What are the best twin-stick shooters on PC?

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GamingPCPC Games

What are the best twin-stick shooters on PC?

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Jan 22, 2024

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12 Games Considered

Best twin-stick shooters on PC	Price	Steam Rating	Genre
81 Enter the Gungeon	$14.99	Overwhelmingly Positive	Roguelike
79 HELLDIVERS	$19.99	Very Positive	-
-- Renegade Ops	$15	Very Positive	-
-- Nex Machina	$19.99	Very Positive	Shoot 'Em Up
-- Hatred	$19.99	Very Positive	-

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score 22 · Answer 1

Enter the Gungeon

Top Pro

Satisfying replayability

Thanks to the roguelite aspects of the game, there is randomly generated levels, which means fresh gameplay each time the game is played. There is also 4 different characters available in the game, each of which has a different boss fight at the end of the game as well as different characteristics while being used. This also makes for a good bit of replayability for those that would like to see all the different bosses in the game as well as experience the different type of gameplay for each character. See More

Top Con

Co-op feels tacked on

Co-op in the game is only local (no online co-op at all), which limits who you can pay with. On top of this the way one has to go about starting a co-op game feels a bit unintuitive, which can be frustrating. Stages can also feel cramped when in co-op mode, meaning players bump into walls and objects too much. See More

Specs

Steam Rating:Overwhelmingly Positive

Genre:Roguelike

Co-Op:Single Player

Top Pro

Unique tone

The game is often silly with many humorous elements such as every character is based around being a bullet, that in turn own guns and fire other bullets. There is no mistaking that the game is about shooting, and the game is somewhat 4th wall breaking by taking advantage of this fact and hilariously throwing it into the players face. See More

Top Con

High difficulty

The game can be difficult, especially when first starting out. This may mean a lot of deaths and a feeling of no progressions due to having to start over a lot. While the game is not unmanageable for players who enjoy the games genres, it may be a bit of a turn off for newcomers. See More

Top Pro

Easily stay in the action of the game

There are a few small features in the game that add up to making sure the player is never too distracted or pulled out of the action. Things like once a stage is cleared and all coins dropped by your fallen foes will be magnetically pulled to you, just to make sure time is not wasted running around picking up currency. Another is that each map has numerous teleporter nodes, which makes for fast and easy travel. And lastly there is a quick start in the main menu that allows the player to jump right back into the action the next time they start up the game. All these things add up to an ease of use that makes sure the player is never too distracted by the un-fun elements of play. See More

Top Pro

Gameplay is balanced well

Often in a roguelite game there can be the chance of getting delt a bum hand on any particular run, luckily Enter the Gungeon does not suffer from this issue as there is a good balance of the gunplay mechanics that sees any death by you as your own fault of not playing to your max ability. Never is it some cheap shot or some item that was not able to be picked up this run, it is just your skill and awareness of wht is being shot at you that matters the most. See More

Top Pro

Cool collection aspect

There are 190 guns available in the game that the player can collect through purchasing them in an in-game shop as they progress through the game. Most likely this will take multiple playthroughs with all four of the available characters, which means tons of playtime for those that like to collect everything in a game. See More

Top Pro

SHMUP like gameplay

A lot of the shooting elements in this game revolve around SHMUP like mechanics. Players will need to doge a juke many bullets on screen at ones. Luckily there is a roll capability that allows the player to doge when in a precarious position. This roll feature though is not just some way to make the game easier but is a tool to be used as the game is specifically designed to need this roll in certain places. See More

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score 17 · Answer 2

HELLDIVERS

Top Pro

Intense co-op play

The whole game can be played in local or online co-op with up to three other players. Each stage is procedurally generated and feature certain objectives that need completed. Of course the objectives need executed while hordes of enemies swarm you. This is what makes for the intense action as there are so many enemies to be found coming at you at all times, add in extra players and the action becomes quite turbulent thanks to the friendly fire mechanic. There is no way to turn off friendly fire which means everyone who is going in guns blazing may upset the other players meaning everyone will need to keep a close eye on all of the action taking place in order to succeed. See More

Top Con

Game gets difficult

There are 12 different classifications of difficulty in the game, as you progress the game gets a lot more difficult going all the way up to the twelfth difficulty. For some this may be too difficult and will end in frustration, so for those not looking for a challenge, this game may not be for them. See More

Specs

Steam Rating:Very Positive

Top Pro

Requires more tactics over other twin stick shooters

Ammo is limited in the game, meaning the player needs to make each shot count. On top of this, where an enemy is hit matters as well, so center mass is the best place to shoot them, of course this is not always easy. Due to the fact that ammo is limited and placement of shots matter it is up to the player to try and figure out the best methods for not running out of ammo and shooting each creature. This requires patience and planning, something that is often missing from run of the mill twin stick shooters. See More

