Solid Aether

Bullet Hell Solid Aether is out now

Who doesn’t love a great classic 2D shooter?

Brought to you by Japanese indie developer FAL Works, comes Solid Aether, their classic 2D bullet hell shoot em’ up, releasing today on Steam! With an extremely simple design, Solid Aether features a variety of bullet patterns that are generated continuously in a stylish black and white world. Players will feel refreshed by dodging bullets and destroying enemies while enjoying various beautiful bullet patterns and the ambience in this abstract world. FAL, the game designer over at FAL Works, recently has this to say about the design of the game and how he wanted to create the mix between simplicity and complexity in the gameplay.

“My motivation is to focus on one aesthetic aspect of bullet hell, which lies between simplicity and complexity, order and chaos, concreteness and abstraction. I believe that bullet patterns in shoot ’em up games are exactly a kind of generative art. I tried to focus on the art of bullet patterns in this game, and this is also why I chose a minimalist design. I hope you enjoy how various patterns can emerge from this minimal world.”

Additionally, some of the games key features include:

  • Minimalist and abstract art.
    The visual is artistically designed, based on black and white and using only rectangular-shaped elements, which offers an unique and comfortable gameplay.
  • Variety of bullet patterns.
    Consisting of countless bullets, the patterns will be deployed one after another.
  • Four unique levels.
    Each level is characterized by its own music and tendency of bullet patterns.
  • Extremely simple game mechanics.
    No bombs. No power-ups. No items. Just dodge and shoot.
  • Newbie friendly.
    You can easily recover from mistakes by destroying enemies and receiving extra lives, which lets you enjoy the game even if you aren’t familiar with shmups.

Solid Aether will also be releasing on iOS, Andrioud and MacOS, but FAL Works has not confirmed a release date, but has stated that it will be sometime after the release on Windows. If you are interested in picking up the game, be sure to jump over to the Solid Aether Steam page where you can find the game at 15% for £4.41 / $5.94.