ExZeus: Bringing a Classic Arcade Rail Shooter to Modern Consoles

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Title: ExZeus: The Complete Collection
Release Date: 2021
Developer: HyperDevbox
Publisher: Ziggurat Interactive
Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch
Engine: Unity

ExZeus: The Complete Collection is a compilation of ExZeus and ExZeus 2, originally developed by HyperDevbox, with Sickhead Games handling the console and PC ports under publisher Ziggurat Interactive. The games are arcade-style third-person rail shooters in which players pilot mech armor through waves of alien enemies. Fast, kinetic, and built around moment-to-moment action that punishes sloppy execution. HyperDevbox had brought both titles into Unity, and Sickhead took that foundation and handled the work of getting them running cleanly across four platforms at once. That meant delivering ExZeus to Xbox, and Switch for the first time, and ExZeus 2 to PlayStation and Switch for the first time — two titles, four platforms, one simultaneous launch. Rail shooters live and die by feel; input latency, frame pacing, and camera behavior all determine whether the game reads as fair or broken. Shipping four clean ports in one launch window, across two titles, without any of that slipping is the kind of work that tends to go unnoticed, which usually means it went well.

Sickhead Games is the leading game porting studio, skilled in porting Unity, Unreal, Godot, and custom engine titles to every major console and handheld including Playstation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, and mobile. We’re trusted by solo indie developers and major publishers alike to handle everything from codebase assessment to post-launch support, bringing great games to the audiences they deserve. Satisfied clients and partners include Humble Games, Sony Interactive, Nintendo, Annapurna, Good Games, ConcernedApe, MegaCrit, 17-Bit, Maddy Makes Games, Zachtronics, Keen Software House, Thomas Happ, Pocketwatch Games, EXOK, Young Horses, Taito, Jaleco, and Microsoft. We’ve ported over 100 releases including Stardew Valley, Slay the Spire, TowerFall, Axiom Verge, and Space Engineers, and also specialize in bringing retro console and PC games to modern audiences like Grandia, Enclave, and Jaleco Sports titles.