Top Con

Things can get a bit repetative

After a while of playing the game, it can all seem a bit "samey" in that really all you are doing is the same tasks over and over again. the repetitiveness of the game can get frustrating after a while leading to the game being ignored. See More

Top Pro

Mechanisms naturally encourage players to cooperate and modulate pacing well

Extreme Friendly Fire with team objectives keep everyone paying attention to succeed. Extreme Friendly Fire allows for abilities to be overpowered since you have to be strategic in their deployment. Dial-a-Drop for calling in reinforcements/equipment/support really keeps it from being something spammed in combat. Limited loadouts mean that each player can bring unique value to a drop. See More

Top Con

Joining co-op can be a pain

There is no way for everyone to just jump into a game, one player needs to host and then the others can be invited, but of course they already need to be on the players friend list, which may not always be the case which means more work to get everything together. A more seamless experience would be nice to see but sadly that is not how the co-op was designed. See More

Top Pro

Heavily influenced by the film Starship Troopers

The main story of the game plays out a lot like the theme in Starship Troopers, where the world is united in exterminating an alien race on other planets. The humor found in the movie as well as the action are to be found in this game as well, which is all a bit over the top but all in fun, of which the game is. So for all of those that are fans of Starship Troopers, this game should offer a bit of nostalgia for them. See More

Top Pro

Enemies go all out during extractions

At the end of each stage the player/players must order an extraction vehicle. Once called the players must ward off an onslaught of enemies for 90 seconds. Only one player needs to get on the extraction vehicle, which means all out mayhem as each player can just start unleashing their most devastating weapons. This is quite a fun part of the game as each player can just go all out. See More

Top Pro

End level scoring is even

When playing co-op, once a level is completed there will be a score rewarded to the players. Luckily this score is not based off of kills, which means players can focus more on objectives instead of going lone wolf for kills. the scoring allows for more teamwork to happen, which is great as that is what co-op should be geared more towards, cooperation. See More

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score 9 · Answer 3

Renegade Ops

All

1

Specs

Steam Rating:Very Positive

score 6 · Answer 4

Nex Machina

Top Pro

Difficult yet rewarding gameplay

Nex Machina's bullet hell gameplay is fast-paced and challenging, with dozens of robotic enemies rushing at you while you use every skill at your disposal to survive and increase your score. Not only do you have to avoid enemies, but you also have to use your ability to dodge hazards on the field such as laser beams. There are also optional human NPCs to save who are usually taking damage by waves of enemies. Clearing the surrounding robots while dodging any nearby lasers to save these humans will award you with extra points to your score, so it's worth it to go after them whenever you can. As you defeat enemies, they'll sometimes drop power-up items, such as shields that will absorb damage that would normally kill you, and tools to increase the range of your bullets. Clearing a level with no deaths earns you a nice score boost at the end, encouraging you to run through the game as best as you can. It takes a lot of precision to dodge lasers while killing the enemies that come at you from all directions, but pulling it off is a rewarding, addicting experience. See More

Top Con

The game is very short

Your first playthrough will only take about an hour or two, which may not be worth it. There are plenty of new paths and secrets hidden across the levels, so a completionist playthrough will take about five or six hours. See More

InsightfulNjordr's Experience

love it ..amazing gameplay.....killer graphics...outstanding See More

Specs

Steam Rating:Very Positive

Genre:Shoot 'Em Up

See All Specs

Top Pro

Responsive controls

Since you only have a short window to dodge hazardous laser beams on the field and maneuver your character around swarms of enemies, it's great that the controls are tight and accurate. You can pull off dodges and risky swerves to save a human NPC with ease as long as you master the angles and timing. With a challenging game like this, you don't need to worry about input lag getting in the way of more aggressive playstyles. See More

Top Con

Deaths can be too punishing at times

In Nex Machina, you'll die after a single hit from an enemy, causing you to drop one of your power-ups, like your ability to dash three times in a row or increased weapon spread. You'll then have to return to the spot where you died to collect the power-up that you dropped. If you lose all of your lives, you're forced to use a continue, leaving you with only power-up. It'a a punishing system that makes you work harder with fewer tools after continuous deaths. See More

Top Pro

Great synthwave soundtrack

Complimenting Nex Machina's speedy, chaotic gameplay, the soundtrack matches the sci-fi setting with hard-hitting, energetic synths and modulations. The electronic beats are catchy and fun to listen to while blasting through the game's metallic levels and robotic enemies. The tracks fit into the idea of what it would have been like to play any retro sci-fi game without the musical constraints on games in the 80s and 90s. See More

