When it comes to well-known and well-worn gameplay styles, you absolutely need to nail the fundamentals. The tricky part, especially when you’re trying to garner some attention in a crowded Switch eShop, is to then add something fresh and unexpected into the mix, helping to differentiate yourself. 

Exophobia, a very retro-styled first-person shooter, absolutely gets its look and feel elements right. After a brief introduction to your basic skills, which include a convenient slide, you’ll get your gun and be on your way. One interesting aspect of your character’s movement is that there’s a feeling of weight to it, which is accentuated when you discover the ability to slide into enemies and briefly stun them. What follows is a relatively brief but well-crafted mix of exploration, some puzzles, and plenty of evading and shooting down enemies across 4 pretty distinct stages.

While you’ll get a few upgrades to change things up a little bit, one of the title’s issues is that you’ll always be working with essentially the same gun you started with. Considering even at the genre’s genesis back with DOOM (or Castlevania 3D, if you want to be pickier) you were able to switch between weapons, and the loss of a variety of options to accentuate the shooting mayhem is absolutely felt here. In particular, it also made your enemies feel a bit more generic, losing that element where you’re shifting between weapons to match your opponent. While I understand that may not have been one of the developer’s design goals, since it’s such a common element of the genre it feels important to note its absence.

Taking it all in, Exophobia does at least offer up something quite familiar but also different, but whether that’s a good or bad thing will be in the eyes of the player. I’ll credit it with simply having its own style and feel, extending from its very specifically-designed visuals to the flow of its combat. In addition, I appreciate the fact that they didn’t neglect the inclusion of secrets out there to be discovered, since it isn’t uncommon for modern takes on classic shooters to omit them. That said, the overall lack of variety, or at least the option for more of it, by constraining you to just one core weapon is absolutely felt as well. Depending on your tastes, and what experience you’re looking for, this could be a refreshing change of pace, or perhaps end up being a letdown.