Polyfury is a top-down bullet hell shmup, that was developed by a solo developer, creating under the name Wayfarer Games. It was released on Steam on the 18th of September 2023, and it is heavily recommended by players, without a single “Not Recommended” review, which is quite extraordinary. Let’s dive in!
RELEASE DATE: SEPTEMBER 18, 2023
DEVELOPER: WAYFARER GAMES
PUBLISHER: WAYFARER GAMES
PLATFORM: PC
The developer recommends playing the game by using a controller – it supports various kinds of them – and so do I. I was using a wired Xbox controller, and the response times were great, so I would recommend that one, if you own it, of course. The game is also highly playable by using a mouse. As far as the game’s options go, you can turn on the automatic laser, set up the vibration, modify the audio volumes, the resolution and framerate, and other shenanigans. What the game is boasting about, is its accessibility, but I did not see anything exceptional about it. You can modify some visuals, contrast, and saturation, but that is basically it. Oh, and you can select a hyperlegible font, but that one is not much different as the game’s regular font, so I do not really know, if it makes a huge difference.
Polyfury offers a short tutorial about movement and how to blast a laser, and that is about it. After that, you are sent into a bullet hell world of battling against different, relentless shapes, that will not go easy on you at all. Dodging their bullets can be pretty hectic, but with some practice, you will be able to blast them to smithereens. There is even a Practice mode, where you can… practice (duh!) against all seven shapes from hell that the game offers. These shapes are Spiteful Square, Pitiless Pentagon, Hyper Hexagon, Triangle Twins, Hateful Heptagram, Terrifying Tetrapod, and Octagon Overlord. The game is pretty fun to play, but it was constantly crashing on me. At least until I updated my graphics drivers, that is. The game looks very good for its minimalistic art style, and has a very simple gameplay mechanic – you need to move around on a ring, and evade bullets that are constantly flying towards you. The soundtrack is pretty good, not the best, but still listenable. Polyfury also supports cheats, but using them disables your leaderboards submissions and also achievements, so I do not recommend using them. But if you really want to cheat, you can use “supercharge”, which will make the laser charge super quickly. No need to thank us. Like at all.
Polyfury’s gameplay is simple and pretty fun. It is a minimalistic boss rush bullet hell shmup that will test your reactions and reflexes. The bosses, that come in various shapes, have different attack patterns, so you never really know what to expect with the next one. I recommend getting the game, if you are into fast paced shoot ’em ups, and if you want to test your skills in a pretty unknown indie title.
GRADE