Top Pro

Boss battles truly test your skills

At the end of each level are difficult boss fights that crank out bullets and beams in all directions that you have to dodge while dealing damage at the same time. The bosses are all different in design, such as a giant ape that lumbers around the field and throws obstacles at you, to a more stationary tower that bombards you with other enemies that you're forced to prioritize instead. Each boss is a comprehensive test of the skills you've learned up to that point, encouraging you to make the best use of your power-ups and dodge timings. See More

Top Pro

Great replaybility

Although the game is short it is geared towards mastering everything the game has to offer. This game is not about playing through arenas - it is about learning to play them very good on a hardest difficulties See More

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score 8 · Answer 5

Hatred

Top Con

Poor A.I.

The A.I. for the cops in the game is not great and often get stuck on objects or will not go up stairs. This leads to exploits as well as frustration due to the A.I. not doing what one would expect it to. See More

Top Pro

Challenging twin-stick gameplay

The game is a punishing twin stick shooter and it is difficult to survive, it will take a lot of practice but can be rewarding for those that like a challenge. While the controls do work best on keyboard and mouse the core gameplay lends itself to using two sticks to control the character such as what are found on a controller. The game can be frustrating, but that is part of its charm. See More

Specs

Steam Rating:Very Positive

Top Con

Gameplay

Game design started and stopped at causing controversy. Muddy controls and lack of progression makes me think most people haven't played beyond the first 15 minutes. See More

Top Pro

No mistaking the games intentions

Unlike many games that give a reason as to why the main character is killing "bad guys" over and over, Hatred is themed that the main character is a serial killer, killing to cleanse the world of humanity. While this is not far off from games like Destroy All Humans!, where you are tasked with wiping out the human race, the tones are completely different in that Hatred is a very dark and disturbed game. It can be refreshing to some to see a game be honest about what it sets out to do with little apology while being seen as a critique on the current state of gaming. See More

Top Con

Difficult controls

Using a controller can be tough with the game as the accuracy is not great, so it is recommended to use a keyboard and mouse. Even then the movement of the main character feels as though they are moving on ice, sliding around a lot. This makes it very difficult to be accurate even though a mouse is helpful in precision targeting. See More

See All

score 4 · Answer 6

Neighborhorde

Top Pro

Cute graphics

Top Con

Only local-coop

Top Pro

Local-coop

Top Con

Limited content

Top Pro

Cheap

5 dollars See More

Top Pro

Rogue-lite

Top Pro

Challenging

See All

score 5 · Answer 7

Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions Evolved

Top Pro

Higher production values

The latest entry into the Geometry Wars series and the production values are pretty nice. Graphics in the game are the best they have been with newly designed levels that work in the third dimension. Overall, there is quite a lot of polish to the titles which shows over its previous endeavours. See More

Top Con

Can be really difficult

Playing on harder difficulties or playing the boss levels can be trials in frustration as the game can be quite difficult. This may wear thing on the player if they do not like the challenge or the frustration. See More

BraveSummanus's Experience

Great game with a lot of polish and lots of levels. Getting all three starts on harder levels can be quite challenging at times. See More

Specs

Steam Rating:Very Positive

Top Pro

Lots of levels and replay available

There are many levels and styles of play. Reaching one star in a level can be simple enough, but getting all three stars can be a bit of a challenge. See More

Top Con

Chasing high scores can get tiring

While there are some new additional game modes in this third iteration of the series, the same "chase the high score" element is present and is still the main focus of the game. While not entirely bad in and of itself (chasing high scores), it can wear thin pretty quickly. See More

Top Pro

Newly added feature of using companions

Not present in earlier titles, the player can now equip drones to follow their main ship around. These drones are used to help during levels, depending on what type of support each drone offers. Some will help with shooting, others can help collect objects. Of course it is up to the player to choose what kind of support they want. Overall this is a helpful mechanic that is a completely new feature in the series. See More

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score 1 · Answer 8

Nuclear Throne

All

1

Specs

Steam Rating:Very Positive

score 9 · Answer 9

Waves 2

Top Pro

Challenging learning ai

The AI director was made to analyse what you're bad at dealing with so it spawns more enemies and formations that you're bad at dealing with. This encourages getting a better loadout that can deal with different threats. See More

Top Con

Early Access

Could use a fair amount of polishing and balancing but it's definitely very much worth playing already. See More

