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 Eater, both of which will bring Konami back into the world of big-budget console gaming. These projects join a collection of retro revivals, including this year’s Against: Operation Galuga, indicating that the company is ready to return to its most beloved franchises. It’s not just digging up old IP, though. Her publishing endeavors are still looking to the future, albeit through nostalgic undertones.
In that sense, its most intriguing game isn’t one of its mega remakes, but something much smaller. Swan: All Guns Blazing, a new space shooter set to launch on August 6th, is the debut game from developer KeelWorks with the release being handled by Konami. It’s a nod to one of the foundational genres of gaming as players blast through waves of enemies from a top-down perspective. I recently demoed the upcoming game, checking out the first few levels. It’s popular and a wild swing at the genre, bringing more complex mechanics and a cinematic art style. Call it modern nostalgia – a phrase that just might describe exactly what to expect from a refreshed Konami in 2024.
Shoot them, evolved
When I say “space shooter”, you probably have a strong image in your head. I imagine you’re picturing a vertically scrolling screen with a small ship at the bottom that fires energy shots at enemies that bounce in patterned waves. You’d be halfway to understanding Swan at that point, but you’d still be surprised once you turned it on. It opens with a fully animated cutscene that looks like it’s straight out of a Pixar movie. We see our intrepid pilot jump out of bed and prepare for a mission while some energetic music plays. As soon as I set up a few stories and jump into my plane, the camera smoothly exits the cockpit and locks into that familiar top-down perspective. It is an early sign that Swan it’s not just about doing something retro; he wants to evolve the shoot ’em up genre.
This is immediately apparent as soon as I start shooting. I suppose I can just jump in without a tutorial and start shooting, but I can tell right away that I’m not getting something since I’m torn. Of course, I am. Swan it’s much closer to a modern space shooter like Ikaruga than a retro pick-up-and-play. A tutorial teaches me that I have a certain amount of energy represented by rods around my ship. I can channel that energy into my shield or weapons. Putting it towards my weapons will make my shots stronger but leave me vulnerable, and vice versa. I can manipulate those dynamics on the fly with my mouse wheel, which instantly brings a more active layer of ship management to the genre.
This is not the only twist. In addition to my standard throws, I can hold down a button to throw ground attacks. I have to pay attention to where the enemies are on the screen to make sure I’m hitting them with the right weapon. And even then, there’s still more to learn: an auto-switch, lock-on, RPG progression, and even a pattern maker that lets me shape my shot spread. It’s a lot to take in, which makes it clear that KeelWorks is aiming to bring more depth to a straightforward genre.
With a better knowledge of what Swan is going for, I jump back to level one and get a handle on how to play. The basics are pretty easy: click a button to shoot approaching enemies. It’s when I start engaging with the rest of my toolkit that I start to feel more like a conductor. When some weak enemies get close, I push my energy to my weapons and lock them down to wipe them out with ease. When I hit a big boss, I collect my shields and start planning my shots a little more carefully.
What I appreciate here is that this isn’t a “bullet hell” game where taking a hit or two blows my ship to pieces. Players are expected to get hit – a lot. The action is chaotic with enemy gunfire coming in dense waves. My shield helps me deal with those hits when I need to, giving me some flexibility in tricky stretches of a level. There is an art to knowing when to play offense and defense.
It can all be overwhelming at times. KeelWorks is going for a visual spectacle not often seen in the genre, and this creates some readability issues. The screen is multi-layered, with action happening both in front of me and at a lower level. One part has me flying over a battlefield while my friends fight against some aliens. I return my attacks to the ground and start throwing bombs to help them. However, the moments of air-ground interaction are not always so clear. Sometimes enemies can feel like they’re in the middle, leaving me confused as I try to figure out which attack to use. Now add in a screen full of lasers, enemies, detailed backgrounds and explosions; is more.
I imagine this will appeal to those who really want to dig in here. Like any good shooter of theirs, these are challenging levels that players will likely need to play again and again to master. Having so many tools to play with and so much to look at in each attempt makes the idea of replaying stages a little more enjoyable. Each piece feels like it was built to keep the heart of the genre in tact while better encouraging new players to engage with classic loops. I’ve yet to delve into its progression hooks and pattern maker, so I’ll have to see how they make its small story stages feel different each time since the levels themselves are static.
I appreciate it Swan: All Guns Blazing is heading here, and Konami is expanding. It feels like a lively 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 it here, though the ultimate test will come from how younger gamers without nostalgia for space shooters react. Can something old still appeal to newcomers through a modern sheen? That seems to be the broader question that Konami itself aims to answer right now.
Swan: All Guns Blazing launches August 6 for PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC.