Steel Rain

Steel Rain
N/A
Metacritic
86
Steam
57.75
xDR
Our rating is calculated based on the reviews and popularity of the game.
Price
$4.39
Release date
3 December 2015
Publishers
Steam reviews score
Total
86 (45 votes)

It's the ultimate, strategic SHMUP ReMix! Control TWO combat wings, flick between THREE different formations, and BLAST your way through overwhelming enemy fleets! Liberate planets, build colonies, research tech and skills, craft items, or even play 2p co-op in this unique new indie game.

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Steel Rain system requirements

Minimum:

  • OS: Windows XP or above
  • Processor: Intel Pentium 4 2.0 GHz +
  • Memory: 1 GB RAM
  • Graphics: Min. resolution 1280 x 720
  • DirectX: Version 9.0
  • Storage: 120 MB available space
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ASTROCHRONIC
ASTROCHRONIC

Garbage game. Feels like a student project. Cheap graphics. Nonsensical game play. Constant useless powerups...lots of modes and upgrades to distract from the complete mess of a poorly thrown together shmup. Buy it if its a dollar maybe, just to see if its as bad as I say it is.

MiST
MiST

fun game, gradius clone, but at the same time, holds its own as "not another gradius clone", like the diffaculty at 4/10 lvls i think and i struggled alite to even get through level 2-1. i cant imagine at level 10/10, japanese bullet hell here i come! the flow of the game feels nice and tight physics wise tested with a gamepad at 60fps according to steam fps counter and i dont think it would benfefit of a higher fps,

KizerZin
KizerZin

The first time I played this game, it had it failing but the Devs have fixed everything I hated about the combat system.

Even now the Devs seems to be hearing to people's feedback and fixing anything wrong, so I have nothing to say no to a buy for others looking for a shooter of old.

racercowboy
racercowboy

Great game, plenty of content and can become quite challenging for those who prefer it. Deffinitely receives my reccomendation.

Mr Scorpio
Mr Scorpio

Menu Systrem could use a bit of work with the game pad, recomend mouse when not in a mission. Other than that its a solid scroller!

joelp
joelp

Just downloaded this game, have tried for fifteen minutes to get it to recognize my mouse. No luck. Wasted $10.99. At least it wasn't a lot of money.

MichaelWilliams
MichaelWilliams

I just purchased this game tonight and I already love this game. An awesome arcade style space shooter. I love the gameplay along with the music on this one. It's a challenging game, but it's the kind that I want to play over and over to beat the challenge.

On top of that, it crosses over into the civilization building genre. As you conquer planets, you can colonize them and build civilizations on each one. So it's not your every day space shooter.

max.savenkov
max.savenkov

Interesting, if unbalanced combination of genres. It tries to do too many things at once, not quite succeeding or failing, but it has its moments, so I can recommend it, if you're looking for medium-difficulty scroll shooter.

My main complaint is graphics. Often, it is very hard to distinguish bullets, or sometimes even enemies from background.
Another thing, this game has a lot in it, but if you missed things in tutorial, it's hard to find explanation elsewhere in then game.

Willy Ink
Willy Ink

Complex and good progress system, simple but comfortable graphics, a satisfying number of level, anyway, a good game.

AgreedSA
AgreedSA

This is a really fun, surprisingly deep SHMUP! It features a good collection of levels, a difficulty slider that increases risk and reward for the level (even one bump up is a solid increase in challenge, and good freaking luck on the later difficulty levels if you're not a SHMUP god).

On top of the basic SHMUP mechanics, which it nails, it has a varied and enjoyable progression system. You buy new parts for your ship in the shop, gated off by your "Core level" (which goes up as you play levels and get powerups). However, you also have to do research to unlock stuff, which is accomplished by means of a "Colonization" mechanic. It's actually fairly deep, and runs in some sorta real time as you're playing, with the time factor increased a lot when you're playing missions.

So, example, I played a bit and got enough credits to start a colony on one of the worlds I had cleared all three levels for. The pod deploys, and then instead of the planet interface for missions, it switches to a grid-based view where you can use money you've earned in missions to construct buildings. Some of them add population, some add power, and the others allow you to do things like earn passive income or do research. As I've typed this review, with the game running in the background, it's earned enough off of my first colony to build some new buildings - with further development I bet this becomes the way you earn steady cash for upgrades.