Jolo Lim's Experience

Waves 2 is an extremely difficult twitchy arcade twin stick shooter. It's quite reminiscent of Geometry Wars in its great looking neon aesthetics and it has a lot of content to offer including a full campaign mode where you hack corporations for your own profit and notoriety and lots of different arcade modes to test your skill in the global leaderboards. See More

Specs

Steam Rating:Very Positive

Top Pro

Plenty of variation

Lots of variation in enemies, loadouts, and the AI director that spawns them. See More

Robert Hale (SquidInABox)'s Experience

Early Access sequel to Waves. Adds more game modes, weapons, enemies and music over the original. See More

See All

score 5 · Answer 10

Dead Star

Top Pro

Large online community through cross play support

This game is available on PS4 and PC and allows for those playing online to play against one another no matter the platform. This makes for a much larger audience for the online community of the game as it will not be limited by who is on what platform. See More

Top Con

Players outside the US may have connection issues

Currently the game is supported by US servers for online play, which means that players in other parts of the world may have connection issues or noticeable lag while playing the game. being that the game focuses on online play this really does diminish the gameplay. See More

Specs

Steam Rating:Mixed

See All

score 1 · Answer 11

Zenzizenzic

Top Pro

Both procedural and hand-made content

Classic mode offers tightly choreographed fights, while Macro mode offers a procedural open world. See More

Specs

Steam Rating:Very Positive

Top Pro

Strong soundtrack

See All

score 2 · Answer 12

Devader

Top Pro

very supportive (one man) developer

Top Con

If you get overwhelmed quickly by a lot going on, this game is not for you

TrustingChrysus's Experience

It's an interesting mix out of Top-Down/Twin-Stick Shooter, Bullet Hell and Tower Defense. The game has an amazing amount of squirming enemies and some very unusual mechanics. It looks really hard at first, but it's a blast destroying the huge amount of monsters the game throughs at you. See More

Specs

Steam Rating:Positive

Top Pro

Great soundtrack

Top Con

Local co-op only

It looks like there will never be online co-op, but maybe parsec could work. See More

Top Pro

beautiful, unusual visuals

Top Pro

There's never a dull moment

Top Pro

On the fly local co-op

You can join a game at any time, if you have an additional controller. The game can be played with 5 people: 1 keyboard + 4 gamepad players. See More

See All

12 Games Considered

My Recommendation for Enter the Gungeon

My Recommendation for Enter the Gungeon

Satisfying replayability

Co-op feels tacked on

Unique tone

High difficulty

Easily stay in the action of the game

Gameplay is balanced well

Cool collection aspect

SHMUP like gameplay

My Recommendation for HELLDIVERS

My Recommendation for HELLDIVERS

Intense co-op play

Game gets difficult

Requires more tactics over other twin stick shooters

Things can get a bit repetative

Mechanisms naturally encourage players to cooperate and modulate pacing well

Joining co-op can be a pain

Heavily influenced by the film Starship Troopers

Enemies go all out during extractions

End level scoring is even

My Recommendation for Renegade Ops

My Recommendation for Renegade Ops

My Recommendation for Nex Machina

My Recommendation for Nex Machina

Difficult yet rewarding gameplay

The game is very short

Responsive controls

Deaths can be too punishing at times

Great synthwave soundtrack

Boss battles truly test your skills

Great replaybility

My Recommendation for Hatred

My Recommendation for Hatred

Poor A.I.

Challenging twin-stick gameplay

Gameplay

No mistaking the games intentions

Difficult controls

My Recommendation for Neighborhorde

My Recommendation for Neighborhorde

Cute graphics

Only local-coop

Local-coop

Limited content

Cheap

Rogue-lite

Challenging

My Recommendation for Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions Evolved

My Recommendation for Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions Evolved

Higher production values

Can be really difficult

Lots of levels and replay available

Chasing high scores can get tiring

Newly added feature of using companions

My Recommendation for Nuclear Throne

My Recommendation for Nuclear Throne

My Recommendation for Waves 2

My Recommendation for Waves 2

Challenging learning ai

Early Access

Plenty of variation

My Recommendation for Dead Star

My Recommendation for Dead Star

Large online community through cross play support

Players outside the US may have connection issues

My Recommendation for Zenzizenzic

My Recommendation for Zenzizenzic

Both procedural and hand-made content

Strong soundtrack

My Recommendation for Devader

My Recommendation for Devader

very supportive (one man) developer

If you get overwhelmed quickly by a lot going on, this game is not for you

Great soundtrack

Local co-op only

beautiful, unusual visuals

There's never a dull moment

On the fly local co-op