Drainus

Drainus is a scrolling shooter game. The plot revolves around Irina, daughter of an ill slave from planet Halpax, whose inhabitants are under rule of the Kharlal empire led by general Izumo. A humanoid soldier named Ghenie appears before Irina to warn about a galactic war thirty years in the future, where thousands of planets will be destroyed by the empire, and requests her help. Under desperation to save her father from his illness, Irina joins Ghenie and steals the titular starfighter to overthrow the empire.

The player takes control of the Drainus space fighter craft over a constantly scrolling background, populated with an assortment of enemy forces and obstacles, and the scenery never stops moving until a boss is reached, which must be fought in order to progress further. The game primarily scrolls horizontally, but there are also sections where the scrolling is vertical.

Drainus was developed by Team Ladybug, a division of Japanese online magazine DenFaminicoGamer which had previously developed Shin Megami Tensei: Synchronicity Prologue (2017), Touhou Luna Nights (2019) and Record of Lodoss War: Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth (2021). Character art was handled by Zou Nose, who worked on illustrations for the Pokémon Trading Card Game and Magic: The Gathering. The music was scored by a member under the pseudonym "pepesoft", who also composed for Luna Nights and Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth. It was built using the Mogura Engine 2, used in previous Team Ladybug projects. The group recounted the game's history and creation process in an interview with Famitsu.

Drainus was first unveiled at the Indie Live Expo 2022, a digital showcase for indie games, and released the same day it was announced for PC via Steam, co-published by Playism (a brand of Active Gaming Media) and WSS Playground. The game's launch was supplemented by a soundtrack album. Playism considered a Nintendo Switch version shortly after release, which was confirmed and made playable at Tokyo Game Show 2022. The Switch version released on February 2, 2023, while a physical version by Strictly Limited Games is also planned, featuring multiple language settings.

Drainus garnered "generally favorable" reviews, according to review aggregator Metacritic. Game*Spark's Gurapo Suzuki was surprised by the detailed pseudo-3D sprite visuals and found it easy to play due to the bullet absorption mechanic. Suzuki regarded it as a high quality game and also commended the story. Eurogamer's Martin Robinson expressed that the ability to absorb enemy fire lent it a "more sedate" pacing compared to other shooters.

Robinson praised the graphical aesthetic for its cohesive artwork, but criticized oversights during boss battles and the upgrade system. He also commented that more experienced shooter players may be disappointed with its difficulty.