By Aimee Rogers 
Bullet heavens aren’t exactly known for their storytelling. Most are happy to throw thousands of enemies onto the screen, hand you increasingly ridiculous upgrades, and let the numbers do the talking. Spaceborn Awakening is taking a slightly different approach.
The newly released Steam demo introduces players to a sci-fi bullet heaven that combines the genre’s familiar hordes and progression systems with a stronger focus on narrative. It’s an unusual direction for a genre that typically treats story as an afterthought, and it’s one of the main things helping the game stand out during Steam Bullet Fest.
Of course, the foundations are still very much bullet heaven. You’ll battle through waves of enemies, unlock powerful upgrades, and gradually transform from vulnerable space survivor into an unstoppable force of destruction. That’s part of the appeal of the genre, and Spaceborn Awakening doesn’t seem interested in reinventing that particular wheel.
Instead, it appears to be asking a different question. What happens when you take that formula and give players a reason to care about the world around it?
The developers have made the game playable as part of Steam Bullet Fest, giving players an opportunity to see whether the combination of sci-fi storytelling and bullet heaven action actually works in practice. In a genre that’s become increasingly crowded over the past few years, getting hands-on time is often the quickest way to separate an interesting idea from a genuinely good game. The team is also encouraging players to wishlist the game on Steam.
Whether Spaceborn Awakening becomes the next breakout hit remains to be seen, but it’s doing a great job bringing something a little different to one of PC gaming’s busiest genres.
Steven Andrew