Thank you Ratalaika Games for sending us a review code!

Remote Life was original released on Steam in 2019 and has received “Very Positive” reviews. It’s now available on previous and current generation consoles. The PC versions is a bit cheaper at $18.99 while the Switch port sells for $23.99.

Remote Life is a 2D side scrolling shooter with twin stick controls. The visuals are really well done and are pre-rendered in 3D. The aliens, bosses, and environments are well detailed and are quite creepy. Here’s a lot of variety in the insect-like aliens that have initiated war with the human race.

There are sixteen playable missions between story chapters. This game takes place in 2324 where you receive a top-secret message from the commander of the United Countries of Earth. A large mothership has been located and a crew was sent out to investigate and has not returned. It’s now up your character, John Leone, to see what happened the previous crew and to infiltrate and disable the alien mothership.

The alien mothership is pretty intense with many tight corridors adorned with saw blades, alien tentacles, turrets, moving platforms; and aliens that seem to come out of the woodwork. There are many cheap shots that are guaranteed to take one of your five lives until you master the level’s design and quirks.

Life hearts can appear at different time intervals and are often in short supply. Timing is everything in Remote Life and you’ll have to master the best route that guarantees your ship’s survival. The game will constantly scroll and you’ll have to keep your ship moving or you’ll die. It’s not always beneficial to race ahead either as you won’t see what enemies await you and you may miss out on a precious life heart.

Unlike life hearts, weapon ammo is always available and doesn’t suddenly appear. Some ammo like bullets or multidirectional bullets have infinite ammo, but more powerful laser and energy weapons need their ammo replenished in order to to keep using them.

Sometimes, you’ll stumble upon a ship upgrade like a turret system. Don’t get too attached to them as they last only thirty seconds. You have a limited number of bombs and I recommend saving them for the mid or final level bosses.

I like how you can see your level progress percentage. At around the 50% mark you can expect to encounter the mid-level boss. In case you’re planning on using some fancy flying maneuvers, keep in mind that you typically get boxed in with the bosses and won’t have much room to dodge their attacks. Good luck. You’ll need it!

Despite there being multiple difficulty levels, I found the easiest level to be quite challenging. I had a lot of rage quit moments and found this game to be more frustrating than relaxing. If you’re looking for a challenge, look no further!

I love the techno-style background music and it’s set the adrenaline pumping theme. The voice acting is obviously text to speech and the character dialogue sounds like two emotionless robots talking to each other instead of humans.

Spaceship violence is pretty prevalent. Your ship will explode upon colliding with any alien, projectile, or obstacle. Not all of the obstacles are destructible so you’ll have to maneuver past many of them. When aliens die, no blood is shown, just explosions. I like how the commander issuing the mission signs off with God's blessing towards your crew.

Remote Life is a challenging twin-stick shoot ‘em up that has beautiful visuals. If you’re looking for a light-hearted and easy shmup, you’ll want to look elsewhere. The price is a bit steep in my opinion, but it’s worth considering when on sale.