The situation is a familiar one by now- there’s thousands of them and only one of us, but somehow that’s not an unfair distribution of forces. The enemies stream in from every direction, most of them acting as cover or diversion for the bigger, more troublesome ones coming up behind. Starting with a single weak weapon you avoid the first few invaders, taking down the ones you can and picking up the tasty experience remnants they leave behind. Leveling up brings a choice of one power-up from a random selection, and soon enough the battlefield is lit up with the explosions of a constantly-growing army getting torn to bits by a near-overwhelming arsenal of weapons all firing off against them at once. There’s been a bit of genre-fatigue since Vampire Survivors broke out last year but one of the better demos from before things got out of hand was Nebula. The full game released today and, while it may not have the same kind of depth as a multi-million-selling Early Access title whose success allowed it to grow beyond all reason, Nebula is still a great way to kick back and attempt to create a game-breaking build.
Unlike a good number of the Survivors-style games, Nebula is a bit more active with its shooting in that you get to aim most weapons. While there are plenty that take care of themselves, like chain lightning or the piercing arrow, your standard turrets, lasers, explodey-orbs, and missiles all need to be manually pointed in the right direction, although each has its own rate of fire and rotation to deal with. Destroyed enemies usually leave behind scrap, which counts as Nebula’s experience pickup, and once enough is collected you get a choice of four upgrades- two will be weapons, one a perk, and the last will always be health. There are a number of ships to choose from before starting a run, each with its own primary weapon and secondary ability, but all of them can equip up to nine weapons (that includes the starting one) and five perks. Once you’ve got a feel for what the weapons are and how the perks effect them, Nebula starts opening up as each run has the potential to be a constant barrage of player-driven destruction.
While Nebula is your standard Survivors-type shooter, it’s one that feels good to play thanks to a well-designed set of weapons and perks that complement the arsenal nicely. Each run is defined not by a timer but by the number of gear collectibles you pick up, with the earliest level topping out at 1,000 for a nicely bite-sized round. The gears also act as the metagame currency, spent on powering up ship features or individual weapons, so they act a handy way to gatekeep the higher difficulty areas. It will take more than a few runs to see everything Nebula has to offer, including its locked weapons and ships, but like in all good Survivors-type games one run leads to another and each loss or victory is a stepping-stone to the next challenge. There’s one of you and a million of them, but they blow up so nicely when weapon effects and power-ups kick in that it always feels like there’s room for more.
