Radiant Lux is a very cool abstract 2D roguelike shoot-em-up that features a novel color-centric approach to the way you power up your weaponry, with you teleporting between different coloured dimensions and upgrading your weaponry depending on what color of enemies you shoot.
Gameplay-wise Radiant Lux is more of a traditional R-Type style shooter than hardcore bullet hell, with you blasting waves of enemies en-route to the level’s climactic boss fight. The way you get through each level is unlike any other shoot-em-up though, as they’re split into differently coloured dimensions. Each dimension is populated by a majority of the same coloured enemies, but occasionally a differently coloured enemy will pop up, shooting this enemy will open up a portal that you can travel through to go to a differently coloured dimension.
Other than color, the enemies are pretty much the same in each dimension, but they play a significant role in how you level up your weaponry. You start the game in the red dimension with one weapon (the red one) that can be powered up by blasting red enemies. However, if you travel through a portal to a differently colored dimension you’ll unlock a new weapon that you can upgrade by shooting enemies of a matching color. Each weapon is mapped to a different button on the control pad and levelling up not only unlocks weapon upgrades but passive abilities too.
It’s a clever twist on the age old shoot-em-up genre, that offers a nice amount of strategy with you able to focus on which weapons you’d prefer to upgrade instead of your upgrades being dictated by power-ups. It also offers plenty of replayability, thanks to all the movement paths, enemies and bosses being randomly generated on the fly. A slick, stylish and strategic side scrolling shooter well worth checking out.
Download The Radiant Lux Alpha Demo Here (Windows & Mac)