Review: CYGNI - All Guns Blazing (PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X & Steam) - Defunct Games

Defunct Games reviews CYGNI: All Guns Blazing from Konami, available now on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and PC.

CYGNI touts itself as a next-generation shoot ‘em up, and from a visual perspective, it succeeds. From the massive bosses to the attention to detail in the backgrounds, this is a graphically stunning game that will impress you from beginning to end. But while the game goes all-in when it comes to the visual splendor, the same cannot be said about the rest of the experience. This is a fairly straight-forward vertical shooter that doesn’t do much to shake up the genre cliches. The weapons are boring, the upgrade shop is lacking and some of the best ideas (like shooting enemy units on the ground) feel like an afterthought. Sure, CYGNI: All Guns Blazing is the same old shoot ‘em up with a fresh coat of paint, but that sure is one good looking paint job.


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#CYGNI #Konami #Shmup

[wilrivera]

... I also prefer vertical if they are wide screen. I got sky force several years ago from your recommendation and absolutely dug it.

[IOSARBX]

Defunct Games, i turned on notifications

[PenguinDT]

I hope this is the beginning of Konami SHMUP revival. I dream of the comeback of the Parodius franchise.

QOTD; I don't have a preference - love them both!

[poil]

i hope konami does some sort of collection of its gradius games for switch in the future.

[poil]

speaking of konami you should do a video covering the whole castlevania series with the new ds collection they just released.

[pmcollectorboy]

Came for the butt shot. Stayed for the Castlevania DS Trilogy on Steam. Err wait... oh this game? No idea. 😂

[noneofyourbusiness]

I got it free on Epic Games, so looks good for the price!

[charlesshamseldin]

Too many enemies?

*laughs in geometry wars*

[goranisacson]

I don't care much for vertical or horizontal, I care more about the sad fact this game apparently burns out all the spectacle at the first level and doesn't seem to have much beyond it. The way ypu describe that it has ground and "air" target makes me think the devs tried to make a modern Xevious, but then couldn't really balance the two separate "levels" very well... so nice that there's a new shmup, pity it doesn't seem to do anything special.

[CarlHammarstrom]

As a Shmup fan Cygni is a step backwards mechanics wise. It used to be about dodging and in Cygni you just tank everything and pick up shields because you can't dodge properly with the unprecise controls. It's feels very artificial as a whole. It does look good though.

[churibman]

During the first level I thought the game was some sort of roguelike that would keep going until I died lol
Also, never hear my gpu fans run louder than while playing this game.

[CarlMakesVideos]

Man, I hadn't even heard about this, and I like shmups a lot. One would think with all the talk of Konami slowly inching their way back into making games (instead of just focusing on their other investments, or rereleasing their old games - which I do apprciate), that this would have shown up on my radar somewhere. Unfortunately, I've not really been a fan of shmups that deal with multiple layers or require you to rotate your aim - I'm overwhelmed enough just dealing with dodging bullet patterns most of the time. That's not even to mention how much this game seems to be built around the shield power-ups.

[hemangchauhan]

This a 3rd party published game (Keelworks), not an internal studio with shmup veterans.
Konami has been publishing indie games with middling-to-decent quality, and this seems no different.

[JenMistress]

Though does look interesting, I'm more of a fan of Old School when it comes to Shooters. With that said, not sure how to answer as I enjoy Space Invaders and Galaxian as much as Defenders and Space Jockey. So guess as far as that goes, don't really have a preference. 😉

[goatbone]

Cygni was only published by Konami. Doesn't really fit the narrative here.

[CasepbX]

NGL, this game looks generic and mediocre as you can get. The graphics do nothing whatsoever for me, I am not impressed by shiny objects.

[ricardobonilla]

In it's attempt at redefining the genre Cygni is a complete failure. What it does succeed at Is absolutely nothing.