These are two genres that I particularly like that Gradioid tries to mix: the shoot em up and the exploration in a Metroid way. You are an outer soldier equipped with a jet pack that must find its way inside a spaceship in order to destroy it and, to save the galaxy.

Initially it has only a single laser cannon but it will be essential to get different upgrades to continue your journey, such as a charged radius to destroy some walls or activate switches. The fortress is a labyrinth, full of branch lines that may thinki about Section-Z on the Nintendo Nes and dead ends are common, leaving you no alternative but to turn back.

If the background and the sprites could have benefited from a little more attention, the 8-bit design is very good and the discreet sound atmosphere fits perfectly with the genre, with simple but striking sound effects.

The adventure has a fairly long lifespan, because in more than twenty minutes I do not seem to have reached half of it, its difficulty is also high and heal items are rare but fortunately it is possible to save your progress at many checkpoints. Congratulations for this title that would have its place among other indie games on steam!