I'm still quite early in the game but I've got all the different game mechanics going now and I am really enjoying how they all work together. It's all tied together by the excellent SHMUP gameplay, and none of it would matter as much if that sucked... But it rocks! And the other elements, far from being tacked on or shoehorned in, are well thought out and contribute to a fun sense of progress and mastery. Rewarding, enjoyable game, very glad I purchased it and I recommend it.

UPDATE: Yeah this has just kept getting cooler. I really, really like this game, very glad I bought it. The colonization thing turns out to be really important, which may turn some people into pure SHMUP gameplay off. But the game advertises heavily its "RPG and RTS" elements, and if you are a fan of those genres, the blend of gameplay elements is just extremely rewarding and engrossing. Everything in this game happens in the aforementioned real-time. All three aspects of the gameplay have direct benefits from the research tree. You can research to improve colonization (and doing so first makes the rest go quicker, but you don't have to - I didn't, prefer to get more reward in the SHMUP gameplay and that means researching the two non-colony trees as well). You can research to improve the fighter's power directly. You can research to unlock buyable upgrades that you get by spending currency.

And there's more - there's a whole crafting system in the game based on buildings you can put down in your colonies. The two types involved are Factories and Citadels, though I haven't even started building Citadels yet - they seem to be one of the gates to further progress requiring more research. You earn materials either from pickups in stages, or from passive production of items that you can then break down (this happens in the background of the game all the time, though sometimes you might need to defend a colony - I've found them to defend themselves fine with two Defense buildings). Those items, though, are passive upgrades that improve your ship's various characteristics or building capabilities in the colony section.

It's just really extra deep for a SHMUP game. The progression doesn't feel particularly slow, either, and the difficulty scaling is fantastic. Just starts good and gets better and better, this game. Highly recommended for SHMUP fans who also enjoy base-building elements of RTS games and like having a lot to do in a game for surprisingly little scratch!

jhdavidson83
jhdavidson83

Shoot Em Up game with a total Grindy RPG Feel. I loved it.

The Pro's

- really liked the new RPG concepts brought to genre - including planet colonization, ship upgrades, equippable inventory system, skill trees, etc. You guys really threw a lot of ideas out there at once. This keeps people like me playing again and again, but might be overwhelming for others.
- displayable damage - i honestly don't know why i like this option so much other than i like seeing the little numbers pop up when i'm tagging the enemy ships.
- replayable missions, including orbit patrols, and having to constantly defend your owned planets. I like this.
- the grindability. I LOVE grindy RPGs, and this game has grindability in droves.

The Cons
-the actual shoot em up portion of the game does seem to leave a little desired in looks
-at first the game seems very sluggish and slow paced, controls and gameplay still does not seem as tight as classics like raiden, raptor, twin cobra, or UN squadron.
-sometimes all i see is a screenfull of mines, lol...

all in all for me I really enjoy this game, and will probably be slowly grinding away at it for a long while to come. It reminded me of playing UN Squadron on Super Nintendo for the first time as a kid. Man, I loved that game.

Windrunner-XM107
Windrunner-XM107

Steel Rain is very enjoyable and mildly addictive, has minor RPG-like elements, and a pure ardace style as well.
5 out of five stars! ★★★★★/★★★★★

Sharpnessism
Sharpnessism

Decent buy for $5.

Pros:
- Good amount of diversity in terms of weapons and upgrades
- Unique upgrade system (for a SHUMP)
- Many difficulty levels for players of all types
- No severe/game stopping bugs

Cons:
- Tutorial/explanation for certain systems is lacking, so you'll have to figure some things out yourself
- Menu system is a bit clunky
- A few obvious spelling/grammar mistakes
- Graphics can make it difficult to know whether you're able to dodge a hit or not

ej
ej

This game is great (a combination of late 80s shmup, basebulding, and RPG-like skill and equipment grind), but the developer failed to unlock the full potential of his ideas.
Tech tree is somewhat dumb, base building limited and boring, many upgrades are infignificant and the game is already over before you even start to make something with production mechanics.
In my opinion, the ingredients for an awesome game are there, but the strategy/RPG aspects must somehow be completely rebalanced and made more intelligent, allowing greater amount of specialization and planning.
Also, some campaign levels seem to be duplicated (with some minor randomization).
I like the graphics style and the special effects, but the system requirements are too high for a 2D game.
If you are a fan of the genre, you must play this, despite all its flaws.

