Fans of bishojo games and on-rail shooters will be happy to know that SIKI, a title where you play as one of several humanoid drone girls, will be entering Early Access on Steam starting March 20. A passion project of Japanese solo indie dev Takanori Toge, the game was in development for a little over two years, with Toge having zero knowledge of Blender or Unity at the beginning.
Inspired by 90s 3D shooter games, SIKI is set in an alternate near-future where the Imperial Japanese Navy still sails the waters. As a Shiki, it is your duty to engage the navy on the seas and eliminate their forces.
While your Shiki follows a predetermined route, you are free to move her around the screen. The quick roll and deceleration inputs allow you to avoid projectiles, which is important considering a single hit means instant death.
Your machine gun and guided missiles allow you to retaliate against foes, which range from waves of passing jets to massive ships. Though SIKI features keyboard support, Toge highly suggests using a controller for the best play experience.
Featuring one playable stage and five bonus scenes, SIKI is planned to spend about two years in Early Accesss. During this time, Toge plans to gather player feedback and create a polished 90s, arcade-style 3D shooter.
Based on the developer’s initial plans, the final game is set to include more weapons, 5 to 7 additional stages, several bonus scenes, new gameplay modes (in addition to the High Score Attack mode in the Early Access version), online rankings, more story-related content, and a “fusion feature”, the last of which just has the word “Yuri” in parenthesis on the side. There will also be a free-angle photo mode, which will allow players to take photographs of the drone girls.
SIKI is set to release in Early Access on March 20 for Windows (Steam).
