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Do you love classic 90s rail shooters like Star Fox? You should take a look at Ex-Zodiac, which just hit Early Access. Built in Godot Engine it comes with Native Linux support right away and it's looking good, it also works great on the Steam Deck too and feels like a really good fit there.

"Ex-Zodiac is a fast-paced rail shooter with a stylized look reminiscent of early 90's 3D games. Join protagonist Kyuu as she fights to free the worlds of the Sanzaru Star System, overrun by the intergalactic terrorist organization known as Zodiac."

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Game Features:

  • A retro, colourful, low-poly visual style
  • 6 main levels and 6 bonus levels currently (more than 12 will be available after full release)
  • Major bosses at the end of each level, each piloted by a member of the Zodiac
  • A 16-bit style soundtrack by +TEK combining FM and wavetable synthesis
  • Barrel rolls

So far, I've been having a lot of fun with it. Firmly bringing back memories of playing classics like it on Sega Mega Drive, Nintendo 64 and others around that sort of time. Some of the boss battles can be quite a challenge, as is getting used to the way the ship moves all around the screen with the camera focus continue forwards. The presentation is simply wonderful too!

Some footage recorded on the Steam Deck:

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The developer thinks it will remain in Early Access for 1 year with plenty more content to come yet.

Available to buy on Steam.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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10 comments

scaine Jul 21, 2022
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I don't think this could be any more Space Harrier if it actually even had a license to be Space Harrier! And that's definitely a good thing!
elmapul Jul 21, 2022
finally! now i just need money to buy and... i guess my computer can run...
elmapul Jul 21, 2022
this looks perfect for the deck
MexicanDandy Jul 22, 2022
Justo bought and finished the EA contento in one sit, great Game and sick music
ElectricPrism Jul 22, 2022
I'm torn because I did really like SNES Fox and this obviously visually emulates that -- so it's setting my expectation.

Freedom Planet did that to me too as a "Sonic", but I honestly was really disappointed.

Trailer Criticism: The game-play looks pretty decent, definitely alluring me to buy.

The character & talking avatars make me cringe a bit.

Also I couldn't tell from the trailer if there were "Audio Cues" -- SFX specifically to communicate events like picking up power-ups, taking damage, locking on, etc...

I'm really torn on this because I know how amazing this could be if it's executed correctly and there's no way to know without playing it.
elmapul Jul 22, 2022
Great to see another native app. And that from Godot, too! Great to see more devs shifting off Unity! Runs super smooth - love it!

its not an result of the unity exodous, this game was in development for a while, since before the big unity exodous.
Craggles086 Jul 22, 2022
Flippfly, who developed Race the Sun
are working on a game, Wisker Squadron
which is also inspired by Star Fox.


Last edited by Craggles086 on 22 July 2022 at 9:27 am UTC
Iggi Jul 22, 2022
I'm really torn on this because I know how amazing this could be if it's executed correctly and there's no way to know without playing it.

To get a bit of a feeling there's still the old demo available from https://benhickling.itch.io/ex-zodiac, and the full version is available from itch, too: https://pixeljam.itch.io/ex-zodiac
I have waited very long for this. Now that it's here I must admit it's harder than Starfox 64 - which I absolutely loved - at least in my memory. Not very hard to beat a stage, but hard to get a better rank than C...

Still love it!

Edit: Just found out that charged laser missiles can be locked onto different targets - made my day.


Last edited by Jewgeni Filippowitsch Iwanowski on 22 July 2022 at 7:21 pm UTC
Smoke39 Jul 22, 2022
Flippfly, who developed Race the Sun
are working on a game, Wisker Squadron
which is also inspired by Star Fox.
The demo they had available earlier this year was extremely rough. Not just stuff like unfinished sound design, the core gameplay didn't feel so great. They also decided to add Everspace-style "free-roam" levels out of nowhere for some reason, which I don't think complement the game at all.

We'll see how it turns out when it's done, but my hopes have been lowered, unfortunately.
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