SHOOPER NOVA  Review

 SHOOPER NOVA (formerly Pulsar Scatter) is a roguelike, tower defence, bullet hell game developed by Jamesika. It’s the year 5202 and technology has advanced to a point where the Earth is fully digitised with hyper-intelligent AI. However, not everyone likes it, and now Earth’s Super-Intelligence (you) must defend itself from the countless enemies who will stop at nothing to destroy it.

Let's talk about the presentation first because that’s what struck me the most. Despite its simple visuals consisting of neon lights, simple shapes, and a cute emoting face in the middle, I really liked it. It reminded me of Geometry Wars where most of the chaos comes in with all the crazy lights, sounds, and effects that go off as you gain more and more power. The music is also really good, going for a lo-fi beat that makes every wave an exciting endeavour.

All you have to do is fend off the enemies coming towards you in the centre for 20 waves. It's easier said than done. You control a ring of weapons using your mouse to aim at hostiles and chunks of gold, with the later rounds absolutely swarming you with enemies. Your starting weapon and bonus (which you can choose) won’t be enough to ensure your survival, but that’s why there are plenty of options to turn a barely defendable AI into a virtual death machine.

Between barrages, you get one free upgrade to your arsenal (randomly selected, of course) and you can spend the gold you've obtained to get more. These upgrades are separated into two types: components and items. Components consist of weapons, active abilities, and major buffs that take up slots on your ring while items are passive, usually increasing and decreasing stats and adding special effects. Both can be upgraded by obtaining duplicates of these upgrades. However, for components you'll need to make sure they have the exact same level. You really do have to think about your choices, where on the ring you’ll put your weapons, what buffs you want, and what you might save for later. It definitely helps that you can change up your build in the middle of runs a little more freely than other roguelikes. Waves are timed and your health will be refilled afterwards so if you want different components, you’re not punished too harshly.

All this combines to make a satisfying gameplay loop that’s easy to get into but requires effort on your part to make it further and further, unlocking new bonuses and difficulties with each challenge conquered. Even when I failed and blew up in a spectacular manner, I was instantly ready to go again with a new build in mind. With 30 different components and 100 unique items, many of them coming with elemental effects that react with one another, there’s a lot you can play with and find something that works.

Now, the game isn’t very performance-intensive. Even as things got crazier and crazier, I was keeping at a consistent 60 FPS. However, there is some untranslated text here and there and some wording could be better. Otherwise, I didn’t encounter anything that affected my experience negatively.

SHOOPER NOVA is just plain and simple fun. It doesn’t have much else other than its main mode and increasing difficulties, but I didn’t mind it as I enjoyed the process of turning myself into a bullet hell. Heck, you might even get to a point where you can just take your hands off your mouse and let your build clear waves by itself. It’s a small game meant for quick sessions, but it definitely packs a punch.

SHOOPER NOVA will be released in the first quarter of 2025.