I’m only recommending this game with a caveat in mind which is explained below. For a more in-depth review, please check out the video below:
https://youtu.be/jh0jneCFErE

Otherwise, here’s a summarized pros and cons list after a primer on the game.

Primer

Nex Machina is a twinstick shooter that often delves into bullet hell territory. Using a normal blaster, a dash mechanic and some special weapons, the objective is to clear each room of enemies and defeat the boss and the end of the level, all while trying to get as high a score as possible. You can play all worlds in succession (via arcade mode), a score attack of one world (via Arena mode) or any world individually at your discretion (via Single World mode). There’s also local coop for Arcade and Single World mode, though there is no support for online coop whatsoever.

Pros

1) Good performance
Runs at around 150 ish region with all settings at max with a gtx 980ti. Does not stutter even when screen is filled with the many many particle effects flying around everywhere.

2) Decent Shooter Trance
The game’s mechanics are rather simple. Analogs to control movement and shooting respectively while shoulder button is used to dash (with I-frames). As you continue through the rooms, you pick up powerups in the form of special weapons and upgrades, the former of which is the more interesting. Special weapons range from things like lasers, remote bombs, smartbombs, rocket launchers, etc and their low cooldown incentivizes you to use them as much as possible, thereby changing up your playstyle as well since they each have their own optimal use case.
Enemies will try to overwhelm you with numbers and since the game has such a low margin of error (you die in one hit), especially on the higher difficulties where more and faster enemies are introduced, it challenges you to be responsive, have smart judgement and manage your resources (in terms of your available dodges) well. The dynamic between you and the enemies is only further enhanced when robots that do things like shoot projectile and lazers get introduced, thereby adding an aura of bullet hell into the mix. Ultimately, I find this part of the core gameplay loop, regardless of its repetitiveness and lack of progression, a compelling experience. To be able to best overwhelming odds with my full arsenal makes it easy to just sink time into this game. As unforgiving as the game can be, deaths themselves never feel unfair, though what they lead to can be an unfair circumstance, but more on that in the cons. For now, if you like twin sticks, this one doesn’t do anything too original but it does well for what it offers.

3) Functional presentation
Games that try to be flashy often do it at the expense of unnecessary visual fluff and the abundance of particle effects in Nex Machina is bound to garner mixed reception, I’d like to bring your attention to their functional visual designs as well. Useful information like how much time is left for a temporary score multiplier (since this is also a score attack game) to be in effect is implemented in the game zone itself in the form of a circle that’s closing in on itself. The same can also be said about the audio since there is a narrator that passes you rather useful information about your arsenal, such as when you’ve lost your shield or when you’ve gotten all the upgrades. It might seem like a trivial thing, after all you can see what upgrades you have, but once you get used to how little the margin of error there is in this game, you start to realize how detrimental it can be to take your eyes off the centre of the screen for even the slightest of moments, especially given the fact that you die in one hit.

Cons

1) The implementation of the death mechanic
Remember when I said we’d get back to how deaths can lead to unfair situations? Well to understand that, you should know that Nex Machina uses a simple retry/ continue system that arcades use. X number of lives per retry and if you waste them you gotta use a credit to have another go. While you’re still able to retain your gear after losing lives, a retry or continue forces you to abandon your loadout completely, causing you to continue from that point on with the base (and rather weak) equipment. Normally, this wouldn’t be a problem since it doesn’t take long for these upgrades to randomly drop again but when you take into account the fact that you’ll normally have to use the retry or continue function during the boss which resides in the last stage of a level, then you’ll notice how common it is to fight the hardest encounters with the least amount of equipment. This seems like an unnecessarily harsh punishment since some of the upgrades we lose are almost crucial to our survival (the triple dash brings with it 3 times the amount of I-frames). While you could argue that every boss is beatable without any upgrades, it still doesn’t get away from the fact that the main appeal of the game lies in using the upgraded equipment, so creating a situation where you don’t have said equipment when you probably need it will end with the user feeling more frustrated than challenged.

Conclusion

This game gets a circumstantial recommendation because of the way it’s built. It’s designed to be replayed over and over again, whether to get a higher score on the same difficulty setting, or to try to complete all the worlds again on a harder preset. If you’re into either of these things, then you’re likely able to find the value in your 20 dollar investment. However, if you’re someone who wants to just picked this up to experience the twin stick shooting from start to end a single time, then content wise I’d only recommend getting it at 12 dollars instead.

