If Galactic Vault could grab you by the collar, it’d haul you in until your nose is touching the screen and scream “Quake 2!” right in your face. Yep—that’s the vibe: a big, beefy old-school shooter. But the demo also makes it clear where the comparisons end.

I love boomer shooters—the fun level design, the chunky gunplay, the flying meat chunks. But there’s also a particular flavor of old-school blaster that just turns me off: wave shooters.

On one hand, Galactic Vault is kind enough to capture the feel of an absolute id banger almost perfectly: Quake 2. On the other, it pairs that glorious “brain off, just shoot” principle with wave-shooter design. Can that actually work?

After playing the free demo, I’m honestly surprised to say: it works. While I was booting drones, bots, and turrets up the backside (or, in the turret’s case, into the base), the arcadey “next room please” flow didn’t annoy me even a little. Here’s why Galactic Vault landed for me.

Story? Just give me a gun

Sure, a boomer shooter doesn’t need a story longer than a beer coaster. Galactic Vault’s demo doesn’t even try: it skips the lore and throws you straight into a techno-slapstick massacre.

That said, the store description does give you the basics: In a dystopian future, giant corporations hoard all technology. Quote: “As a former agent of VOLT (Vault Operations & Lost Tech), it’s your job to infiltrate and plunder tech vaults.” You’re meant to bring cutting-edge tech back to the public, facing increasingly tough challenges along the way. And… that’s it. Straight to the point. 🙂

The hub: Trepang2 says hi

At its core, Galactic Vault works like this: In a small spaceship that serves as a central hub, you pick a level at a terminal. In the demo, you’ve got the 10-room “Tutorial Vault” and an additional 13-room vault available, which is very similar to the tutorial one. After selecting a level, you interact with the pilot’s seat and the bird rockets you straight to your destination.

However, when you first boot up the demo, the ship basically crash-lands into the play area. A scene that—presumably on purpose—echoes Quake 2’s opening. Hence my comparison to the cult id classic. Anyway, back to the “hub”: it’s laid out similarly to the hub in the hardcore single-player shooter Trepang2 (2023). So besides level selection, you’ll find a few other options / “stations” there:

• Shooting range (not in the demo)
• Skill tree & challenges (the latter not in the demo)
• Armory (weapon selection: pistol, SMG, assault rifle, shotgun, marksman rifle)

The skill tree includes perks like “Reload Dash” (dodging automatically reloads your weapon), reduced weapon spread, and higher movement speed. Much more important, though, are the upgrades you unlock within a level—more on that in a second. To pick guns in the armory, you first have to “craft” them. That costs in-game currency; you earn credits by blowing enemies away.

A wave shooter, but with actual personality

Now the important part: the fights. Each level is a string of rooms. Step into one, the doors slam shut, and they stay shut until every wave has been reduced to spare parts.

And yes: “spare parts” is literal. In the demo I didn’t see a single organic enemy. Everything trying to end me was mechanical—bucket-headed retro bots, clingy little combat drones, Power Rangers-style mechs with heavy armor, and turrets that aim like they’re personally offended.

Naturally, I fired back—with my favorite boomstick: the shotgun. It’s effective at mid-range, too, and like the other guns, you can shoot both from the hip and while aiming down sights.

But there’s bad news for fans of huge arsenals: you clear a level with one weapon. Just one. I didn’t love that on paper either, but given the shotgun’s delicious destructive power, I ultimately decided not to file a complaint.

Pure shooter joy

Still: how can a “one-weapon shooter” with clearly structured wave-clearing be as much fun as the anarchic shooting orgies of the ’90s and ’00s? Well, under Galactic Vault’s tight corset, the same winning ingredients are hiding.

It’s not quite as fast as Unreal Tournament or other high-speed shooters, but it still goes hard. Fewer than four machines attacking at once is rare; most of the time it’s more than that. On top of that, enemies love coming at you from every direction and level.

Here’s an example: On the ground floor, four retro-bots and a few drones bunch up, with covering fire provided by a nearby turret. Two ramps lead up to the first floor; from there, two mechs stomp down toward you, and suddenly more drones appear under the vault ceiling.

Now it really kicks off: with two floors and a jump pad, the room offers tactical options. You can, for example, toss a grenade at the turret, hop up via the jump pad, blast the mechs right in the face, then pick off the remaining attackers. Some rooms also have explosive barrels, which—in boomer shooters—is basically a matter of good manners.

Since enemies in Galactic Vault pack serious firepower that also looks suitably punchy, the fights feel satisfyingly chaotic. And you, too, can set off prettier and prettier fireworks with your gun, thanks to upgrade stations between rooms.

Upgrades until the doctor says stop

Weapon upgrades and weapon-based abilities are one of Galactic Vault’s standout features. After each firefight, you can access terminals, each offering a different improvement or ability. Don’t like what you see? Just feed 50 credits into the “upgrade machine,” and the terminals instantly roll three new upgrades. That doesn’t work for ability terminals, though.

Here’s a small sample from the near-overabundance:

• Reloading increases fire rate by 35% for 3 seconds
• Every 10th projectile has a chance to split into 3 projectiles
• A grenade ignites a carpet of fire for 5 seconds; enemies take 15 damage/second
• Projectiles have a chance to ricochet multiple times off vertical surfaces
• Ability: Your shooter sends a one-time armada of projectiles through the room, bouncing off walls. Accordingly, this ability has a longer cooldown

There are also conventional perks like bigger magazines or increased weapon damage. Most of the extras, though, are more unusual—similar to that first example above.

Boss ragout

If you think you’re getting a vault’s shiny tech back without stepping over some boss corpses, you’re wrong. In the demo, the last room of the Tutorial Vault pitted me against “golden” Lyra Ironglide. “She’s” not especially large, but a tough final enemy.

Unlike the other bots, Lyra is surrounded by a violet shimmering aura (presumably a shield). Also, the tech guardian hovers just above the ground—and in a later phase, way up under the ceiling. While doing so, she unleashes wide-area beam storms that definitely left an impression on me.

In the end, I won the buckshot-and-beam scuffle, but not with a bored “la-la-la” on my lips. Worth noting: for now, the demo runs on Beginner difficulty. Only after clearing the tutorial can you switch to Normal, while the two even harder modes are off-limits in this preview.

So Galactic Vault clearly isn’t aimed only at veterans. The “Hey, not too rough” type will get their money’s worth here just as much as the “Hurt me plenty” crowd. The game’s highest difficulty should be a challenge for pros, but I don’t expect a true suicide mode like Trepang2’s. That F.E.A.R. grandkid is a real little bastard even on its easiest setting.

Verdict: Galactic Vault would’ve slapped 25 years ago, too

Galactic Vault is fast, loud, and—at least in the demo—stuffed to the muzzle with old-school shooter soul. If you used to let the shotgun do the talking in games like Unreal or Quake and you’re convinced FPS was simply more fun back then, Galactic Vault might be some “new” food for your inner caveman.

This playable appetizer is already in solid shape. The gunfeel could be a touch smoother, sure, but it’s already flirting with Quake 2 territory. The only real stumbles are the translations, which still trip over themselves in places. The full release is scheduled for March 10.

Alex Nitschke

I’ve been into video games since 1982, spending 12 of those years in professional games journalism. I’ve also been developing games since the early ’90s, starting with a humble C64. Outside of code and keyboards, I’ve been a musician since 1989. Man, I have no idea how I can still be alive...

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