Oblitacrater brings spherical twin-stick shooting to PS5 and Xbox

Strangely Named's endless twin-stick shooter Oblitacrater launched today on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. The game is officially leaving Steam Early Access to hit its version 1.0 release alongside the new console ports. It brings a brutal twist to the arcade shooter formula by asking exactly how greedy you are willing to be.

The action takes place entirely on a small, spherical planet. The camera pulls back to show the curvature of the battlefield as you dodge projectiles and weave through swarms of cartoonish aliens. The immediate visual comparison is Housemarque's Super Stardust Delta on the PlayStation Vita. Both games use a 3D sphere to limit your line of sight and force you to manage enemies approaching from over the horizon. The geometry in Oblitacrater looks a bit more cramped. You have less room to back away from incoming fire, and the high-energy electronic soundtrack constantly pushes you to move faster.

The core loop relies on a strict risk-and-reward system. You drop onto the planet and start racking up points by clearing waves. You can leave at any time by hitting a giant red button at the top of the planet. Pressing the button banks your score and saves your leaderboard progress.

If you die before hitting the button, your entire running score resets to zero. Your leaderboard entry is completely wiped out. You go back to the start with nothing.

The anxiety of the escape button

Solo developer Sen spent the last year testing this loop in Early Access on Steam. The game quietly launched in early 2025 to a small group of players so the studio could refine the balance of the leaderboards. The developer wanted to build a game that gets harder because the player's anxiety increases, rather than just throwing faster enemies on screen. You are always deciding whether to push for one more wave or secure the points you already have.

As you survive longer, you unlock upgrades for your ship. The game has 50 different modifications in the pool. You start with a basic peashooter, but you can eventually unlock Arsenal Expanders to hold multiple secondary weapons at once. Some are straightforward boosts to movement speed or shield regeneration. Others add heavy ordnance like rockets, laser bursts, and deployable mines that trigger when aliens get too close.

You can also pick up random upgrades. This is where the gambling aspect extends beyond the score. Picking up a mystery box can give you a massive advantage or actively sabotage your run with a downgrade. You might get a singularity inducer that acts like a black hole to suck up enemies. You might also get your speed cut in half right as a massive swarm spawns.

Local multiplayer and Dead Run mode

Once you learn the systems and figure out which weapons work best together, you can unlock a Dead Run mode. This mode strips away the safety net entirely. It forces you to survive as long as possible without the option to escape.

The console versions include support for local co-op. Up to four people can share the screen and the risk. Adding more players to a tiny sphere usually results in total visual chaos. The screen gets incredibly busy once everyone starts dropping mines and firing lasers at the same time.

Oblitacrater costs about $5 across all storefronts. The Xbox version supports Play Anywhere, so buying it there gets you access on both the console and the Windows PC Xbox app.