There is something wonderfully honest about a good shoot ’em up. You do not need a sprawling story, a cast of dozens or a hundred-hour campaign to make one work. Give a player a responsive ship, fill the screen with things that want them dead, and provide just enough firepower to make survival feel possible, and you have the foundations of a very good evening. Modularis understands that philosophy, but rather than simply copying the arcade shooters of old, it adds a modular upgrade system that gives every run the potential to develop its own personality.
Developed by MarlinDev and published by RainForest Games, Modularis puts you behind the controls of a prototype spacecraft designed to contain the chaos of deep space. What begins as a modest little ship can quickly become something altogether more frightening as you collect experience and bolt increasingly powerful components onto your craft. The basic premise is simple, but the satisfaction comes from watching your ship evolve while the opposition becomes progressively more ridiculous.
It is a game that knows exactly what it wants to be. Modularis is not trying to reinvent the shoot ’em up, and it certainly does not pretend that it has discovered some secret formula nobody else has considered. Instead, it takes familiar arcade ingredients, adds enjoyable build-crafting and wraps everything in a colourful retro presentation. The result is a compact shooter that is easy to pick up, difficult to put down and surprisingly satisfying when everything starts working together.
Into the Fire
The moment Modularis puts you into space, there is little mystery about what comes next. Enemies arrive in waves, bullets fill the screen, and your ship is expected to survive the increasingly hostile assault. Destroying enemies earns experience and resources, which can then be used to strengthen your spacecraft and give you a better chance of surviving what is coming.
That simplicity is one of the game’s biggest strengths. There is no lengthy introduction to work through before you get to the good stuff, and the controls are immediately understandable. You move, shoot, dodge, and try not to fly directly into something unpleasant. It is an approach that feels wonderfully familiar to anyone who grew up spending pocket money on arcade machines.
The real hook is what happens between those moments of frantic survival. Modularis gives you opportunities to upgrade your ship throughout a run, allowing you to gradually build a weapon system that suits the way you play. One run might turn you into a missile-launching menace, while another could revolve around shields, rapid fire, or a wide spread of lasers.
That sense of development makes a big difference. Without it, the wave structure could quickly become repetitive, but the upgrades give you something to look forward to beyond simply reaching the next stage.
Building the Perfect Ship
The modular system is where Modularis earns its name. You are not simply choosing generic upgrades from a menu and watching numbers increase. The idea is to combine components and discover how they interact, gradually transforming your spacecraft into something much more powerful.
The best runs are the ones where the pieces start falling into place. You might pick up an upgrade that seems useful on its own, only to discover it becomes considerably more effective when combined with something else. Suddenly, a weapon that was merely adequate becomes the centrepiece of your entire build, and you find yourself desperately trying to keep the run alive so you can see just how far you can push it.
There is a satisfying unpredictability to this system because you cannot always plan the perfect build from the beginning. You have to adapt to what the game gives you, which is a crucial part of any roguelike structure. Recognising a useful combination and changing your approach accordingly becomes just as important as having good reflexes.
It also helps create those wonderful “what if?” moments that make roguelikes so addictive. What happens if I concentrate entirely on fire rate? What if I build around defensive abilities? Could I create something that covers almost the entire screen with projectiles? Modularis encourages that kind of experimentation without making the process feel unnecessarily complicated.
Survive the Swarm
Of course, none of those fancy upgrades mean much if you cannot stay alive. Modularis steadily increases the pressure as waves progress, and the screen eventually becomes a dangerous place to be. Enemy formations grow more aggressive, projectile patterns harder to read, and mistakes increasingly costly.
The important thing is that the game generally gives you the tools to deal with what it throws at you. Your ship can become significantly more powerful over the course of a run, but enemies become more threatening at roughly the same time. That balance creates a constant tug-of-war between feeling incredibly powerful and desperately trying to stay alive.
There is a lovely arcade rhythm to the experience. You spend one moment feeling like an unstoppable space ace, then suddenly find yourself weaving through a wall of projectiles while wondering how on earth you are still alive. When you make it through, there is a genuine sense of relief.
The controls play a huge part in that. A shooter like this lives or dies by its movement, and Modularis feels responsive enough to make deaths feel like something you can learn from rather than simply blaming the controls. You begin to understand enemy patterns, recognise dangerous situations, and become better at positioning your ship before trouble arrives.
