The Hurricane of the Varstray: Collateral hazard

About

In "The Hurricane of the Varstray: Collateral Hazard," players navigate a futuristic world as a mercenary, completing missions and battling enemies using a variety of weapons and skills. The game features fast-paced action and a focus on strategic combat, with a branching storyline that changes based on player choices. With its unique setting and immersive gameplay, "Collateral Hazard" offers a thrilling experience for fans of action-packed shooters.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

The Hurricane of the Varstray: Collateral hazard screenshot

74%

Audience ScoreBased on 102 reviews

story11 positive mentions

replayability3 negative mentions

The game features a unique shield mechanic that allows players to absorb hits and encourages aggressive play, making it accessible for newcomers while still offering depth for experienced players.
Visually appealing with vibrant graphics and a fast-paced gameplay style, the game provides an adrenaline-pumping experience filled with chaotic bullet patterns and satisfying explosions.
The story mode is extensive, featuring multiple characters with their own narratives, which adds replay value and depth to the overall experience.

The game suffers from technical issues, including problems with starting, running at incorrect speeds on high refresh rate monitors, and poor English translations that can detract from the experience.
Many players find the gameplay repetitive, with uninspired level and boss designs that lack variety, leading to a sense of monotony over extended play sessions.
The controls can feel overly sensitive, making precise dodging difficult, and the overall challenge may be diminished due to the forgiving mechanics and unlimited continues.

