Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet is a Metroidvania-style game developed by Fuelcell Games. The player assumes the role of an alien flying saucer exploring an insanely twisted shadow planet which has encapsulated the alien planet's sun.
The game is available on Steam and Xbox Live Arcade.
Insanely Twisted Shadow Tropes:
- Eldritch Location: The opening cinematic seems to indicate that the Shadow Planet is something between a Planet Eater and a Horde of Alien Locusts.
- 11th-Hour Superpower: The final ship upgrade is a solar energy conduit capable of destroying the entire Shadow Planet. Which it does.
- Enemy Scan: Anything the player can interact with can be scanned, revealing what item needs to be used on it.
- Exactly What It Says on the Tin: The title is a pretty good indicator of the game's setting.
- Flying Saucer:
- The player's ship.
- All alien weaponry tropes from the 80s-90s are in full force. Your spacecraft is eventually armed with a blaster, lasers, a tractor beam, deflector shields, a manipulator claw, and missiles. The only odd one is the saw.
- Grappling-Hook Pistol: The pincher arm and tractor beam both serve this purpose at various points.
- He Was Right There All Along: The big room with black tentacles and camera zoom out in the Organic region. Probably nothing, right?
- Load-Bearing Boss: Defeating the final boss destroys the shadow planet.
- Plug 'n' Play Technology
- Under the Sea: The Ocean area with its incredibly annoying currents, and arguably the hardest to fully map out even with all items. Also, your standard blaster is severely weakened underwater.
