Star Fire: Eternal Cycle Preview

Star Fire: Eternal Cycle begins in 2149, the seventh year of the Apocalypse. Lunar fissures have devoured 97% of the Earth’s surface, and humankind’s 127th and final counterattack is underway. Using thunder, humanity will attempt to tear through the Hive’s insectoid forces.

Star Fire: Eternal Cycle is an homage to classic 2D arcade side-scrollers, where your goal is to clear all enemies off the screen before progressing. It’s a fast-paced, adrenaline-filled experience with a roguelite progression system that’s sure to test your reflexes as you jump between attacking and dodging. Since this is a demo, there are a few limitations, but despite this, I was excited to dive in, as I am a massive fan of games in this genre!

When you begin, you play as a crimson-haired, mid-drift-bearing, female warrior fighting the Hive’s monstrous creatures. She’s strong and fearless, capable of holding her own against waves of insectoid foes. She has a variety of different moves available to use, like light and heavy attacks, a lightning strike to stun foes, and a powerful rage move. As you progress through the stages, you’ll unlock random skills, acquire elements to combine to learn new abilities, and gear to power up your warrior. I found the game to be easy to pick up and play;, I didn't have to spend a lot of time learning what I needed to do.

 

The controls for the various skills and abilities feel responsive and fluid, making it simple to alternate between attacking and dodging, which is essential if you want to survive the swarms of incoming enemies. If your heroine takes too many hits, she will run out of health and be defeated, forcing you to start over at the beginning, losing everything that you had picked up. I learnt early on that my character wasn't as tough as I thought she would be, so I realised that you need to dodge a lot more than you may expect. Finding the right balance between offence and defence adds a lot of strategy to the action.

Defeating smaller enemies in the stages may reward you with Insectoid Cores containing an insect essence. When you collect one, you choose from three Core options, each granting bonuses such as increased light attack damage or reduced cooldowns for heavy moves. Combining Cores can unlock special abilities, like if you collect two Cryo Cores, it will surround your heroine with a ring of ice that can freeze enemies when you hit them, while two Dendro Cores send out vines to hunt down foes and attack. These Cores are stored in your backpack, which has ten slots, but only six are available at the start, with the other four unlocked as you progress.

Instead of following a branching node map where you can see what's coming up, your progress is tracked by ten dots at the top of the screen, each representing a room. The fifth one is an Elite Challenge with a tougher foe and their minions to defeat. Before facing it, you can choose between three destinations, one often being a HP Recovery area to heal up before you jump into the battle. Other rooms include Core Plunder spots to give you new attacks, Treasure Hunting areas for new equipment and upgrades, and Body Enhance rooms for items like a Life Capsule that will increase your max HP. I found that the choose-your-path structure added a lot of replayability to the game, as each run could feel totally different.

Defeating an Elite enemy will reward you with a more powerful Insectoid Core to add to your backpack. If you are defeated, you’ll see a stat page showing your rating, grade, character level, max damage, level progress, and more. From here, you can head back to your base; where you can spend resources you picked up to enhance talents like HP Boost or Core Slot capacity to make your next run a little easier. At the start, your main weapon is the Lightning Fist, which deals 90 base damage with a 10% chance to trigger Thunderflare, it looks super cool, by the way. With other weapons, like the Quake Hammer, teased but unavailable in the demo, so you will have to wait for the full game.

Star Fire: Eternal Cycle bursts with vibrant colours, the Lightning Fist attacks are a bright pink! The attack effects for both you and the enemy look awesome, and the enemies had interesting insect-like designs. One of my favourite aspects is getting to play as a strong and powerful redhead who kicks serious butt. Who doesn't love that? The soundtrack is intense and upbeat, which matches the nonstop action and keeps your adrenaline high.

As a fan of side-scrolling beat ’em ups, I’ve had a blast with Star Fire: Eternal Cycle. With eight elemental types to mix and match, giving you a large variety of powerful combinations to make. Every run feels fresh, making it dangerously addictive; I kept telling myself “just one more try,” which is a great problem to have. Even as a demo, Star Fire: Eternal Cycle is a game that fans of the genre should try out. I can't wait for the full release with all the weapons and other elements available to try out.