Sphinx
Sphinx

Nice bullet hell game. Has some RPG elements, upgrade weapons and buy items and such. Great visuals and good soundtrack.

Nathaniel Prime
Nathaniel Prime

A good idea... but terribly balanced, full of bugs, plagued with insane controls (either you use a controller and are incredibly slow or use the mouse and can't stop firing without moving), and just generally a severe lack of polish.

CryonicSuspension
CryonicSuspension

This is the best shoot 'em up that I've played on Steam.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XA0PrMPm4yc

Shoot 'em ups have always been my favourite genre of game. I was born in 1975 and grew up playing them in the arcades. I dislike the newer Bullet Hell style shoot 'em ups because I think that they have a lower skill ceiling than the oldschool shoot 'em ups.

Even though I first played Raiden in the arcades in ~1996, I've never managed to finish the game. I only got as far as Stage 5 ( from what I remember ). I have been playing Raiden using a custom, $200 joystick called the Eightarc "Ebony Fusion" ( by using MAME - multi arcade emulator ):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpz1Kg3H-l8&t=210s

Raiden: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raiden_(video_game)

Eightarc Ebony Fusion:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXvrTvhsv6g

MAME: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MAME

My point is that I'm hardcore about my Shmups and I think that most of Steam's shoot 'em ups are garbage. Steam had a "Shoot 'em Up" sale a few months ago and I bought and refunded all but a few. Steel Rain is a keeper.

Steel Rain reminded me of how I felt playing games such as, "Thunderforce 3" on the Sega Genesis:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLUnXOm6o18

Steel Rain is definitely the strangest shoot 'em up that I've ever played. It is a hybrid of three different genres: 75% shoot 'em up; 20% city builder; 5% light RPG.

In the campaign, the goal is to liberate planets. After clearing three shoot 'em stages, you can colonize the planet. You can build manufacturing facilities ( to enhance the weapons on your ship ). You can build trading facilities ( to generate income over time ). You can build science facilities ( to research new weapons technologies ).

There are three+ different difficulty levels. I finished the game on hardcore mode which was the hardest difficulty level and ( I think ) that unlocked Legendary difficulty. You can also dial up the difficulty with a slider. How hard is the game? Hard to say... somewhere between Thunderforce 3 (on Hard difficulty ) and Raiden ( default Arcade difficulty. There a 2 different ROM sets; I play the version where when you die, you drop all of your power ups, which is super-brutal-hardcore ). The variance in Steel Rain depends on your individual skill level and how much planetary research and tech you have access to.

Tips for noobs:

- Click on: "Options" - "Controls" and set the deadzone to

DownIncognito
DownIncognito

Steel rain not only is one of the only bullet-hell shooters available for Linux / SteamOS, but as someone who grew up playing Gate of Thunger, R-Type, and other classic standard-bearers for the genera, I can fully endorse this game. On ANY platform. Do yourself 3 favors:

1) Buy the game
2) Go through the tutorial (maybe even two or three times) - The game has a lot to offer in the form of skill trees, etc.
3) Sit back and smile

Pro's
- The game is fast, smooth, and georgeous
- Soundtrack kicks a**
- Lots of customization opions
- Lots of eye candy
- very challenging yet not totally riduculous / impossible
- Easy mode to get your feet wet

Con's
- Great as the soundtack is, the library could have a few more tracks to it
- Somewhat of a learning curve to understand all of the game's elements

Anf4lkan
Anf4lkan

I received this game from a 33% Steam Voucher so I paid roughly just over £4. For me a game is worth it's price if you have an enjoyable hour equal to £1 spent. So with this I'm looking at around 4 enjoyable hours, so far I've had 2 and I'm still hooked so it's looking promising that I'll get my monies worth.

