Even more impressive is how the plot hardly falls flat. Honestly, I really enjoyed how the narrative interwove these social-economic, political, and mystery themes together. The missions satisfyingly follow along with the narrative by increasing the difficulty and stakes in just the right ways. We, as the audience, even see our pilot play the part of unwilling pawn to shadowy schemes. However, at the same time, your retainer implores you to go on missions that will help undercut her influence. Your pilot will often question the motivations of comrades and commanding officers alike.įor example, the main story involves following the caravan leader for the good of the people. The title presents a large colorful cast of interesting characters, with each playing a special role within the plot. While Drifting Lands' combat heavily borrows from its shmup roots, it chooses to diverge via the inclusion of a narrative. It's tense and unforgiving like the classics of old. Like any shmup, you also get to have fun facing off against large bosses. The better you perform the more it'll pay off. You receive a certain amount of your earnings after each stage. Instead of receiving a score only within stages, you actually gain income. As you progress in the story, the game's difficulty organically increases. Of course, you'll meet new enemies, more dangerous than the last at each new turn. Throughout the game, you'll face a number of stages across different environments. Some require you to survive for a set amount of time, while others task you with finding a target/items and so forth. However, missions vary from time to time. Yes, you will shoot down squadrons of enemies. For instance, first-time players may want a more balanced ship, while shmup veterans can opt for speed. Your preferences will probably depend on your skill level. From the beginning of Drifting Lands, you can choose among three ship types: balanced, fast and squishy, or slow and tanky. In Drifting Lands, you take up the reins of a pilot tasked with protecting your caravan from various dangers and threats - both inside and outside of your aircraft.Īt its core, the title is a horizontal shooter, much like R-Type. Oh, and there's also the threat of machines that want to annihilate humans. To make matters worse, corporations have become powerful, selfish, and totalitarian nations. Developed by French studio Alkemi, Drifting Lands is an arcade shooter set in a sci-fi, post-apocalyptic world where mankind lives in a dystopic and broken world within the sky.

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