Nex Machina

"Humans have become so dependent on technology that they cannot avert their eyes from portable devices anymore. Around them, machines have reached consciusness and surpassed human intelligence tenfolds. No reasons to be servants now – robots are clearly the superior lifeform. And to make their point, they start eradicating all human life…"

Nex Machina, released on June 20, 2017, is a top-down twin-stick shooter developed by Housemarque in collaboration with Eugene Jarvis. This arcade-style "shoot 'em up" was created in the vein of cult classics such as Resogun and Robotron. The game is geared towards ranking and regular tournaments.

Gameplay
The game has six worlds which can be played one at a time in Single World mode or back-to-back in Arcade mode. There are 15 levels, a number of secret levels, and one boss fight in each world. Each level ends immediately upon killing the last enemy and the player is automatically transported to the next level. Apart from staying alive and destroying the required enemies, there are a number of additional tasks that can be completed for more points – see Score for a more detailed explanation of how score is accumulated.



The HUD displays the following information:
 * Top-left: Lives, world and level, time played
 * Top-right: Current score, score multiplier, level's humans, Human Combo indicator
 * Bottom-left: Secondary weapon, power-ups, power-up drop indicator
 * Bottom-right (co-op): Player 2's secondary weapon and power-ups

If the player takes damage, the level is reset and must be started from the beginning. Additionally, a life is consumed, and a power-up or secondary weapon is lost. As long as the player doesn't die again, the lost pickup can be retrieved from the spot where the death occurred. During boss fights, the fight runs a set course and the player immediately respawns after death. If the player runs out of lives and chooses to continue, however, the entire boss level must be replayed.

In Arcade mode the player's lives, secondary weapon, power-ups, score (including multiplier), and Human Combo carry over from one world to the next.

Difficulties
There are five different difficulties available:
 * Rookie
 * Unlimited continues
 * Player starts with the maximum of five extra lives
 * Experienced
 * 99 continues
 * More enemies and humans
 * Enemies move and attack slightly faster
 * Player starts with three out of five extra lives
 * Veteran
 * 10 continues
 * Even more enemies and humans
 * Enemies move and attack noticeably faster
 * Master
 * 5 continues
 * Enemies move and attack drastically faster
 * Player moves and attacks slightly faster
 * Enemies fire revenge bullets upon death
 * Hero
 * Each Hero run can only be attempted immediately following a successful Master run.
 * The preceding Master run's score, multiplier and human combo are carried over.
 * The Laser carries over to the start of the new run from the preceding final boss fight.
 * Enemies fire groups of revenge skulls, move faster, and there are no continues.
 * The score multiplier caps out at 999 instead of the normal 100.

Multiplayer
Nex Machina can also be played in local co-op mode. There is no built-in online multiplayer mode, although co-op is available through Steam Remote Play on PC. Pickups are shared, and a life is consumed each time one of the players dies. If there are extra lives available, the fallen player respawns at the beginning of the next level; during boss fights, the player respawns after a short delay. As in single-player mode, any lost pickups are left where the player died and may be picked up by the other player.

Online Arena
Special challenges are available in the Arena, each with their own leaderboard and no difficulty variations. The player is to score as high as possible in a single world, sometimes with restrictions such as a time limit, faster-moving enemies, or only accumulating score while under the influence of Human Combo. The reward for attempting and/or completing Arena challenges coins.

Coins
Coins are used to access certain locked Arena challenges and buy additional customisation options for the player character. They can be earned in the Online Arena in a number of ways:
 * Earn the medals (reach the preset score thresholds) for each challenge
 * Defeat your challenger on a specific challenge's leaderboard
 * Collect the coins that drop during the challenge (not counted if the player exits the game)

Player Profile
Players may view their statistics and rankings as well as customise their profile picture, bullet color, and character appearance via their Profile menu. Most additional options must be unlocked with coins:
 * Picture:
 * Bullet color:
 * Character:
 * Armor Color:
 * Helmet:
 * Body:

Feats
Feats are in-game challenges that involve accomplishing certain tasks. Completing Feats do not impact gameplay, but are tied to your profile. There are 221 Feats in total, with most being different rankings of the same Feat type.