NEXT JUMP: Shmup Tactics

About

NEXT JUMP: Shmup Tactics is a single player tactical shooter game with a science fiction theme. It was developed by Post Mortem Pixels and was released on April 28, 2017. It received mostly positive reviews from players.

NEXT JUMP: Shmup Tactics is a strategic shoot 'em up game that challenges players to plan and execute attacks while avoiding enemy fire. It features a unique risk-assessment system that allows for dynamic decisions, with upgrades and customization options for increased replayability. Players must balance resource management and strategic positioning to survive and progress through the game's intense levels.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

Skip User Reviews

73%

Audience ScoreBased on 165 reviews

gameplay21 positive mentions

graphics7 negative mentions

The game features a unique blend of turn-based strategy and bullet hell mechanics, providing a fresh and engaging gameplay experience.
The pixel art style and soundtrack evoke nostalgia, enhancing the overall charm of the game.
It offers a good amount of replayability with various ships, upgrades, and procedural generation, making each run feel different.

The tutorial is poorly implemented, overwhelming players with information and failing to adequately explain key mechanics.
The user interface can be cluttered and confusing, making it difficult to understand enemy actions and the game state.
Some players find the gameplay repetitive and lacking in depth, with limited tactical variety and poorly balanced difficulty.

gameplay
80 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
26%
68%
6%
The gameplay of "Next Jump: Shmup Tactics" is a unique blend of turn-based strategy and shoot-'em-up mechanics, offering a fresh take on traditional genres. However, players have noted significant issues with the tutorial and overall mechanics, leading to a steep learning curve and confusion. While the core gameplay can be engaging and addictive once mastered, many find it repetitive and poorly explained, detracting from the overall experience.
- “Next Jump: Shmup Tactics is a fascinating fusion of turn-based strategy and shoot-'em-up mechanics that defies traditional genre boundaries.”
- “The minimalist presentation complements the tactical gameplay well, ensuring that the screen is always readable—even when swarmed with threats.”
- “The core strength of 'Next Jump' lies in its hybrid mechanics, which challenge conventional shmup expectations.”
- “The tutorial doesn't adequately explain some very key, important gameplay details, like 'your turn ends the moment you hit 0 energy, even though you can pick up more energy during that last move', and 'the reason some enemies move during your turn is because they have a high energy stat', and I had to look up the very verbose manual to nail down exactly how things worked.”
- “The gameplay itself has a needlessly steep learning curve, and even then, doesn't exceed other turn-based tactical games (the XCOM series is an excellent example).”
- “Not recommended - the game mechanics are some turn-based mediocrity with additional awful annoyances thrown in, and it is not a shmup.”
graphics
31 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
16%
61%
23%
The graphics of the game have received mixed reviews, with some praising its charming retro pixel art and vibrant color palettes, while others criticize the visuals as cluttered, low-quality, and difficult to distinguish during gameplay. The aesthetic is described as nostalgic but can be harsh on the senses, leading to confusion between game elements. Overall, while the retro style appeals to some, many players feel it detracts from the overall experience.
- “Visually, the game embraces a deliberately retro aesthetic, featuring sharp pixel art, vibrant color palettes, and clearly defined UI elements.”
- “The game features a retro pixel art style that’s both charming and functional.”
- “Graphics are very simple but beautiful; gameplay is also 'easy to learn, hard to master' and it's very addictive.”
- “The graphics are pretty basic.”
- “My main complaint is with the visual presentation; it goes for a retro, CRT-inspired graphical style with sprite flickering and garish colors.”
- “Graphics are terrible; everything looks messy, bullets look like energy or power-ups, it's impossible to distinguish between going for the grab or avoiding, even the background has moving objects like planets that look like enemy bullets.”
story
21 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
14%
72%
14%
The game's story is generally viewed as simplistic and forgettable, with a premise involving space dragons stealing alcohol from various civilizations, which some players find silly. While there is an effort to create lore and a narrative backdrop for the gameplay, many reviewers feel that the story detracts from the overall experience, emphasizing that the game is more focused on mechanics and combat than on delivering a compelling narrative. The procedural generation of missions adds replayability, but the storyline itself is often considered trivial and not a significant draw for players.
- “You command a spaceship on its final mission against the 'red pirates,' a rogue faction threatening the galaxy.”
- “The plot is silly: space dragons stole all the booze from the four starfaring civilizations (who are naturally humans, orcs, elves, and dwarves) so you need to run after the space dragon mothership in turn-based tactical shmup combat, destroying or avoiding the guard drones they've left along the way.”
- “Designed and published by Post Mortem Pixels, their very first game, Next Jump: Shmup Tactics is a casual shmup ('shoot 'em up') space sci-fi real-time strategy game where you, a pilot sent with the mission to destroy a mothership, have to make space jumps and destroy waves of enemies, using real-time strategy while keeping in mind various variables like how much damage the ship can take, energy you spend in every action, and the scrap you can collect to repair and upgrade your ship.”
- “To be honest, I didn't like the game's storyline, mechanics, or implementation.”
- “It's not a complex story, and the parts of the game (most of) the tutorial emphasizes are trivial to understand.”
- “The plot is silly: space dragons stole all the booze from the four starfaring civilizations (who are naturally humans, orcs, elves, and dwarves), so you need to run after the space dragon mothership in turn-based tactical shmup combat, destroying or avoiding the guard drones they've left along the way.”
music
21 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
24%
62%
14%
The music in the game has received mixed reviews, with many players praising its nostalgic, chiptune-inspired tracks that enhance the gameplay experience without being distracting. While some find the soundtrack well-composed and fitting for the game's atmosphere, others feel it lacks memorability and variety, with repetitive elements that could benefit from more content. Overall, the soundtrack is generally appreciated for its energy and mood-setting qualities, though some players desire more depth and originality.
- “The soundtrack is equally nostalgic, full of chiptune-inspired tracks that elevate the energy of each encounter without distracting from the strategic focus.”
- “The synth-heavy soundtrack and sound effects complete the atmosphere, evoking nostalgia for the 16-bit shmup era, reminiscent of classics like Gradius and R-Type.”
- “Music/sound: I love this soundtrack, one of the better ones; the menu music sets the mood just right.”
- “The game lacks in memorable content and in showing an effort to keep the player interested in wanting to keep playing, by not having memorable sounds or soundtrack.”
- “Even though the game is full of original sound effects and a completely original soundtrack, it fails at being memorable.”
- “Arts, music, and plot are quite forgettable: definitely not the point of the game.”
replayability
10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
70%
20%
10%
The game is praised for its high replayability, primarily due to its procedurally generated missions and engaging gameplay mechanics. While it may not offer extensive content, players find it enjoyable enough to return to, though it may not sustain long-term play for many hours. Overall, it strikes a balance between fun and replay value, making it a worthwhile experience.
- “Each mission is procedurally generated, ensuring high replayability.”
- “Next Jump: Shmup Tactics is a pretty unique turn-based strategy game, the core gameplay is good fun and it’s got decent replayability for the price.”
- “While the game doesn’t boast massive production values or a sprawling narrative, it succeeds where it matters most: tight mechanics, replayability, and a unique gameplay loop that never overstays its welcome.”
grinding
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be tedious, often resorting to using an overpowered ship to achieve progress. However, the game is praised for its effective implementation of permadeath and tactical gameplay, allowing for equal chances of success in each run without excessive grinding.
- “I could not find success with most ships (tried maybe 5 of 7) and stuck with the overpowered level-1 melee dagger ship for most of my playtime and grinding achievements.”
- “It is as tedious as it sounds.”
- “This is one of the few roguelite games that really seems to grasp the idea of permadeath, of encouraging safe, tactical play, and giving every run equal odds of success without grinding between runs.”
humor
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is highlighted by a hilariously slow introduction that many players find enjoyable, though it can be skipped if desired. Overall, the comedic elements are appreciated, adding a lighthearted touch to the experience.
- “Love the intro, hilariously slow, yet skippable.”
- “Wanna know the funny part?”
atmosphere
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The atmosphere is enhanced by a synth-heavy soundtrack and sound effects that evoke nostalgia for the 16-bit shmup era, drawing comparisons to classic games like Gradius and R-Type.
- “The synth-heavy soundtrack and sound effects complete the atmosphere, evoking nostalgia for the 16-bit shmup era, reminiscent of classics like Gradius and R-Type.”
stability
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Users report a high level of stability, with many noting that they have not encountered any bugs or glitches during gameplay.

