Jets'n'Guns 2 blazes into early access this December

Dodging bullets and aiming are all well and good, but sometimes it's just nice to press the fire button and have everything explode - Jets'n'Guns 2 looks to offer plenty of that kind of catharsis. The messy shmup sequel has been in the works for over two years now, and developers Rake In Grass aren't cutting corners. They estimate there's another full year of work to be done, but they'll be bringing in the fans to help tune it as they go. While they've not got a day pinned down, it'll launch as early access next month. Check out some early festive work-in-progress footage below.

While my tastes tend to learn towards the Japanese arcade side of the genre (the recent ZeroRanger being a perfect example), I've always had a soft spot for Tyrian and Jets'n'Guns. They're games less about precision, and more about thoroughness - you're trying to scour each level clean, and explode everything that can be exploded to raise funds to buy bigger guns to do it more. And oh, what guns they are - the original Jets'N'Guns let you fill the screen with atomic laser death. The later Gold Edition re-release amped up the challenge a little, but it was still mostly mindless fun.

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So far, the sequel looks like more of the same, but louder, prettier and higher resolution. More pixels means more things on screen to explode, obviously. The initial early access version will be quite small, just four levels (each with a boss), and forty weapons and gadgets to bolt onto your ship. It's the foundation, and Rake In Grass plan on expanding that number all the way up until launch, but we're still looking at a late 2019 or early 2020 release. On the plus side, they're roped in Amiga-tinged metal band Machinae Supremacy to provide the soundtrack again, which is great.

Jets'n'Guns 2 launches into early access this December, and you can find it here on Steam. The original Jets'n'Guns Gold is currently just £1.49/€1.70/$2.09 on Steam and Humble, if you want to warm up.