Horizon Shift ’81

Genre: Arcade / Shmup

Players: 1

.

Review:

Horizon Shift ’81 is an Arcade-style game with Shmup elements that incorporates elements from classic early-80s arcade games in a way that produces something decidedly new and original in its own right, a perspective-flipping action-packed game that has you fending off enemies both above and below you.

Players control a ship that moves along a horizontal line on the screen, and at any time the player can swap themselves to be above or below that line, “jumping” and dashing as if gravity had been reversed. Enemies attack from both sides, and players must not only defend themselves from attack, they must also be wary of enemy attacks damaging the line, which can make it a hazard regardless of which side you’re on.

With a solid premise, this game works in gameplay elements from classic 80s arcade games – Asteroids, Space Invaders, Galaga, Centipede, Breakout and more are all lovingly referenced here, yet you never get the feeling that Horizon Shift is falling back on your nostalgia to carry an otherwise unambitious game – this game has plenty of originality to spare, and the arcade references perfectly fit within this game’s themes, although it can get a bit repetitive at times.

As far as those themes go, this games visuals perfectly emulate the era of gaming it’s aiming for, with simple pixel art characters and bright colors on a black background. This is paired with an electronica rock soundtrack that is somewhat less fitting, but at least fits the 80s themes of the game.

Overall, Horizon Shift ’81 is a fitting love letter to the early days of arcade videogames, with gameplay that feels fresh and original even today. Like those older games, Horizon Shift can get a tad repetitive at times, but overall this is still a fantastic game well worth playing for Shmup fans and classic retro gaming fans alike.

tl;dr – Horizon Shift ’81 is an Arcade-Style game with Shmup elements that incorporates elements of multiple early-80s retro arcade games while still bringing its own unique horizontal-swapping twist on the genre. This is a fantastic game and a wonderful love letter to an era of gaming, although like the games of that era it can be repetitive in places. Overall, this is a superb game well worth playing.

Grade: B+

^{You can support eShopperReviews on Patreon! Please click HERE to become a Sponsor!}