Grab Bag: Asteroid Bounty Hunter (PC)

This week, the folks over at Just1337 Studio were kind enough to send us over copy of their latest game, Asteroid Bounty Hunter. We took it out for a test flight, and you can check out my gameplay video and impressions above.

Asteroid Bounty Hunter (ABH) is a space shooter that on its surface brings to mind games like Defender, Lifeforce and Vanguard for me. Attacking objects and enemies while dodging bullets and debris is the core gameplay of ABH, and it’s a lot of fun. The controls are responsive (I played with an Xbox One controller on PC), and the level of challenge you take on is completely up to you. On ‘Easy,’ ABH is the type of game you can zone out to while listening to your favorite music or podcast (although you’d be missing out on a great soundtrack). At higher levels of difficulty, you’ll need all of your focus, as the game can dip into Bullet Hell territory.

You earn XP as you go, which is used to upgrade your weapons, shields and ship. Each series of levels culminates in a boss battle, and if you find yourself getting your butt kicked, you can go back and farm for XP in the levels you’ve beaten to earn more upgrades.

Asteroid Bounty Hunter is exactly the kind of game I would’ve pumped tons of quarters into at the arcade back in the day. It captures the classic space shooter gameplay, and the upgrade system and multiple difficulties add a good amount of replay value.

You can get Asteroid Bounty Hunter right now on Steam for $4.79, and you can check out Just1337 Studio and all of their projects at www.just1337.com.