere is generally praised for its fantastic aesthetics and catchy music, which effectively enhances the game's mood. However, some find it unmemorable or occasionally irritating compared to more iconic and polished atmospheres like those in Star Fox 64. Overall, it delivers a unique, surreal vibe that appeals to fans of atmospheric rail shooters.
- “The music is fantastic, and quite catchy, which can truly make or break the atmosphere of these games.”
- “The Starfox 3 we never had (not the sequel to the 64/Lylat Wars - Assault continuity, a sequel to the original games with a low-poly look and a more surreal atmosphere compared to 64's more down-to-earth look) as well as a Panzer Dragoon Drei (which is neither Saga nor Orta).”
- “A great atmospheric Star Fox-like rail shooter.”
stability
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
The game runs smoothly and is well-optimized on the Steam Deck, offering a reliable pick-up-and-play experience. However, some users have reported a recurring freeze at the same point in the first stage, indicating a stability issue that the developer needs to address. Overall, aside from this freeze, the game is stable with no major bugs or glitches noted.
- “A perfect pick-up-and-play game that runs great on the Steam Deck.”
- “Runs great on Steam Deck.”
- “Something odd is happening and the game freezes at the same point in the first stage every time I retry, whether it's windowed or fullscreen, vsync or no.”
emotional
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Users find the game emotionally impactful but criticize its lack of emotional variety, noting that its consistently upbeat tone feels monotonous compared to the more diverse emotional range seen in inspirations like Star Fox.
- “So good I feel emotional.”
- “My two biggest complaints are that the game is too emotionally monotone, and that it directly copies too many ideas from Star Fox instead of just using it as inspiration.”
- “The game is emotionally monotone in that every stage feels happy and energetic in vibe and music, whereas Star Fox wasn't afraid of using more somber, mysterious, or foreboding tones for certain levels to give variety.”