The Pros

There seems to be a healthy balance between the shoot them up, RPG and colony elements to this game, all three being vital to progress further. Although the shoot them up segment is the main role of this game, if you decide to neglect one of the two other elements you may find your self hitting a wall very fast, not matter how skilled you maybe (Unless you're a bullet hell expert which in that case fair play to you.) This does set up a nice tempo to the game and makes you consider what research routes you may take, what upgrades you'll purchase for your ship and also what strategy and order you'll choose to colonize planets. How ever all of that may seem obsolete considering that by the time you hit end game you'll have the same result regardless of route (as I'll discuss more below,) so these choices are only relevant as you reach each stage for the first time.

The shoot them up aspect is nice and simple. You have three fire modes (or formations as it's called in this game) which alters your fire direction, damage, projectile speed and damage, each one being useful for different situations. To add further variation onto this there's item drops through out the level which alter your colour mode, each colour mode having their own passive abillities aswell as different affects on your fire mode. I often find my self using either the Green, Yellow or Orange colour modes as they suit my play style, but each one is useful depending on situation and what enemies you'll be fighting since each stage has it's own unique style of enemy.

The Cons

The only issue I can pick out with this game is that it's going to have zero replay value. Because of the way the upgrades, research and colinisation works, by the time you hit end game you'll have everything the same, not matter what route you take in your different play through. Your upgrades stack and are always equipped, which means you have no real customisation or choice (the exception being the upgrades you obtain from the colonies,) your colony lay out will always be the same once you've mastered that perfect balance which will give each colony the same amount of income, residence, research and defence. Lastly researching does not lock out other research routes, so enough play time will mean you'll have everything accessible to you regardless of route by the end.

Conclusion

Over all for a game I spent £4 on I can't really fault it on the lack of replay value and I've enjoyed it so far. Simple yet enjoyable. 7/10

n0perls2cluch
n0perls2cluch

I'm at a loss to how I'd describe Steel Rain. It's got classic side-scrolling shoot-em-up action, at its core. Between missions, your ship levels up skills and buys upgrades. After you finish levels (planets), you gain access to a city placement resource-gathering tool. It doesn't work flawlessly; it works often enough you forgive it for the few shortcomings you encounter.

In my Dariusburst review, I criticized that game's failure to mix MMO and shmup compellingly. Steel Rain, on the other hand, does it well. Quests and planetary sieges provide randomized fleets to take out and earn extra money. Each mission attempt, not just mission, is unique: some enemies spawn at different times, in different numbers, from different locations. The action could've quickly gotten stale, but Steel Rain's gameplay lubricates the long-term experience as you grind into late game. It makes grinding feel like less of a tiresome chore, thanks to ten difficulty settings.

Getting to the late game is where the city-building and research trees come into play. As you develop your acquired planets, your income shoots up and you unlock helpful research upgrades. Most of the upgrades I found inapplicable to my style of play, a roadblock to get the stuff I actually wanted (T2/T3 Drones, Steel Citadels). Switching Research production to Production ...uh, production is an option once you've fully researched all tech.

The menus are plain, and just effective enough to not totally piss you off. The music, sound effects, and some of the visuals are forgettable and underwhelming. These are minor qualms, however, compared to the rest of the game.

Steel Rain is a shmup whose innovative idea is numbers. You don't grind high scores exactly; you don't need to, really. You grind your ship's level and credit amount to astronomical (no pun intended) heights. You rebuild human civilization one new planet at a time. You upgrade your ship into a catastrophic one-man army, mission by mission, quest by quest, skill by skill. It's a slower, RPG-like progression that fits well enough for a recommendation. Steel Rain could use improvement via a sequel, but the foundation laid here is solid.

Tyrian
Tyrian

buy it , crack it , past it , use it , change it , patch it , get updated

i have no idea why good games are hard to find

but i love it.

sadly its too short , but the price is right

B.O.R.G.
B.O.R.G.

