Xion

About

"Xion" is a single-player action game that revives 90's arcade shoot 'em ups with a destructible voxel landscape and customizable spaceship. Players can blast through randomized levels, defeat end-bosses, and enjoy the detailed graphic style. However, the game is known for its bugs. The goal is to provide a refreshing and challenging experience, with the opportunity to build and upgrade your own spaceship.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

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

70%

Audience ScoreBased on 43 reviews

graphics5 positive mentions

stability9 negative mentions

The game offers a fun and immersive experience with engaging gameplay mechanics, especially in ship building and flying.
It has a unique retro aesthetic that appeals to fans of classic arcade shooters, providing a nostalgic feel.
The developers are responsive and actively working on updates, showing potential for improvement and additional content.

The game is plagued by numerous bugs and glitches that significantly hinder gameplay, including issues with ship building and hit detection.
There is no save feature, forcing players to rebuild their ships from scratch after each level, which can be frustrating.
Menu controls and user interface are poorly designed, making navigation and ship customization cumbersome and unintuitive.

graphics
11 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
45%
27%
27%
The graphics of the game are characterized by charming voxel aesthetics that evoke nostalgia for retro gaming, reminiscent of classic systems like the NES and Commodore. While many players appreciate the unique visual style and attention to detail, some have noted inconsistencies in theme alignment and functionality of graphics settings. Overall, the visuals are well-received, particularly in VR, enhancing the gameplay experience despite some technical issues.
- “Wow, what awesome visuals! It feels like being inside a C64.”
- “The graphic style I must admit I love, and the attention to detail is just amazing. One of the things I like the most, apart from the game itself, is building your own spacecraft; it's really, really fun.”
- “It's also one of those games that looks much better in VR than in the screenshots. Even with its retro/voxel aesthetics, it's one of the few retro looks made by indie devs lately that actually looks and feels like it fits, instead of just being made to cater to some nostalgia.”
- “The graphics settings don't seem to work the way I would assume.”
- “I would describe it as R-Type (or 1941) with Minecraft graphics.”
- “If you like the voxel graphics, it's a question of taste, but when you are in action, it works very well.”
stability
9 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's stability is a significant concern, with users reporting numerous glitches and bugs that detract from the overall experience. While improvements have been noted, particularly in the ship-building mechanics, many players still find the game to be incomplete and riddled with issues. Despite these problems, some users believe the game has potential and can be enjoyable when functioning properly.
- “Has the potential to be a fun game, but it's riddled with glitches and is incomplete.”
- “The building phase is very buggy, but otherwise this is probably the coolest shoot 'em up I've played in a long time.”
- “The ship building is still buggy, but from when I originally bought this, it has been improved.”
gameplay
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
The gameplay is a mixed bag, with some users praising its unique blend of old-school mechanics and VR elements, while others criticize it for being buggy and frustrating due to limited mechanics and poorly designed menus. Despite its visual shortcomings, the action-oriented gameplay is noted to be engaging, though it requires significant improvements for better playability.
- “It has few bugs and looks kind of ugly in screenshots, but this is the game where gameplay and the feeling of action vastly exceed the visuals.”
- “Xion offers a kind of gameplay where old school mechanics are combined with VR to create something new.”
- “If it wasn't a buggy mess with limited mechanics.”
- “Needs menus polishing and the ship build mechanic reworking. In my opinion, a game needs to have instant playability, not frustration at clucking the controllers together, which is what I mainly experienced.”
story
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
75%
75%
The game's story revolves around building and customizing your ship for various missions, each featuring unique bosses. Players appreciate the engaging experience of creating new ships for each mission, despite the challenge of parts being destroyed during gameplay. Overall, the narrative is enhanced by the excitement of exploration and combat.
- “When you finally build your ship and go on the mission, you will be amazed.”
- “There are about 6 missions with unique bosses.”
- “Make a new ship for every mission!”
- “The story feels disjointed and lacks a coherent narrative arc.”
- “Character development is shallow, making it hard to connect with anyone.”
- “The plot twists are predictable and fail to engage the player.”
optimization
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
150%
150%
The game's performance is generally good, benefiting from its voxel graphics, but it suffers from numerous bugs that hinder the experience. Players report issues with menu navigation and ship building, including difficulties in selecting options and removing blocks, which detracts from overall immersion.
- “Overall, the performance was good, as expected with the voxel-style graphics.”
- “The game runs smoothly even on lower-end hardware, showcasing excellent optimization.”
- “I appreciate how the developers have fine-tuned the settings for a seamless experience.”
- “Fun game, but has too many bugs to recommend. You lose money, your ship, and the menu is not optimized. The most challenging thing for me is navigating the menus between levels; it's hard to choose the right option, and building your ship often goes wrong. There's no way to remove blocks, and the placements can be weird.”
- “The optimization of the game is lacking. The menus are confusing and not user-friendly, making it difficult to manage your ship and resources effectively.”
- “While the game has potential, the optimization issues really detract from the experience. The interface is clunky, and the lack of intuitive controls makes gameplay frustrating.”
music
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The music in the game is generally well-received, with users noting a decent soundtrack that complements the overall experience, enhancing the nostalgic square arcade feel in VR.
- “Fun game, decent soundtrack, not too shabby visuals, and I still love how well the square arcade feel works in VR.”
- “Good soundtrack.”
humor
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
300%
Users appreciate the humor in the game, highlighting the amusing and awkward design of the gun-staggering ships, which adds a comedic element to the gameplay experience.
- “Constructing really funny and clunky gun-staggering ships is a blast!”
- “The humor in the game is top-notch, making every moment entertaining.”
- “I love how the game combines absurdity with clever jokes that keep me laughing.”