After nearly a decade of treading water, Konami is slowly rebuilding itself. The legendary publisher will release remakes of both Silent Hill 2 And Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eaterboth of which return Konami to the world of big budget console gaming. These projects join a collection of retro revivals, including this year’s Contra: Operation Galugawhich shows that the company is willing to return to its most beloved franchises. It’s not just digging up old IP, though. Its publishing efforts are still focused on the future, even if it’s tinged with nostalgia.
In that sense, the most intriguing game isn’t one of the big remakes, but something much smaller. Cygni: All weapons at the readyA new space shoot ‘em up coming August 6 is the debut game from developer KeelWorks and published by Konami. It’s a throwback to one of gaming’s foundational genres, with players gunning down waves of enemies from a top-down perspective. I recently played a demo of the upcoming game, checking out its first few levels. It’s both familiar and a wild twist on the genre, with more complex mechanics and a cinematic art style. Call it modern nostalgia — a phrase that might just describe what you can expect from a reimagined Konami in 2024.
Shoot them down, evolved
When I say “space shooter” you probably have a strong image in your head. I imagine you see a vertically scrolling screen with a small ship at the bottom firing energy shots at enemies that dance in patterned waves. You’d be halfway there to understanding Pregnant at that point, but you’d still be surprised once you boot it up. It starts with a fully animated cutscene that looks like it came out of a Pixar movie. We see our brave pilot jumping out of bed and getting ready for a mission, while energetic music plays. Once I’ve set up some story and hopped into my plane, the camera seamlessly dives out of the cockpit and locks into that familiar top-down perspective. It’s an early sign that Pregnant doesn’t just want to make something retro; it wants to further develop the shoot ’em up genre.
You notice that right away when I start shooting. I assume I can just jump in without a tutorial and start shooting, but I notice right away that I get nothing because I get ripped apart. And yes, I do. Pregnant comes much closer to a modern space shooter like Icaruga Then a retro version that you can pick up and play. A tutorial tells me that I have a certain amount of energy, represented by bars around my ship. I can allocate that energy to my shield or weapons. If I direct it to my weapons, my shots will be stronger but I will be defenseless, and vice versa. I can juggle that dynamic on the fly with my mouse wheel, which immediately adds a more active layer of ship management to the genre.
That’s not the only twist. In addition to my standard shots, I can hold down a button to perform ground attacks. I have to pay attention to where enemies are on the screen to make sure I hit them with the right weapon. And even then, there’s more to learn: an auto-fire toggle, lock-on, RPG progression, and even a pattern maker that lets me shape my shot spread. It’s a lot to take in, and it’s clear that KeelWorks is trying to bring more depth to a simple genre.
With a better knowledge of what Pregnant goes, I jump back into the first level and get a handle on how to play. The basics are simple enough: click a button to shoot approaching enemies. It’s only when I start using the rest of my toolset that I start to feel more like a conductor. When weak enemies approach, I push my energy into my weapons and lock on to take them out with ease. When I hit a big boss, I turn up my shields and start planning my hits a little more carefully.
What I appreciate here is that this isn’t a “bullet hell” game where one or two hits will blow my ship to pieces. Players are expected to get hit — a lot. The action is chaotic, with enemy shots coming in dense waves. My shield helps me absorb those hits when necessary, giving me some flexibility in tricky parts of a level. Knowing when to play offense and defense is an art.
It can all be overwhelming at times. KeelWorks is going for a visual spectacle that’s not often seen in the genre, and that creates some issues with readability. The screen is layered, with action happening both directly in front of me and at a lower level. In one section, I’m flying over a battlefield while my comrades fight off some aliens. I turn on my ground attacks and start dropping bombs to help them out. Moments of air-to-ground interaction aren’t always clear, though. At times, it can feel like enemies are right in the middle of it, confusing me as I try to figure out which attack to use. Now add a screen full of lasers, enemies, detailed backgrounds, and explosions; it’s a lot.
I imagine that’s going to be the appeal for those who really want to dive in. Like any good shoot ‘em up, these are challenging levels that players will likely need to play through again and again to master. With so many tools to play with and so much to see with each attempt, the idea of replaying levels becomes a little more palatable. Each piece feels built to keep the heart of the genre intact while also better motivating new players to engage with classic loops. I’ve yet to dig too deeply into the progression hooks and patterner, so I’ll have to see how those make the handful of story levels feel different each time, given that the levels themselves are static.
I appreciate what Cygni: All weapons at the ready is going here, and Konami by extension. It feels like a spirited attempt to preserve gaming’s roots and prove that we’re not done experimenting with old genres. KeelWorks is already making a strong case for this, though the ultimate test will come from how younger players without any space shooter nostalgia react. Can something old still appeal to newcomers with a modern gloss? That seems to be the broader question Konami itself is trying to answer at this point.
Cygni: All weapons at the ready will be released on August 6 for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.