I love this game reminds me of Rtype and if you like you will like this to , also great for the achievement hunters to. :)

metroidvania elitist
metroidvania elitist

I've been looking(not aggressively) for a raiden-esque shmup for quite awhile now and this is the first really solid one I've stumbled upon. It's certinly worth the 5 bucks I paid for it and I wouldn't have minded paying full price. The colony thing is wierd, but it's simple and entertaining enough that it doesn't bog down the gameplay. The ability to switch modes and customize your fighter are interesting, and the different colors(I think they're called firemodes?) can be used to great tactical advantage if their powerups spawn often enough, which is the case in most levels.

playoftheyear
playoftheyear

Here are many underlying mechanics within, and best of all is it's all at your fingertips.
3 shooting formations switchable at your whim, times that by 6 different firing color types makes things all based upon preference, need and/or accessibility. Additional powerup pickups increase missiles, spread, shields, power, etc.
Experience points are energy which you can pickup or get for killing things and beating levels. Leveling up grants skill points used to raise skills that open up new dimensions of gameplay. Really cool late game breaking upgrades too, through the research trees.
Everything drops cash which is needed for the immense ship upgrades categorized by things like hull, drones, missiles etc. A nice selection to say the least and visually complimenting.
Colonizing liberated worlds with buildings of your placing brings income and research along with passive effects and new technologies.
Dynamic daily quests for your choosing that brings mega cash bonuses.
Plus more, much more, much much more...4 overall settings Easy, Normal, Hardcore, Legendary - each with 10 difficulty levels that affect score, ranking, income, enemy movement, damage, hp, bullet amount, speed and cooldowns..
Stealth mechanics, yup.
A booming soundtrack, like bass booming worthy to listen to outside of game. Albeit only a handful of tracks, none of them dedicated to a stage, simply played from a random playlist.
There really is alot to dig into here and seems to be a very elongated experience. Even on my craptop with intel series 4, I beat it on normal in 14 hours, with unlockables left to get.
crafting too, random hidden bosses, planetary invasions etc.
Graphics are simple, not too many animated enemies.
Very satisfying gameplay
Made on Gamemaker studios as far as the credits suggested. In game level editor.

Mystic Mongrel
Mystic Mongrel

Equal parts shmup, idle resource manager, and base building sim. I DO mean EQUAL. Of course, when you do actually play, what you get is a fun, solid shooter.

Mazzle Dazzle
Mazzle Dazzle

I really love this game. It basically is a shootem up with a base building setup like Masters of Orion when you beat a planet. I feel like this idea could be expanded for infinite replayability. You gradually become OP and change the difficulty to match until the screen becomes a hail of bullets and everything is constantly exploding. It is awesome. It has periodic base attacks which generate defense missions but you can build a defense station and completely ignore it for a minor resource hit if you wish. It has local co op where one player controls the drone. I did enjoy playing as the drone while my brother played. Being invincible, I could block bullets to create paths and kill hard to get to enemies without fear of death. Most people don't like that style of co op but I definitely do. The stage editor is a lot of fun as well especially with the expeditions expansion. You can create some cool multitiered stages. I personally enjoyed them.
****Note**** It initially hard crashed my computer at seemingly random intervals. I ran in Windows compatibility mode for Windows XP Service Pack 3 and as administrator and this problem no longer occurs. I suspect it is due to some incompatibility with AMD drivers given some post but I don't know for sure.

Wyvern-of-the-Rising-Sun
Wyvern-of-the-…

„Mondera III is under attack. All Productions stopped. „
„What about Gaea Prime?“
„The Laser Batteries are working perfekt.“
„Okay, get me the RAZOR Wing. BLUE Weapon Mode and i want the TRAPID Drone! Fast. We need the Factorys! Our Enemy is not sleeping.“
„Yes, Sir. When are you planning to take on the Boss of GLACUS PRIME?“
„Not so soon. Our Wings must be upgraded to stand a Chance. Until then i do some Side Missions after i did the Orbit Patrol. We need more Ressources, or we will lost the War.“
„RAZOR Wing ready. Good Luck!“
„Thanks. Time to test the new Missiles.“

Oh yes, a typical Gamesituation, dear Reader.
Welcome to STEEL RAIN.

