Steel Saviour

"Where does the energy of a planet go, when that planet dies? And why do some planets die, in the first place? Nobody knows, but that's not going to stop you: you will find out what's happening to your dying planet, no matter how hard your research will be. And it WILL be harder than you might think, that's guaranteed… Welcome to an unfriendly world, where mysterious and evil creatures rule and prosper. Welcome to a dangerous world, where enemies are lurking behind every single corner. Welcome to a bizarre world, where none of your notions apply. Welcome to Steel Saviour, where you'll need all of your skills and guts to survive. Good luck, brave traveller…"

Steel Saviour is an obscure side-scrolling Shoot'Em Up game for the PC, developed by Atlanteq. The rather loose plot has your character pilot the titular ship in order to destroy strange, evil creatures threatening an unnamed planet. In this game, you gain powerups by scoring combos by destroying chains of enemies. Side weapons are available too, such as a machine gun, homing missiles and a Spread Shot. A Smart Bomb is available in the game as well.

The game contains five levels, the first four of which are based off water, fire, lightning and wind. The final level "Void", is a bleak level whose terrain is the final boss itself.


 * Anti Frustration Feature: Once you manage to get to stage 2 and 3, you can start off from there in a new game instead of having to go through stage 1 again.
 * Advancing Boss of Doom: The start of the second stage "Heat" has this weird flying horse-dragon machine hybrid thing chase you from behind, before it gets stopped by a narrow corridor. You get to fight it head-on later.
 * Battle in the Rain: The first boss.
 * Big Creepy-Crawlies: Several of the enemies, especially the fourth boss (a giant worm). Then again, many of them may not be organic to begin with.
 * Body Horror: THIS Mini Boss. And yes, those orange round things are homing.
 * Breakable Weapons: Your secondary weapon can take damage for you, but in the process will lose ammo. When your secondary weapon's ammo is depleted, it breaks off.
 * Collision Damage: Gets really irritating in narrow areas, due to Hitbox Dissonance.
 * Cool Ship: The first Mini Boss. It tries to drop mines on you at first, and when that can't get the job done, it opens up and reveals a set of destructible turrets. Destroy those to put an end to it.
 * Combat Tentacles: The Final Boss has four sets of three tentacles. The first just shoot aimed shots at you like turrets. The second one is like the first, but with Spread Shots. The third and fourth, which you both fight at a time, will give you a Macross Missile Massacre!
 * Combos: Killing enemies in a chain allows you to score combos. It's the only way to get health, main weapon and smart bomb powerups, by the way.
 * Cosmic Horror: The enemies might be these. They are apparently the planet's elements of life or something. The Final Boss is definitely this, though.
 * Crowning Music of Awesome: The background music of this game is one of the most fitting soundtracks ever, in terms of ambience. No, seriously.


 * Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Well, the enemies are strange things that are supposedly the stolen life force of the planet, and you have to beat them, so...
 * Dual Boss: The second Mini Boss of the energy-themed stage, two weird flying things that attack together. When one of them is defeated, the second one gets kinda pissed.
 * Eternal Engine: The last third of the electric-themed stage has giant rotating gears and a pair of deadly crushing walls.
 * Everything's Better with Dinosaurs: The second Mini Boss of the fourth stage. You don't actually fight it, you fight this giant cannon on its back that doesn't really hamper the beast when you destroy it.
 * Everything's Worse with Bees: One of the first few enemies you fight are mechanical-looking bee things that come in swarms.
 * Fire Ice Water Lightning: The first three stages are based off water, fire and lightning.
 * Giant Eye of Doom: The final part of the Final Boss has you fighting his gigantic eye. Naturally, Go for the Eye.
 * Goddamned Bats: Every. Single. Mook. Most of them have waaaaay too much health!
 * Hitbox Dissonance: Trust me, your hitbox isn't as small as you think...
 * Homing Projectile: One of the sub-weapons you can get. Some enemies will also use these on you, but theirs are thankfully destructible (Unless it's the Final Boss').
 * Incredibly Durable Enemies: One of the reasons why this game is Nintendo Hard. The regular Mooks that attack in waves will need at least 2-3 shots to die. And that's from your fully powered-up gun...
 * Kung Fu-Proof Mook: One of the enemies in the third stage is an electrical orb surrounded by four smaller ones that orbit it. Turns out, as long as one of the smaller ones is alive, it will project Deflector Shields around the big one. You will have to take down the smaller orbs before you can destroy the big one.
 * Lethal Lava Land: Stage 2, "Heat", takes place in a lava cavern.
 * Mecha-Mooks: The enemies. Well, most of them.
 * Mechanical Horse: The miniboss of stage 2, "Heat" is a weird flying horse-robot thing that fires out fireballs from it's... hover thing.
 * Mini Boss: Full of 'em.
 * Nintendo Hard: Even on Easy Mode, this game can give the player really cheap deaths, partly due to your overly large collison box. Made worse by the fact that you have zero continues for this game, so once your lives are gone, Game Over! Calling this game hard is an understatement.
 * One-Hit-Point Wonder: Averted. You can take three hits before dying.
 * Our Dragons Are Different: The boss of "Heat", a mechanical dragon.
 * Real Time Weapon Change: You can easily swap between the Spread Shot, Missiles and Machine Gun at the press of a button.
 * Robeast: A lot of the bosses and MiniBosses are these.
 * Scenery Porn: The 3D-esque graphics of your character, the enemies and the scenery are simply wonderful. Also, the ambience, such as lava, glows appropriately.
 * Sea Mine: The first stage's Mini Boss, a large boat thingy, drops these on you. Get out of the way or destroy them quick before they blow up in a Sphere of Destruction!
 * Segmented Serpent: The second stage has these. The boss of the fourth stage is one too.
 * Sequential Boss: The Final Boss is one of these- you fight parts of it throughout the entire level. In fact, the Final Boss IS the level itself!
 * Shock and Awe: The third stage, "Purity" is an energy-themed one. "Energy" as in the form of electric traps, lightning strikes, Deflector Shield enemies, and floating neon tubes that shoot sparks at you.
 * Shout-Out: This game has multiple shout outs to Einhander, especially the way your ship carries its weapon. You weapon is also destructible, similar to Einhander.
 * Smart Bomb: You have a smart bomb for use in dire situations.
 * Spider Tank: One of the enemies in the second stage and the fourth stage is this. Be careful of its Spread Shot!
 * Spread Shot: One of your secondary weapons.
 * Tactical Suicide Boss: The fourth boss, a giant worm. It sends out many destructible spores that expand when hit... which you can destroy for combos, allowing you to get smart bomb powerups. You'll need to use the smart bomb to clear its Beam Spam while delivering a massive blow to its weak point.
 * Under the Sea: The first stage, "Power" takes place in a sea cavern.
 * Wrap Around: The fourth boss (a giant worm) does this- it goes offscreen to the left and comes in on the right.