New games: Valfaris is a wonderfully overblown shooter with heavy metal in its blood

Sitting somewhere between an Iron Maiden fever dream and Roger Dean’s early Psygnosis box art, Valfaris’s aesthetic is a heady concoction. That’s hardly surprising given that this unsettling, raucous 2D action-platformer is being cooked up by the same team which brought us 2016’s heavy-metal themed Slain: Back from Hell. Valfaris doubles down on its metal influence, tossing together bio-horror, a far-future setting, brutal combat, and riffs. You play as Therion, a square-jawed, remarkably violent chap with a striking mane of flowing blue hair. Your former home - a sprawling paradisiacal space citadel - mysteriously vanished at some point in the recent past, but has since reappeared in orbit around a dying sun. It’s now beset by an “ever-growing darkness”, and it’s your job to hop back onboard and investigate. Should be fine. Supporting your efforts are a giant blue energy sword and an expanding collection of ever-more-ridiculous guns that you liberate from glowing-green energy vats dotted around the levels. This colourful armoury includes such delights as the Wolflight pistol - which makes enemies explode in a cloud of ethereal wolf heads that seek out other targets - and a destroyer-class weapon called the Hellwraith that flings molten skulls at anything you point it towards. Using your sword will also build up a special attack bar which allows you to deploy spectacular, screen-filling assaults.