Lichtspeer is a solid arcade like game where you throw spears at enemies coming to your direction. You’re not allowed to move but you can use three skills that need time to recharge for use again. You can upgrade these skills or buy new ones with the currency you earn from performing well. Performance is improved through factors like headshots and speed. There are 13 levels, 2 difficulty modes, new game plus and 2 characters to pick from. Each level usually has 5 waves with some of them ending on a boss fight. The game is as short or as long as you want it to be depending on whether you care about challenge or achievements. I can easily see the game taking less than 2 hours if you just go through each level once. It took me 23 hours to get all the achievements which include doing the 2 difficulty modes, get uber on all 13 levels (three stars basically) and complete new game plus on both difficulties.

The game does a lot of things right. Its style is crazy and memorable in all the right ways. It’s kind of a comedy of German culture in space. The music is very catchy. The levels are creative and some of the bosses are especially impressive. The gameplay is engaging in that the controls are simple with a mouse but it’s hard to master with the obstacles thrown at you. The challenge is mostly right, even on higher difficulties. It’s also a great feeling when a lot of the levels or bosses look impossible first time, but somehow you manage to finish them, these thoughts repeat on higher difficulties and you manage to do it again. It’s rewarding when you clear what feels like the impossible but it’s never truly out of reach.

The flaws are mostly 2 things. I can imagine the game feeling repetitive if you try to play it in long sessions. It’s a game to play in between really. While the challenge was mostly good, it does go too far at some points on the highest difficulties. There is a boss (inside a disco room) that is very challenging regardless of the difficulty. I find him to be more challenging than the last boss, it’s worse on higher difficulties. And lastly, do be aware of a bug with the 2 achievements that count the number of kills and headshots. They only count with the first level after starting the game, you’ll need to quit the game and start again if you want to continue right away.

Lichtspeer can be gotten for a very cheap price, I paid €1 on Steam around 2 months ago. The price is absolutely worth it. The normal price of €10 depends on whether you count the different difficulties and achievements. The answer would obviously be a yes if so but I’m not sure about others who play a game once and finish it within 2 hours. It’s a great game to play between other bigger games in short sessions.