story
74 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
15%
80%
5%
The game's story is ambitious, featuring multiple characters with unique perspectives and a detailed narrative that unfolds through extensive dialogue and cutscenes. However, the translation issues often render the plot convoluted and difficult to follow, detracting from the overall experience. Despite these flaws, many players find the character interactions and emotional depth engaging, making it a noteworthy aspect of the game, especially for those who appreciate narrative in bullet hell shooters.
- “There's a complete story made of fully voiced dialogues and journal-entry-style monologues, all in all making about a movie's worth of content.”
- “Each character is unique in their spaceship design and personality, and the story is told from the selected character's perspective; playing through each character's story gives new insight into actions taken by the characters involved and the nature of the overall story with further plot development.”
- “The story mode adds nice variety although the subtitles and dialogue are borderline cheesy at times and the English is understandably broken.”
- “The story is horrible, and that's if you can stomach the god awful translation long enough to try to make any sense of it.”
- “The current version makes it difficult to appreciate the plot points and interaction between characters.”
- “Solid title with good effort put into adding story, it is still confusing, largely in part due to the poor translation.”
gameplay
41 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
37%
56%
7%
The gameplay is characterized by its challenging yet forgiving mechanics, allowing players to utilize unlimited continues while navigating a complex bullet hell environment. Players appreciate the unique shield and baryon laser systems that encourage aggressive playstyles, alongside a variety of modes and unlockable content that enhance replayability. While the controls are generally intuitive, some mechanics may require time to fully understand, and the overall experience is complemented by vibrant graphics and an engaging soundtrack.
- “When you understand the mechanics (which doesn't take long at all), this becomes one of the most thrilling shmup experiences you can play on Steam.”
- “The gameplay system is quite interesting, with you building a shield to stay alive by defeating enemies while gathering points.”
- “The shield system opens the gates for novice and advanced vertical shooter players to enjoy the gameplay, all while learning the stages and enemy patterns and gaining the skill to make it higher on the online leaderboards.”
- “I simply do not have the mental endurance to repeat the exact same menial gameplay loop for roughly an hour within a single playthrough.”
- “I only have one real complaint - during gameplay, at least with a controller, there seems to be no way to auto-hide the mouse cursor so it's always showing the 'loading' circle during the action - does not directly affect the gameplay but is a real nuisance and it would be nice to see it fixed - given the game is over 3 years old I don't think it will though.”
- “The game mechanics are not too clearly explained.”
graphics
21 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
48%
38%
14%
The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with some praising the colorful and pretty visuals, slick UI, and character art, while others criticize the bland and repetitive background graphics that fail to differentiate the levels. Although the game has potential with its good presentation and sound design, many players feel that the overall art style lacks variation and uniqueness compared to other titles in the genre. Additionally, there are reports of graphical glitches that can disrupt gameplay.
- “Great presentation, art style, and sound design.”
- “The visuals look great and overwhelm the screen.”
- “Its graphics are so gorgeous.”
- “The background graphics are so bland and repetitive that none of the game's 12 levels stand out as being different.”
- “As far as aesthetics go, Varstray isn't as visually striking as it could be.”
- “And a pet peeve I have is that the art style doesn't work in this game unlike in Trouble Witches.”
music
19 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
74%
11%
16%
The music in the game is widely praised for its upbeat and engaging quality, enhancing the overall gameplay experience. Reviewers highlight the soundtrack as varied and enjoyable, often featuring driving beats that complement the action. Many players appreciate the combination of great sound design with smooth controls, making the music a standout aspect of the game.
- “That game had bright graphics, varied level and boss designs, fun gameplay, and amazing music.”
- “The soundtrack for the game is great and it has good colors and graphics for a game in this genre.”
- “Music is excellent in this game, not the usual euro trance dojin game can deliver.”
- “Amazing shooting and music, awful translation.”
- “Music is varied but mostly upbeat and punchy as you'd expect.”
- “If you get the bundle with the soundtrack (decent) you'll save a couple bucks too.”
humor
12 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is largely derived from its hilariously poor translations from Japanese to English, which many players find unintentionally funny and entertaining. The dialogue and character interactions, particularly the banter between characters, add to the comedic experience, making the game feel more engaging and memorable. Overall, the combination of absurd translations and amusing character dynamics contributes to a unique and enjoyable sense of humor that enhances the gameplay.
- “Absolutely awesome bullet hell, with some of the worst translations I've seen since Zero Wing... but even those are funny.”
- “The amazingly bad Japanese-to-English translations throughout this game are utterly hilarious and make the game more funny and entertaining than it ever could have intentionally been.”
- “They did a good job of making every character unique; I loved the banter between Miho and Tatiana the best. I found the insults they slung at each other hilarious.”
replayability
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
150%
The game offers strong replayability through hidden collectibles in each course for completionists and various gameplay modes that encourage players to revisit the content.
- “There are some fun collectibles hidden in each course, which increases replayability for gamers who aim for 100%.”
- “There is also a good deal of replay value with the different modes.”
- “There are some fun collectibles hidden in each course, which increases replayability if you're one of those gamers who wants to achieve 100%.”
- “Once you complete the game, there's little incentive to go back and play through it again.”
- “The lack of varied gameplay mechanics makes replaying the game feel more like a chore than an enjoyable experience.”
character development
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The character development is highlighted by impressive art and design, particularly of the heroines, whose competitive interactions enhance the engaging yet complex narrative.
- “The heroines' character designs are amazing, and their competition and interactions with one another really draw you into the interesting, if incredibly convoluted - even by shmup standards - story.”
grinding
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
300%
Players find the grinding aspect of the game tedious, particularly by stage six, with concerns about the overall length as there are a total of twenty-four stages, including a second loop.
- “It already feels tedious by the time you're at around stage six, but this game has twenty-four stages in total, including the second loop.”
- “The grinding becomes unbearable after a few hours, making it hard to stay engaged with the game.”
- “Repetitive tasks and endless grinding make the experience feel more like a chore than fun.”
emotional
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game surprisingly evokes strong emotions, with players noting heartfelt moments that resonate deeply, even in the context of a spaceship shooter. This unexpected emotional depth adds a unique layer to the gameplay experience.
- “It's heartfelt and even got to me a couple of times, which I did not expect in a spaceship shooter, even if I am a giant sap.”
stability
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
300%
Users report significant stability issues, noting that the game frequently freezes and becomes unresponsive, particularly when attempting to minimize it for other tasks.
- “I can't minimize the game to surf the net because it freezes and stops working.”
- “The game crashes frequently, making it nearly unplayable.”
- “I've experienced constant lag and stability issues that ruin the overall experience.”