File this under ‘hidden gem’, but I’d like to tell you all about Sektori, a brand new twin-stick arcade shooter than came out earlier this month. It’s entirely possible it’s completely flown under your radar (it did mine), but thankfully, I’m here to rectify that mistake and shine a light on what is an astoundingly good video game. Time to get that adrenaline pumping in our XboxEra Sektori Review.
The Light Fantastic
Created by ex-Housemarque and now solo developer Kimmo Lahtinen, at first glance, Sektori seems to be deceptively simple. A twin-stick shooter that has more than a passing resemblance to the Xbox 360-era classic Geometry Wars, you’ll control a simple triangular ship, and you’ll dodge around and shoot things. Expect frenetic combat against various geometric shapes as you collect small triangular geoms ‘glimmer’ left on the field once they’ve been destroyed.
The game includes several modes beyond the main ‘campaign’, which I’ll get to in a moment. There’s ‘classic mode’ which looks and plays most similarly to Geometry Wars, set in a large, static arena. ‘Surge’ mode sees your ship alternate between weaker and stronger forms, forcing you to collect tokens strategically to power up and unleash massive amounts of firepower.
As a massive fan of Geometry Wars 2’s ‘Pacifism’ mode, ‘Gates’ is a pleasingly similar premise, where your weapons are disabled and you have to fly through gates to destroy enemies. There’s also an ‘Assault’ mode where you will trigger the difficulty increase manually, ‘Boss Rush’, which is taking on the campaign modes various larger foes in sequence, and lastly ‘Crash’, which is a mode focused on your ships Strike ability.
Revolution
While this setup of various arcade like modes may all sound somewhat familiar, all of that is a delicious side dish to what is the games utterly stellar ‘Campaign’. I’m pleased to say Sektori has a number of tricks up its sleeves. Firstly, you’re equipped with a shield, and you can take three hits before its game over. Then there’s the ‘Strike’ ability. Your ship has rechargeable dash that sends it hurtling forward a short distance before triggering an explosive shockwave. That recharge time can feel like an age in the heat of battle, but eventually you learn that you can strike into the games various recharge tokens and jump pads for an instant recharge, allowing you to chain together some utterly bonkers moves.
All of these abilities, and your ship are upgradeable via tokens, which spawn as you collect more and more glimmer from destroyed enemies. As you progress through the campaign, you’ll be able to upgrade your speed, strike, blaster, missiles and shield, the last of which can be stacked to effectively buy you more chances at survival. You can also spend upgrade tokens on your score, to give you a better multiplier. It takes a little getting used to, as you have to collect multiple tokens to get to the kit you want to upgrade, and it isn’t massively well explained.
As you play Sektori, you’ll also unlock Decks, of which eight can be setup to take into the campaign with you. These contain a variety of different cards that sit at different rarities across various categories. Some cards help you add various helper ships that can form up around you, others will make tokens fly towards you, or even give you the ability to shoot out of your side and rear when your shield is down. As you play, you’ll see yellow ‘evolve’ tokens, earned by completing different tasks in the game, and gameplay will pause while you make a selection.
An Ever-Changing World
The campaign is a challenge. As of me writing this review, I’ve only just successfully completed the campaign at the ‘Experience’ level of difficulty, and it took around half an hour in one unbroken, triumphant run. In total, I’ve poured 14 hours into Sektori so far, just to set some expectations. As you play – even when you fail – you’ll unlock additional decks, ship cosmetics and other things, but in truth, it was the feeling of zen I was chasing every time I picked up the pad.
The whole thing is set to an adrenaline pumping electronic soundtrack that gets your heartrate going, and as you play, it really feels like you start to become in sync with the music, and at one with the game. Everything melts away, and it’s just you, your ship and your reflexes. You become completely locked in.
The arena in which you’ll play is constantly changing, and if you’re caught in the wrong place at the wrong time, it’s an instant game over. The campaign itself contains six different stages, each culminating in a challenging boss fight that will truly test your abilities. From a giant spinning engine that spews bullets and lasers to a snake like creature that spawns obstacles and darts through the map, the entire sequence of each of these is randomised each time you play through, to truly keep you on your toes.
There’s also a delightfully colourful ‘Rainbow Mode’ that can be activated by picking up various letters that will appear in a special pick-up within the arena, the letters constantly changing to the beat of the music. On the easiest difficulty, you’ll spell ‘MIRAGE’, with the medium and hard modes becoming more elaborate words – ‘SEKTORI and ‘REVOLUTION’ respectively. Successfully complete the word and you’ll be treated to eye-popping carnage as your tiny ship spews bullets in a gloriously colourful display. One minor complaint here – the colours are so vibrant and distracting that if the arena changes and you’re not totally on the ball, you can get caught out and it’s game over.
While I played a lot of the hours I’ve sunk into Sektori on my PC, I’m pleased to say the game also runs fantastically well on my ROG Xbox Ally X paired up with my XREAL One glasses, which was quite the immersive experience – especially with that soundtrack. It’s likely to remain on my handheld Xbox for quite some time, though interested parties should note, that right now, the game is not Xbox Play Anywhere. If you want to play it on your handheld Xbox, grab it on Steam.
Twin-Stick Shooter Heaven
In a year full of genuinely incredible games, I’m more than pleased to have found another one that you should immediately look to pick up. I beg you, don’t let Sektori pass you by. This is an utterly mesmerising and innovative twin-stick arcade shooter, packed full of content and modes and with a level of challenge that ticks all the right boxes. Now to take on those harder modes – I’ll see you on the leaderboards!
Sektori
Played on
PC
PROS
- Visually mesmerising
- Incredible soundtrack
- Stellar Gameplay
- Plenty of content
CONS
- Easy to get lost in a sea of colour
- Challenge may put some players off
