Psycho Starship Rampage

About

Psycho Starship Rampage is a space shooter game where you play as a psychotic AI, rebuilding your warship and equipping it with weapons to destroy waves of alien enemies. With various equipment and weapon combos, build the ultimate killing machine and loot enemy carcasses to extend your ship. Up to 4 players can join in local coop to wreak havoc on alien worlds. Your goal is to return to central command, annihilating anything that moves along the way.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Local Multi-Player Play with friends in the same physical space using split-screen or multiple screens
2-Players Play with one other player, either online or locally, in a cooperative or competitive game mode
Multi-Player Compete or cooperate with other players online
Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo
Split Screen Play with multiple players on the same screen, often with divided or shared screen real estate

82%

Audience ScoreBased on 169 reviews

gameplay8 positive mentions

grinding6 negative mentions

The ship customization is extensive and allows for a wide variety of unique builds, enhancing the gameplay experience.
The game offers a fun and addictive loop of shooting, collecting loot, and upgrading your ship, making it engaging for players.
The visuals and soundtrack are appealing, contributing to an enjoyable atmosphere while playing.

The game suffers from frustrating mechanics such as perma-death and unfair difficulty spikes, which can lead to a loss of progress without warning.
Controls can feel imprecise and floaty, making it difficult to navigate through challenging levels and avoid instant-death traps.
The randomness in enemy encounters and loot drops can lead to inconsistent gameplay experiences, often relying on luck rather than skill.

