''Roto Force'' is a

twin-stick shooter Twin-stick shooter is a subgenre of shoot 'em up video games. It defines a multidirectional shooter in which the player character is controlled using two joysticks: the first for movement on a flat plane and the second to shoot in the direction th ...

video game developed by Accidently Awesome. PID Games and East2West published it for mobile devices and personal computers in 2023.

Gameplay

Players progress through

level Level or levels may refer to: Engineering *Level (optical instrument), a device used to measure true horizontal or relative heights * Spirit level or bubble level, an instrument designed to indicate whether a surface is horizontal or vertical *C ...

s that consist of small, enclosed spaces in which they are restricted to staying within the edges. Players can attack their enemies using

controls and must avoid enemy waves of enemy attacks, as in

bullet hell , also known as manic shooter, is a subgenre of shoot 'em up video games with large amounts of projectiles the player is required to dodge. Introduced in 1993 with '' Batsugun'' and initially limited to vertically scrolling shooters, bullet ...

games. To avoid attacks, players can dash around the level, essentially teleporting to the opposite side. New weapons are unlocked on each level, and dying returns players to a checkpoint.

Development

Austrian developer Anton Klinger initially made ''Roto Force'' as an entry in a

game jam A game jam is an event where participants try to make a video game from scratch. Depending on the format, participants might work independently, or in teams. The event duration usually ranges from 24 to 72 hours. Participants are generally program ...

for

Game Boy The is a handheld game console developed by Nintendo, launched in the Japanese home market on April 21, 1989, followed by North America later that year and other territories from 1990 onwards. Following the success of the Game & Watch single-ga ...

-style games. PID Games and East2West Games released it for Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and iOS on Jul 18, 2023.

Reception

Eurogamer ''Eurogamer'' is a British video game journalism website launched in 1999 alongside parent company Gamer Network. In 2008, it started in the formerly eponymous trade fair EGX (Eurogamer Expo until 2013) organised by its parent company. Fr ...

'' praised its gameplay, which they said make it feel "new and weird" in a good way. ''

TouchArcade ''TouchArcade'' (stylized as toucharcade) is a mobile games journalism website. It was launched in 2008 as a sister site of ''MacRumors'' by its founder Arnold Kim and Blake Patterson. ''TouchArcade'' also hosts a forum and a weekly podcast. ...

'' called it one of the polished games on iOS and praised the "slick controls, excellent haptics, ..amazing gameplay ..and memorable writing". ''

TechRadar ''TechRadar'' is an online technology publication owned by Future plc. It has editorial teams in the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia that provide news and reviews of tech products and gadgets. It was launched in 2008 and expanded t ...

'' included it in their list of the best Android games, calling it "claustrophobic and intense". ''Roto Force'' won the jury award for best mobile game at the 2022 Game Development World Championship.

References

{{reflist 2021 video games Bullet hell video games East2West Games games Indie games MacOS games PID Games games Retro-style video games Single-player video games Twin-stick shooters Video games developed in Austria Windows games