Bosses That Mean Business
Eventually, the standard waves give way to much larger threats. The bosses are where Modularis asks you to put everything you have learned to the test, and these encounters deliver some of the game’s most enjoyable moments.
These are not simply enormous enemies with oversized health bars. They demand attention to attack patterns, the ability to find safe spaces, and the ability to make the most of whatever build you have assembled. A powerful weapon can certainly help, but it will not save you if you spend the entire fight sitting directly under an incoming barrage.
Boss encounters also serve as a useful test of whether your chosen upgrades actually work together. A build that felt spectacular against regular enemies can sometimes struggle against a boss, forcing you to rethink how you approach future runs. That unpredictability is welcome, as it prevents the game from becoming a simple exercise in repeating the same optimal strategy.
There is something particularly satisfying about finally destroying a boss that has ended several previous attempts. The explosion might only last a few seconds, but after all that dodging and frantic movement, it feels like an achievement.
Neon Space
Visually, Modularis embraces its arcade heritage without trying to hide it. Bright neon projectiles streak across dark backgrounds, while colourful enemy ships and explosions lend the action plenty of energy. The presentation is clean enough that, even when things become extremely busy, you can generally distinguish your own ship from the surrounding chaos.
That readability is essential in a shooter like this. A game can look spectacular yet become almost impossible to play if it throws too many effects onto the screen. Modularis largely avoids that trap, keeping the visual language straightforward enough that you can focus on surviving rather than trying to decipher what killed you.
The synthwave soundtrack fits the presentation nicely, too. It provides a steady pulse behind the action and gives the game that familiar retro arcade atmosphere. It is not necessarily the sort of soundtrack you will be humming days later, but during a run it does exactly what it needs to do, keeping the momentum going.
Familiar, But Fun
The biggest criticism that can be levelled at Modularis is also the easiest to understand. Much of what it does has been done before. Wave-based shooters, upgrade systems, roguelike progression and enormous bosses are hardly unfamiliar concepts, and experienced shmup players will recognise many of the ingredients almost immediately.
But familiarity is not necessarily a problem. The important question is whether the pieces work together, and for the most part they do. Modularis does not need to reinvent the genre because its appeal comes from taking those established ideas and combining them into something that feels polished and enjoyable.
There is also something refreshing about its relatively modest ambitions. This is a game you can sit down with for a short session and immediately understand, yet it is also capable of keeping you around for considerably longer once you start chasing better builds and higher wave counts. It fits comfortably into that classic arcade space where every run feels like an opportunity to do just a little bit better.
The Addiction of One More Run
Perhaps the greatest compliment I can pay Modularis is that it evokes the familiar urge to try again immediately after a failed run. You start thinking about what went wrong, which upgrade might have helped, and whether a different approach could have carried you further.
That is where the roguelike structure earns its keep. Even when a run ends badly, you usually come away with something useful, whether that is a better understanding of the enemies, a new appreciation for a particular upgrade, or simply the knowledge that your chosen strategy was rubbish. Failure becomes part of the learning process rather than something that feels like wasted time.
It is a compact experience, but there is enough variation in its upgrade combinations to keep the core loop interesting. The thrill comes from building a powerful ship and then seeing whether you can pilot it well enough to survive the game’s escalating demands.
Verdict
Modularis is a straightforward yet thoroughly enjoyable shoot ’em up that understands the genre’s appeal. It takes the familiar arcade formula of waves, bullets and bosses and adds a satisfying modular upgrade system that gives each run a little more personality. Watching your modest prototype ship evolve into a ridiculous weapon of destruction is easily one of the game’s biggest pleasures.
It is not without limitations. The wave-based structure can become repetitive, particularly for players who have spent years with similar arcade shooters, and the overall experience does not stray far from established genre conventions. Yet there is enough polish, responsiveness and build variety here to make those shortcomings relatively easy to overlook.
What Modularis gets right is the feeling. It captures that old-fashioned arcade desire to have another go, to squeeze a little more power from your ship and to see whether you can finally get past the enemy that destroyed you last time. It is fast, colourful and satisfying without drowning the player in unnecessary complexity.
For fans of classic shoot ’em ups and roguelike progression, this is an easy game to settle into. It may not push the genre into unexplored territory, but it delivers the fundamentals with enough confidence to make another run feel almost irresistible.
