Plasma Sky press
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- Game
- Plasma Sky
- What it is
- Neon arcade shmup, 100+ handcrafted levels, five modes
- Developer
- Spikepit Games (John Dunbar, solo), Seattle, WA
- Release
- Early 2027, Windows PC on Steam
- Demo
- October 2, 2026 (a 20-level sample of the campaign, plus the complete Weekly Challenge mode)
- Next Fest
- Playing in Steam Next Fest, October 19 to 26, 2026
- The original
- iOS and Android, March 18, 2013. Metacritic 79.
- Steam
- store.steampowered.com/app/4951340
- Trailer
- youtu.be/2rNmtLeZoc4
- Website
- plasma-sky.com
- Discord
- spikepitgames.com/discord
- Bluesky
- @spikepitgames.com
- Press contact
- john@spikepitgames.com
Plasma Sky is a neon arcade shmup with over 100 handcrafted levels. It's a shooter for everyone, welcoming in early levels with difficulty that ramps up as you progress. Flow through alien formations, arm your wingmen, ram things with the spike shield, and race the whole world in a fresh seeded challenge every week.
The new challenge mode is what I'm most excited about, it's a new short and difficult gauntlet every week. You can finish it in five minutes if you survive that long, but finishing requires learning the new patterns and drops.
The art is inspired by glowy vector CRTs, the music is rad, and the gameplay is more 1943 than bullet hell.
I shipped Plasma Sky on phones and tablets in 2013 right after finishing work on Torchlight 2. It was an arcade game you could play on your phone, it never had any of the mobile game nonsense. The original got great reviews from players and critics, and I put out a bunch of free updates.
Then the tech I used was discontinued, updates were no longer possible, and Plasma Sky has been slowly melting into the digital abyss for years.
I love this little game too, so I'm really excited to bring it back to life. I've fixed and modernized its custom engine and gotten it ready for big screens. I redrew the art, upgraded UI, rewrote controls, added a new mode, played endlessly, added features, and did a ton of retuning to make it awesome on PC. That mostly means making it harder. It's remastered and it's alive!
- 100+ handcrafted levels across five modes: Conquest, Challenge, Hardcore, Survival, and Blockade
- The Weekly Challenge: a seeded one-hit gauntlet, identical for every player on Earth, fresh every week
- Global leaderboards in every mode, plus a new board each week
- The score tracer: live splits racing your current run against your best, and a rank panel counting down the leaderboard as you pass other pilots by name
- Full controller support, tuned controller-first, no acceleration, with boost and focus on the shoulder buttons. Mouse and keyboard are fine too
- TATE modes for rotated monitors, plus a Steam Deck mode that rotates the controls to match
- A framed widescreen presentation that fills the margins with nebula, stars, and reflected glow
- Custom engine: launches instantly and runs at whatever refresh rate your monitor can throw at it
- 19 achievements and lifetime pilot stats
- Redrawn art where the game needed it, original charm where it didn't
Metacritic 79 · TouchArcade 4/5 · Pocket Gamer 4/5 · 148Apps 4/5 · 4.9 stars from App Store players
Plasma Sky is a rock-solid shoot-'em-up that delivers a short, intense experience, plus leaderboard fun.Slide To Play
It's an exhilarating visual treat that is the best in the App Store at delivering the classic Galaga style.Apple'N'Apps
If you're looking for an accessible, entertaining arcade shooter it comes highly recommended.Pocket Gamer
An almost perfect example of what a modern shmup can be.Android Dissected
This game is as cool as the other side of a pillow.AppAdvice
Spikepit Games is me, John Dunbar, making games solo in Seattle. I was part of the team at Runic Games behind Torchlight, Torchlight 2, and Hob. Plasma Sky started as the side project I made right after finishing Torchlight 2, which is why a shmup ended up with random loot: loot tables are just part of my brain. I started Spikepit Games in 2012, shipped Plasma Sky the next spring, and I'm so stoked to bring it back to life.
Downloads: screenshots
Twenty 1920x1080 captures of the desktop build, around 1.3 MB each. Click for the full PNG.
Downloads: GIFs
Loop-friendly GIFs sized for forums and social.
Downloads: thumbnail kit
Transparent ship, wingmen, and boss renders plus a clean nebula background, for building your own thumbnails and header art.
- PlasmaSky_PlayerShip.png
- PlasmaSky_PlayerShip_Shooting.png
- PlasmaSky_PlayerAndWingmen.png
- PlasmaSky_PlayerAndWingmen_NoBullets.png
- PlasmaSky_Wingmen.png
- PlasmaSky_BossShip.png
- PlasmaSky_Nebula_BG.png
Also in the kit: FACTSHEET.txt, this page as plain text.
John Dunbar: design, code, art, and everything else.
Imphenzia: music.
Outstandly: key art illustration.
Want something specific (vector logo, 4K captures, a particular moment, review builds closer to launch)? Just email, I'm quick: john@spikepitgames.com
© 2013-2026 Spikepit Games. All rights reserved.