Summary
- Whisker Squadron: Survivor combines the best elements of roguelite gameplay and on-rails shooting, reminiscent of Star Fox 64.
- The game successfully creates an addictive gameplay loop, similar to Hades, with the potential for endless replayability.
- Permanent upgrades in Whisker Squadron: Survivor allow players to customize their ships and experiment with different strategies, reminiscent of Vampire Survivors.
One of the best aspects of discovering a new indie title is seeing the ways that developers cleverly combine disparate genres, often in ways that most had likely never considered. Thanks to several recent entries in the subgenre, players have no shortage of quality roguelites, but the best ones offer a clever twist. Enter Whisker Squadron: Survivor, the newest title from Flippfly. A roguelite prologue to next year's Whisker Squadron, which looks to do its obvious Star Fox inspiration justice, Survivor is equal parts Hades and Star Fox 64, combining the best aspects of a roguelite experience and their "just one more run" gameplay with the tightly focused on-rails shooting of one of Nintendo's most-beloved franchises.
Prior to its work on Whisker Squadron, developer Flippfly released the minimalist flight sim/twitch-based movement game Race the Sun on PC and consoles. Having experience in crafting tightly controlled flight simulators seems to have paid off in Whisker Squadron: Survivor's handling, with each of the three available ships feeling smooth to pilot despite their subtle differences. Everything that players would expect in an homage to Star Fox can be found here; inverted flight controls, laser cannons, barrel rolls, and anthropomorphic animals. More importantly, however, Whisker Squadron: Survivor nails the core fundamentals of a good roguelite.
Whisker Squadron: Survivor Matches the Addictive Nature of Hades
Perhaps the most important element of any roguelite is its ability to successfully entice players into an addictive gameplay loop, where one run can just as easily become a hundred. Hades is one of the best in the genre, giving players what feels like a fresh experience each run by providing a massive range of potential upgrades, each with their own viability in combat and potential to dramatically transform player strategy from run-to-run. Not only does Whisker Squadron: Survivor absolutely nail these aspects of a good roguelite, but it does so with the same ease of "jump-in/jump-out" play as Hades.
It's a wonder that players haven't seen the space combat roguelite be more popular, as arcade-style on-rails flight sims are a natural spin for the roguelite formula. Everspace successfully dabbled in roguelite territory, but where Whisker Squadron: Survivor potentially outdoes that game is in its speed. Much like Hades, a run can end just as quickly as it began, but players have little reason to not jump right back into the action and try again. The beautiful visuals and great soundtrack provide the perfect backdrop as players try again and again to survive 10 rounds, adapting strategy on the fly and finding the best synergies between upgrades.
Meaningful Permanent Upgrades Call to Mind Vampire Survivors
As players complete each of a level's 10 rounds, they earn in-game currency that can be used between missions to permanently upgrade one of the three ships in the hangar. While these permanent upgrades offer small bonuses at first to mechanics like fire rate and missile capacity, the rewards eventually stack to provide meaningful adjustments to how players approach each run. These upgrades are significant in terms of how they improve the ships, and they free up preference for entirely new mutators during each run. Thanks to the significant ways the permanent upgrades encourage experimentation, it's hard to not see a little bit of Vampire Survivors in Whisker Squadron: Survivor's DNA.
Beyond its similarities to other excellent roguelites like Hades and Vampire Survivors, Whisker Squadron: Survivor is a faithful attempt at providing players with an experience as close to Star Fox 64 as possible. In the absence of Nintendo's space combat franchise, Flippfly and other developers have stepped up to provide their own spin on the classic titles, proving that there's still an audience eagerly awaiting the possibility of a new Star Fox game. Until then, Whisker Squadron: Survivor is here to fill that void, one white-knuckle run at a time.
Whisker Squadron: Survivor is available now for PC.