Skip Game Offers

Buy NEXT JUMP: Shmup Tactics

Skip Videos

Videos

Skip Games Like NEXT JUMP: Shmup Tactics

87%22.1kreviews

Into the Breach

2018

Role Playing

+13

95%3.6kreviews

Shogun Showdown

2024

Role Playing

+18

85%468reviews

Enemy Mind

2014

Action

94%9.7kreviews

Downwell

2015

Casual Platformer

+10

72%284reviews

Cygni: All Guns Blazing

2024

Arcade Shooter

More games like NEXT JUMP: Shmup Tactics

Skip FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions

NEXT JUMP: Shmup Tactics is a tactical shooter game with science fiction theme.

NEXT JUMP: Shmup Tactics is available on PC, Mac OS, Windows and Linux.

NEXT JUMP: Shmup Tactics was released on April 28, 2017.

NEXT JUMP: Shmup Tactics was developed by Post Mortem Pixels.

NEXT JUMP: Shmup Tactics has received mostly positive reviews from players. Most players liked this game for its gameplay but disliked it for its graphics.

NEXT JUMP: Shmup Tactics is a single player game.

Similar games include Into the Breach, Shogun Showdown, Enemy Mind, Downwell, Cygni: All Guns Blazing and others.

NEXT JUMP: Shmup Tactics

Platforms

Buy NEXT JUMP: Shmup Tactics