Procyon

I have a soft spot for the kind of game that one person builds over years in their spare time, quietly shipping something that the rest of the internet sleeps on. Procyon is exactly that: a horizontal shoot-em-up made almost entirely by a single developer, Josh Jersild, who handled game design, programming, music, and modelling before pulling in collaborators for the finishing coat of polish. That origin story matters because it explains both the game's strongest qualities and its honest limitations. The core loop is clean and considered. You pilot an experimental ship through five side-scrolling stages, each capped with a boss fight, toggling between a wide spread of bullets for crowd control and a locking beam for precision targeting. The shield mechanic is where real depth hides: holding the shield button while firing transforms both weapons, turning the beam into a punishing straight-line burst and the spread shot into a wide arc that catches enemies at the edges of the screen. It is a dual-function system that rewards players who internalise it, though reviewers have noted the same doubling-up makes it easy to forget you have a shield available at all during busy moments. No upgrade pickups exist, no power-up chains to maintain - the ship's toolkit is fixed from start to finish, so mastery comes from reading enemy patterns and choosing the right weapon at the right instant. What consistently draws praise from the small but devoted Steam community is the soundtrack. Jersild composed a faux-orchestral score that players describe as genuinely cinematic quality for an indie release at this price point. In a genre where music carries half the tension, that is not a small thing. The light effects, particularly the coloured particle bursts and hexagonal wall textures in later stages, add visual energy even where the looping 3D backgrounds feel a little sparse. The story, delivered through narrated cutscenes with dry humour between the commander and pilot, is lightweight but self-aware enough to work. The honest warning: this is a short game. A first run on easy clocks in around 40-45 minutes. The content scaffolding around that runtime - three difficulty levels including a single-life Survival mode, a score multiplier combo system that punishes passive play, Steam leaderboards, and 36 achievements - exists precisely to give the hardcore crowd reason to return. Portrait-orientation mode is a thoughtful inclusion for players who want the classic vertical shmup feel. Local co-op adds a second ship to the chaos and is arguably the game's most charming way to play, even if the lack of online co-op is a missed opportunity given how well the weapon duality would translate to two specialised pilots. A note worth flagging for modern hardware: some players have reported resolution and crash issues on launch, so a quick search of the Steam community hub for workarounds before starting is time well spent.

Kai · Scout Team

Indie & narrative

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