gameplay
34 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
24%
59%
18%
The gameplay of "Psycho Starship Rampage" is a mixed bag, featuring engaging FTL-style progression and solid weapon crafting mechanics, but marred by imprecise controls and frustrating instant-death mechanics that can abruptly end runs. While the game offers a satisfying learning curve and polished elements, players often find the need to sell and re-buy equipment tedious, and the punishing nature of survival mode detracts from the overall enjoyment. Despite these issues, the fast-paced gameplay and short session lengths keep some players engaged, making it a worthwhile experience for those who appreciate its unique elements.
- “The basic premise of an FTL-style map and progression combined with shoot-em-up gameplay is engaging enough, and the learning curve is just enough that you feel satisfied when you get over it.”
- “What sets it apart from the generic shooter, apart from being quite polished and having rock solid gameplay and controls, is the upgrade and weapon handling.”
- “The gameplay itself is solid (if somewhat repetitive), the levels are just about the right length not to get boring, the upgrade system offers lots of stuff to play with but is really straightforward and easy to use.”
- “Psycho Starship Rampage has several instant or near-instant kill mechanics which can ruin a run in the blink of an eye, many of which are unavoidable if you're unlucky.”
- “In this game, your movement is anything but precise, leading to imprecise controls and unfair mechanics.”
- “"You unlock stuff when you die!" Punishing players for surviving in a survival mode is also not fun gameplay.”
music
24 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
42%
46%
13%
The music in the game is generally well-received, with many praising its fitting alien and electro themes, particularly highlighting tracks that enhance gameplay, such as the customization music featuring a theremin. However, some players find the AI's voice and comments distracting, wishing for a mute option for her specifically. While opinions on individual tracks vary, the overall soundtrack contributes positively to the game's atmosphere.
- “I also like the choice for their graphic design and the music is great; it's alienish X-Files electro music that goes very well with the game.”
- “One of the tracks of the soundtrack has a theremin.”
- “And the music is great, especially the track that plays when customizing your own ship.”
- “I wish there were an option to mute her voice specifically without turning off the music and sound effects.”
- “The songs resemble those annoying chiptune songs too much, but that's just my opinion; I don't count it as a flaw in the game.”
- “I relaxed for 5 minutes listening to this music, long enough to realize that I would be okay.”
story
24 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
54%
13%
The story is described as having a moral about perseverance, but it suffers from inconsistencies and a lack of clarity, particularly regarding mission design and boss battles. While some players appreciate the engaging anti-hero narrative and meaningful choices, others express disappointment with the final mission's lack of a climactic battle and the repetitive nature of gameplay. Overall, the storyline has potential but is undermined by gameplay mechanics and execution.
- “Story was great, writing this review as the credits are rolling by.”
- “A shoot-em-up roguelike with great weapon crafting mechanics and a bizarrely awesome anti-hero storyline.”
- “- a good storyline with meaningful choices.”
- “Storywise, it doesn't make sense...”
- “I was disappointed when I got to the final mission, only to see that the last boss was just another one of these generated bosses that died in 5 seconds rather than a climactic final battle.”
- “- Boss battles are embarrassingly bad - they need to 1) show a boss life meter, 2) be more than a larger enemy that just randomly moves around creating bullet hell, and 3) have some sort of personality or story point associated with it.”
graphics
22 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
36%
50%
14%
Psycho Starship Rampage features a visually striking aesthetic that draws inspiration from vector-based graphics, reminiscent of classic systems like the Vectrex. The art style is unique and stylized, with bright colors and flashy visuals that enhance the gameplay experience, although some elements, like ship graphics, appear as wireframes or placeholders. Overall, while the graphics are not groundbreaking, they effectively complement the game's space shooter theme and are well-received by players.
- “Psycho Starship Rampage has a visually striking aesthetic reminiscent of vector-based graphics like the Vectrex, and the ship-building part is fantastic.”
- “The art style is unique, bright, and makes it easy to see where everything except small bullets are.”
- “The ship graphics are mostly like wireframes and/or paper-like (prototype placeholders).”
- “The graphics are ethereal!”
- “- more realistic or artsy graphics”
replayability
22 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
36%
50%
14%
Overall, the game offers a mixed bag in terms of replayability. While many players appreciate the potential for varied outcomes and ship customization, some express frustration with harsh consequences and a lack of difficulty settings that can limit replay value. Despite these issues, several reviews highlight the enjoyable nature of the gameplay and the high replayability of modes like survival, suggesting that players can find value in multiple playthroughs.
- “I finished the campaign for the first time in somewhere around 5.5 hours, but the replayability (particularly survival mode, which I just started unlocking stuff in) is high.”
- “A great little space shooter that has a lot of replay value, as you can constantly reconfigure and redesign your ship over and over again.”
- “Campaign takes like 2-3 hours to finish, which is already plenty of playtime, and has basically unlimited replayability.”
- “Psycho Starship Rampage is an interesting combination of a shmup and roguelike that I found fun for one playthrough, but lacks replay value.”
- “There are no difficulty settings, however, which restricts the replay value of the game once you've nailed down the boss patterns and more or less memorized all of the spawn waves.”
- “I believe the developer's intent was to make the game more replayable with different outcomes each run, but it has some very harsh consequences which drag the entire game down and often leads to situations you cannot overcome regardless of player skill.”
grinding
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find the grinding aspect of the game frustrating and tedious, particularly criticizing the achievement system that rewards repetitive actions like dying in survival mode. Many express a desire for a more engaging experience that doesn't rely heavily on grinding, with some players feeling compelled to quit due to the perceived unfairness of the grind. However, there are mentions of customization options that allow for powerful ship upgrades without the need for extensive grinding.
- “Achievements are tricky, grindy, and dumb -- apparently dying over and over is an achievement, which is very easy to 'accomplish' in survival mode.”
- “I'm just rage-quitting this rigged grindy game and when I return after restoring the backups of the save files you deleted on purpose, I will mute your piehole and thrust your dumb self into a black hole where you can be with your own self for an eternity.”
- “The grinding in this game is excessive and feels like a chore rather than an enjoyable experience.”
stability
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game has been criticized for its stability issues, particularly with buggy Xbox One controller support and problematic physics that can lead to frustrating gameplay experiences. Many users express disappointment over these bugs, which detract from their overall enjoyment of the game.
- “Xbox One controller support is also a little buggy.”
- “I've died from some really, really stupid circumstances and buggy physics, too.”
- “I'm trying to like this game, but it's just too buggy.”
humor
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is highlighted as a clever blend of old-school shooter elements and modern spaceship-building mechanics, enhanced by an engaging loot and progression system. Players appreciate the comedic execution that complements the gameplay experience.
- “A funny and well-executed combination between old-school shooters and modern spaceship-building sandbox, all with a nice loot and progression system.”