From the first View it looks like a simple Shooter, but it surely isn`t.
It is an amazing Genre Mix. We have Shooting, Economy, Strategy and even RPG Elements.

So what awaits you?
Short Story, Earth is lost and the Human Race goes against an overpowering Extraterrestrial Race. The Plan is to defeat them by conquering Planet after Planet.

You have the control of special Fighting Wings. These Wings can be upgraded with special Types of Missiles and also Drones. It feels a little bit like the Satellite from the R-TYPE Ship has ist own Game now, because the Wings looks more like Drones then a Spaceship. Each Wing has 3 Battle Modes, from Range to Melee Attack. They also have different Weapon Types, shown in different Colours. Each Type has its own Strengh and Weakness. Find them out.
Going into Battle, your Wing goes old school KATAKIS like Sidescrolling. If it moves, shoot it! There are many different Enemy Types waiting for you and after destroying they, left Coins and Power Ups behind.

Main Target is to conquer the Enemys Planets. Each Planet has 3 Zones. The third Zone is always an Endboss. Defeat them and you can colonize the Planet.
That brings you to the Economics Part of the Game.
Build Factorys to get upgrades and more. You need them all to rise your Wing and also get new Wings. Have an eye on your Planets, because if they go under attack, all factorys will stop working. Repell the Attack and do also Orbit Patrols.
You are also able to get Normal and Elite Skills for each Weapon Type. Believe me, they really make the differenz when you are in Battle.

Another Skill Tree is waiting for you, that brings you Benefits for every Section. The more Research Labors you build, the faster they are unlocked. That goes also for the Trading Part.
While you are going for better Wings to conquer the Planets you can do some different Sidemissions. You see, there is much to do.

Oh, i forgot. The Difficulty Setting is really good done. You can go from Easy to Hardcore Level and each Level has also 10 more Difficultys. Perfectly to test the might of your growing Wings.
That all in fast flowing Graphics and guided by a great Soundtrack.

STEEL RAIN was a Suprise for me. The first Time i saw it, i liked the Cover and i bought it, because i like shooter, yes it looks like a shooter. I really fastly changed my mind.
The exceeding thing is, the Principle of the Battles are all the same. Flying sidescrolling left to right, mostly with the same Graphics. But they never ever get boring. They got me from the Legendary „Heroes of Might and Magic“ Addicting part. Just one more Battle. Only one more. And that with the Missions and the Economics part and not to forget the Skill and Research Part is a really addicting combination. There is also a EXPEDITIONS DLC that brings you more Content. Also wonderfull done.
If that is not enough, you can design your own Levels, STEEL RAIN has a very nice Level Editor. Have fun.

I´m playing with Mouse and the Wing reacts absolutly perfect, no matter how fast or how slow i move. Well done.

The Developer was able to find a perfect Balance to this Game. For me that is amazing.
Thank you very much for over 20 Hours fun and there are more to come. Because just one more Battle, just one. Also thanks for the Amazing Soundtrack, i bought instant, it has a steady Place in my Player.

So dear Reader, if you like to experience an interesting and addicting but exceeding Genre Mix in the Shooter Genre, with an amazing Gameplay and fast flowing Graphicstyle and a fair price then this is for you.
Enjoy!

Thank you for Reading.

frankieparsons
frankieparsons

A pretty good side-scroller shoot 'em up much along the lines of Reign of Bullets or Drifting Lands but marred by a few negatives...

1.It features the Times New Roman font. This may be ok for a retro-look but is out of place here and cheapens the whole thing.

2. The progress/update system is far too complicated than it needs to be making it ultimately quite overwhelming. I must have spent 90% of my time in-game trying to get my head around what things meant rather than actually shooting things. I'm still extremely confused.

3. Capped at 48fps?? Yes this DOES make a difference and YES this is a borderline deal-breaker for me.

So there ya go. If the framerate issue was fixed, I might be more motivated to dive deeper into the game and figure things out but as is, this issue is a a major turn-off for me. Still a thumbs up though as it does play quite nicely.