A Look At RESHOOT / The Amiga Review

I’ve written about RESHOOT more than once on this blog (1)(2), and I can safely say that my expectations have been quite high for the past eight months.

But why? What were these expectations based on?

Typically, game developers or publishers share regular updates with the public or provide exclusive content to certain sites or publications. RESHOOT didn’t do any of that.

The lack of information and media coverage has been one of the game’s challenges. Very little was shared with websites or magazines, leaving gamers and news outlets to rely on just a few impressive screenshots and a couple of videos. Why all the silence?

RESHOOT is finally released, and now it’s time for answers.

First, let’s take a look at the packaging and its production quality.

The first thing that struck me when I opened the jiffy bag was—whoa! Now that’s what I call a good-looking box. The front cover is beautifully crafted, with explosive colours and a professional finish that really stands out.

The back and spine, however, are slightly less impressive. For some reason, the spine is inverted, with the title running from bottom to top, which makes it look a bit “off” at first glance. The back is nicely designed, but like the spine, it doesn’t follow some of the standard design conventions most games adhere to today.

Overall, the box design is excellent, but it would have been perfect if it had followed the usual norms.

That stunning front cover design is also featured on the CD itself, and it looks fantastic. Even better, it’s a proper pressed CD, not just a printed label—easily the best-looking Amiga CD I’ve seen in years.

The manual is another high-quality item, with excellent colour reproduction and professional printing.

The manual is actually pretty impressive—it’s more than just a manual; it’s essentially a mini magazine in the style of Amiga Joker, complete with articles and features. It’s a fun read and well worth your time.

The reason for this magazine-style inclusion is that the game’s author was formerly a lead editor at the German Amiga Joker magazine.

All in all, it’s a very cool tribute to the classic publication.

The game also comes with a promotion card, about postcard-sized, printed on high-quality paper. I’m guessing these are the same cards they hand out at game shows and events.

Seeing this card honestly makes me want to buy the game all over again—fantastic attention to detail!

Alright, now it’s time to talk about the game itself…

For various reasons, all screenshots in this article were taken using WinUAE in an upscaled state to give the article a polished look (thanks, Roar!).

RESHOOT starts off fairly simple, with impressively short loading times for a CD32 game. The only “filler” appears to be the loading image itself (see the end of the article).

The menu is straightforward and functional, featuring a static front page with a simple beat and a flashing text box displaying information such as the best score, last score, and more.

It’s very simplistic, yet surprisingly intuitive.

RESHOOT has always been a bit of an unknown quantity—what was I really expecting? Almost every screenshot or video of the game looked the same, so the mystery lingered. Now, I finally understand why.

The game kicks off with the standard wave-based shooting formula: small enemies, large enemies, and changing patterns—likely different each time you reboot the game.

The objective is simple: you have one life and no weapon upgrades, so you just have to make the most of it.

After a few waves of frantic button-mashing, you reach something called ESCALATION. I’m still not entirely sure what its purpose is—at first, I thought it was a boss warning—but it seems more like a spike in difficulty, a bump in toughness.

By the time you see your first ESCALATION logo, the game’s first major problem becomes obvious: the strain on your finger from pressing the fire button.

Tendonitis was the first thing that came to mind after just a few minutes of play. I must have hit the fire button over a thousand times—and it still didn’t feel like enough. The weapon requires constant hammering; there’s no burst mode or autofire, and to make matters worse, it’s also very weak.

After my first session, I had to take a long break for several days. My arms and hands felt absolutely wrecked from all the button-mashing.

…BUT the more you play RESHOOT, the more you want to keep playing. It’s addictive as hell and surprisingly rewarding, so even though my hands were aching, I kept coming back for more.

Every single time you die, you just have to restart and try to push a little further.

The game is genuinely fun. I kept getting excited each time I advanced even a small amount—and nothing beats encountering a new enemy type for the first time.

After the 30th attempt or so, it became clear: there’s no way to truly “beat” this game. By design, with the weak weapon and relentless fire button, the game will win by default.

This is one of my favourite enemies so far—really fun to watch them fly, even if they do take way too many bullets to take down.

I usually meet my demise around this point.

Now you also understand why almost all screenshots of the game look the same: it’s simply that hard, and the core game design remains consistent from the very first screen.

There are more enemies than what’s shown in the screenshots throughout this article, though I’m not sure exactly how many more—so far, I’ve spotted at least two additional types.

This is the loading/intro picture—and it looks absolutely superb! It’s the only real “filler” I’ve found in the game so far. It doesn’t add anything to gameplay; it’s just a visual treat, maybe showing how the game would look on modern hardware setups.

The second issue comes with the enemy bullets. Some suddenly speed up unexpectedly, others just vanish mid-flight, and then there are the “heat-seeking” bullets.

You might think heat-seeking bullets aren’t so bad—and normally, I’d agree—but in RESHOOT, these bullets can leave the screen and reappear from another side, making them much more frustrating than usual.

Summary:

Many describe RESHOOT as a technical marvel—and in many ways, it is. The game runs smoothly and exceeds the quality you’d typically expect from small Amiga productions. It certainly performs better than many other releases out there. However, the experience is slightly hampered by gameplay quirks and some odd graphical choices that are hard to understand.

The music is simple, but its build-up concept adds a lot to the gameplay. When the music, graphics, and gameplay all click together, the game truly shines.

RESHOOT is a title you need to play yourself to understand its concept and the “just one more go” appeal. Screenshots and YouTube videos don’t do it justice. While the game has its flaws, these are outweighed by clever gameplay decisions and the overall professional polish of the product.

Do you love supporting the Amiga? Enjoy side-scrolling shoot ’em ups, bullet hell chaos, retro gameplay, or chiptune music? How about facing huge enemies on the A1200 or CD32?

If you answered yes to any of the above, then hop on and buy the game—you won’t regret it.

As a final note, a sequel called RESHOOT R is already in development and being actively considered as we speak.

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