I’m only recommending this game with a caveat in mind which is explained below. For a more in-depth review, please check out the video below: https://youtu.be/jh0jneCFErE Otherwise, here’s a summarized pros and cons list after a primer on the game. [b] Primer [/b] Nex Machina is a twinstick shooter that often delves into bullet hell territory. Using a normal blaster, a dash mechanic and some special weapons, the objective is to clear each room of enemies and defeat the boss and the end of the level, all while trying to get as high a score as possible. You can play all worlds in succession (via arcade mode), a score attack of one world (via Arena mode) or any world individually at your discretion (via Single World mode). There’s also local coop for Arcade and Single World mode, though there is no support for online coop whatsoever. [b] Pros [/b] 1) Good performance Runs at around 150 ish region with all settings at max with a gtx 980ti. Does not stutter even when screen is filled with the many many particle effects flying around everywhere. 2) Decent Shooter Trance The game’s mechanics are rather simple. Analogs to control movement and shooting respectively while shoulder button is used to dash (with I-frames). As you continue through the rooms, you pick up powerups in the form of special weapons and upgrades, the former of which is the more interesting. Special weapons range from things like lasers, remote bombs, smartbombs, rocket launchers, etc and their low cooldown incentivizes you to use them as much as possible, thereby changing up your playstyle as well since they each have their own optimal use case. Enemies will try to overwhelm you with numbers and since the game has such a low margin of error (you die in one hit), especially on the higher difficulties where more and faster enemies are introduced, it challenges you to be responsive, have smart judgement and manage your resources (in terms of your available dodges) well. The dynamic between you and the enemies is only further enhanced when robots that do things like shoot projectile and lazers get introduced, thereby adding an aura of bullet hell into the mix. Ultimately, I find this part of the core gameplay loop, regardless of its repetitiveness and lack of progression, a compelling experience. To be able to best overwhelming odds with my full arsenal makes it easy to just sink time into this game. As unforgiving as the game can be, deaths themselves never feel unfair, though what they lead to can be an unfair circumstance, but more on that in the cons. For now, if you like twin sticks, this one doesn’t do anything too original but it does well for what it offers. 3) Functional presentation Games that try to be flashy often do it at the expense of unnecessary visual fluff and the abundance of particle effects in Nex Machina is bound to garner mixed reception, I’d like to bring your attention to their functional visual designs as well. Useful information like how much time is left for a temporary score multiplier (since this is also a score attack game) to be in effect is implemented in the game zone itself in the form of a circle that’s closing in on itself. The same can also be said about the audio since there is a narrator that passes you rather useful information about your arsenal, such as when you’ve lost your shield or when you’ve gotten all the upgrades. It might seem like a trivial thing, after all you can see what upgrades you have, but once you get used to how little the margin of error there is in this game, you start to realize how detrimental it can be to take your eyes off the centre of the screen for even the slightest of moments, especially given the fact that you die in one hit. [b] Cons [/b] 1) The implementation of the death mechanic Remember when I said we’d get back to how deaths can lead to unfair situations? Well to understand that, you should know that Nex Machina uses a simple retry/ continue system that arcades use. X number of lives per retry and if you waste them you gotta use a credit to have another go. While you’re still able to retain your gear after losing lives, a retry or continue forces you to abandon your loadout completely, causing you to continue from that point on with the base (and rather weak) equipment. Normally, this wouldn’t be a problem since it doesn’t take long for these upgrades to randomly drop again but when you take into account the fact that you’ll normally have to use the retry or continue function during the boss which resides in the last stage of a level, then you’ll notice how common it is to fight the hardest encounters with the least amount of equipment. This seems like an unnecessarily harsh punishment since some of the upgrades we lose are almost crucial to our survival (the triple dash brings with it 3 times the amount of I-frames). While you could argue that every boss is beatable without any upgrades, it still doesn’t get away from the fact that the main appeal of the game lies in using the upgraded equipment, so creating a situation where you don’t have said equipment when you probably need it will end with the user feeling more frustrated than challenged. [b] Conclusion [/b] This game gets a circumstantial recommendation because of the way it’s built. It’s designed to be replayed over and over again, whether to get a higher score on the same difficulty setting, or to try to complete all the worlds again on a harder preset. If you’re into either of these things, then you’re likely able to find the value in your 20 dollar investment. However, if you’re someone who wants to just picked this up to experience the twin stick shooting from start to end a single time, then content wise I’d only recommend getting it at 12 dollars instead.