Indie games are everywhere and there is a constant deluge of content releasing for every system available these days. Many of these studios are small affairs with only a handful of employees or owners, and a surprising amount of great content seems to come out of them. Occasionally, a studio really nails a game like Dead Cells or Among Us and creates something utterly enjoyable. One of the studios that has been quite successful at this is Tikipod, creators of Rock Boshers DX, Iron Crypticle, and the Aqua Kitty series, including the newest entry, Astro Aqua Kitty!
Taking a fair number of enemy designs and sprites from Aqua Kitty: Milk Mine Defender, Astro Aqua Kitty re-engineers the format of the first game into something that’s part exploration, part shmup, and all cat-based warfare. As a team of anthropomorphic space explorers, you’re out to help the space cats explore a variety of water-based caverns on asteroids that are filled with ancient technology. Now, this isn’t Mass Effect with a wild array of complex plot options. You simply blast everything in sight, mine what you can, and run errands for the space cats. SPAAAAAAACE CAAAAAATS! Seriously though, as you wander through the warrens of the asteroids, you’ll slowly come across tidbits of plot here and there that add a bit of depth to your efforts. The plot is light, fun, and interesting with some silly dialogue and it’s the perfect accompaniment to the fun but challenging atmosphere of the game.
What really makes Astro Aqua Kitty solid however is the gameplay. You start off choosing from one of four pilots and one of four engineers, each with different strengths and weaknesses. These translate to different abilities that you can unlock through the game, both active and passive. Things like extra health and armor are expected, while other abilities allow you to blast away bullets, get a one-shot resurrection if you die, or create a defensive bubble that heals your health faster during tough fights. In addition to your pilots, your ship and abilities are fully customizable as well, with a wide variety of weapons and accessories available. Regular cannons, lasers, even R-Type style red and blue dual shots are all potentially available. You’ll find weapons and gear stashed around levels, dropped by enemies, and if you’re desperate, you can buy it at the save points.
With only two equippable weapons at any given time, it pays to experiment. Torpedoes are surprisingly effective, as is the laser on bosses, but there are a lot of uses for other weapons as well, so don’t get stuck on just a couple. The same goes for gear, offering excellent accompaniment to the weapons array. Save up enough gems and every time you level up, you can bump your base stats too, so by the end of the game, you’ll be an unstoppable juggernaut of power! MWAHAHAHAHAHA! *cough* Um, anyway…
The game consists of eight stages and some have multiple mini-bosses and challenges to figure out to maximize your experience and gameplay. And that gameplay is just fun. Zipping around blasting an assortment of aquatic robots is a pure joy, and adding on a turbo booster to make your ship cut through the water twice as fast is a treat! The enemy variety is fairly wide and each level holds a new surprise or two. Additionally, the backgrounds change and the missions do as well, so everything stays fresh through the game. You’ll quickly find that enemies can take a few hits and if you don’t upgrade your weapons regularly, you’ll just be peppering them with hits that barely scratch their armor. Sometimes that’s the only way to move forward though, and you’ll be rewarded for your efforts by levelling up and having access to new and more powerful equipment. Regular enemies can take 3-4 times as long with the wrong armaments or lower level weaponry. But sometimes just dodging the array of bullet patterns that have a distinctive Cave-lite feel to them is just as much fun as killing everything in a couple shots. The control responsiveness is excellent on the Xbox Series X and your ship turns on a dime. Astro Aqua Kitty is never really unfair with enemy attacks or bullet patterns and even swarms of enemies that absolutely will slaughter you if you attack head on actually have ways of being defeated if you’re paying attention.
That’s the great thing about Astro Aqua Kitty. Experimenting pays off and it’s fun to figure out how to proceed. Die and you’re moved back to your last save point, but since they’re all over and you’ll get into the habit of saving regularly since it heals your health and energy and refills your missiles, dying isn’t a huge fear. There’s challenge, exploration, some reflex play, and it’s a good blend of RPG-style modification and shmup sensibilities without being too menu-oriented or too tough for the average player. If you’re looking for a challenge, you can crank the difficulty way up and deal with the onslaught of nigh-impervious enemies firing rapidly from all sides, of course. There are five difficulty levels and for the incredibly stoic or psychotic, there’s a perma-death option available as well, allowing for you to 1CC the game if that’s your thing. Seems kind of stressful, but hey, some people love the pain!
It would be remiss at this point not to mention the graphics and sound in Astro Aqua Kitty. Let’s start with the music, a thumping electronic pulse that permeates through each level. The audio in this game is simply pure enjoyment. It’s the kind of rhythm that sticks with you, like a good Uematsu riff on repeat or the overworld music from Phantasy Star II. There’s that timeless upbeat quality of old-school chiptunes in the music of Astro Aqua Kitty and it’s easy to find yourself tapping along with the tunes. This isn’t symphony music or anything, but it’s just purely a good experience and that’s more than enough. Music shifts for bosses of course, and each level has its own theme. The sound effects are also solid, with all the requisite whirring and sizzles of lasers and robots, but the soundtrack, while minimal is a solid entry here.
Visually, everything is upgraded from Aqua Kitty with more cartoonish characters who wouldn’t feel out of place meeting the Ninja Turtles in the 90s cartoon. Design work is excellent, there’s a suitable feel of immensity to the asteroids and structures, and the aquatic biomechanical creatures are intricate and interesting. Explosions and weapon variety is good too, and the whole thing comes together like a well-oiled machine to provide an experience that you immediately want to return to. There is a bit of a hitch on the Xbox Series X though, with the transitions to boss fights causing freezes of up to 20-30 seconds in some cases, during either dialogue or when you beat a boss. This is exclusively an issue on Series X/S systems and seems to be related to backwards compatibility. Tikipod is aware of the issue and is working with Microsoft to resolve it and patch the problem. Just rest assured that if you’re playing on the Series X/S, it’s just a glitch and the game will get moving again. The game is worth the patience!
Overall, everything about Astro Aqua Kitty absolutely oozes quality. For an indie game, this honestly feels like it came out of a major studio and the design work, interface, and gameplay are elegant and well-designed. It’s a great experience across the board and the only downside is that it’s not longer! If you’re taking your time and exploring every nook and cranny, expect to take around 8 hours on normal difficulty here. At a $15 price point, that’s not unreasonable, and you’ll definitely get your money’s worth! It’s hard not to love Astro Aqua Kitty and while it might not be for every gamer, it certainly has a well-rounded appeal. At this point, Tikipod is definitely becoming a studio to watch!
This review was based on a digital copy of Astro Aqua Kitty provided by the publisher. It was played on a Sony 1080p TV with an Xbox Series X. Astro Aqua Kitty is also available for Nintendo Switch, Playstation 4, Playstation Vita, Xbox One, and PC on Steam. All screenshots are of actual gameplay.
In addition, for access to an extensive variety of active retro gaming groups on Facebook, visit Retro Gamers Hub.