Crystal Breaker is a 2D vertical shoot’em up actually in development by Japanese studio Terarin Games.
The main feature of the game is the aggressive gameplay that requires the player to destroy enemies with close range attacks and quick destructions.
Controls are very simple but intuitive: there is only a button for shoot and another one for boost. Shots are fire automatically by holding down the button while the boost can be used to quickly approach enemies or avoid their bullets; the boost uses a gauge but it doesn’t take so much time to recharge, keeping the action on screen always fast-paced.
There are two different ships available, one in controlled by Layla and it’s a standard type with long distance shots but normal power, while the second ship, controlled by Jenny, has a shorter distance for shots but this difficulty grants the player with a more attack power even if probably for beginners is better start playing the game with the standard type ship.
Today Terarin Games has made available a demo on Steam, there are 2 playable stages and the full game will include a total of 8 different stages and 3 difficulty levels. Stages can be played in order and once finished one the next level is unlocked, so the player can also aim for a better hiscore in a specific stage.
The complete version of Crystal Breaker will also include an online hiscore ranking so players from all over the world will be able to compete with each other.
According to the Steam page the game will be released this year for both PC and Switch (probably only in digital form).
You can download the demo at this address: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2778810/Crystal_Breaker_Demo/
Below you can watch a video about the gameplay from the demo: