• Price: $9.99 USD (currently on sale for $7.99 until August 29th)
• Developer: Kindermann Corp
• Publisher: Whisper Games
• Release Date: August 8, 2024

A review code was kindly provided by PR Hound on behalf of Kindermann Corp and Whisper Games. We thank them for allowing us to cover something they’ve worked so hard on.

Shikon-X Astro Defense Fortress is an intergalactic point and click game inspired by the “golden era” of the genre as well as ’80s/’90s Anime. Yet it modernizes the gameplay and controls, taking the “point” and “click” out of it.

You play as Major Daaia, the best up and coming pilot in the Federation, which is at war with enemies known as “Rolars.” As the game begins, the sirens go off for what is thought to be a routine defense operation. But you can take your sweet time to make your way to the hangar, as there isn’t a timer for the game’s events.

Part of the game takes place on a Federation ship; you can inspect objects in each room and see some amusing commentary from Daaia, who’s a bit full of herself. While there aren’t many people in this area of the ship, you can talk to the crew members to gain insight into the current situation.

The people you speak to often provide you with information that will help you solve “puzzles” that lead you to the next part of the story. Sometimes you need to choose the correct dialogue options in multiple “rounds” of a conversation to advance the story. Thankfully, if you get it wrong you can talk to a character again and make the right choices the next time.

I didn’t always get the hints, but I can be somewhat slow on the uptake sometimes. 😅After wandering around and checking everything multiple times I did manage to get through the more difficult puzzles. Some key items were harder to find than others, which contributed to some of my difficulties.

While the situation may be tense due to the war with the Rolars, you can still take some time to play the arcade games in the ship’s recreation area. I tried out the pinball game (with a familiar theme) for a while before starting the first mission.

Continuing the arcade theme, piloting the Shikon-X is reminiscent of the old school shooter games in which you shoot at enemy ships. In this game, you can play in attack mode, or block asteroids and enemy attacks in defense mode. The Shikon-X has radar that tells you where enemies will appear next, which is nice.

You’ll eventually end up on another planet, where you’ll continue to poke around and figure out how to move on. There’s another mini game on that planet; you have to play all 3 arcade games at some point to advance the story.

It should probably only take you about 1-3 hours to complete the game. It is short, but I think they did a decent enough job of cramming the story into that timeframe. I do wish it was a little longer because we could have learned more about the world galaxy.

I was pleasantly surprised that they included 2 endings; you can easily view the other one by reloading the 100% save and making another choice. The writing is pretty entertaining, and I enjoyed the pop culture references, art style, and soundtrack.

You can really tell what inspired the developer in the process of creating this game, with some references more blatant than others. They hint at the possibility of a sequel, and I’m interested enough to see what they would do next. Shikon-X Astro Defense Fortress is reasonably priced, and players can extend their play time by accessing the mini games again via the main menu.