At this point I’ve come to accept, and be eager for, the indie development community’s ability to come up with odd new ideas, sometimes fanciful, and sometimes maybe a little familiar. In Ion Shift, while I can’t assume the developer’s intent was to have you playing the part of an escaped Xenomorph chestburster, I found it much more fun to imagine it that way. Having seen the chaos from the human side of the equation as they scramble to eradicate the looming threat it represents, it was fun to help turn the tables and relish instead being the chaos agent… or something like that.

Ferried into a space station in a human meat vehicle, it doesn’t take long for your slippery little alien to emerge and go dashing into the ventilation system. From there, with the facility on alert, you’ll need to get through room after room using your somewhat limited (but lethal) means to continue to proceed and stay alive. Whether that requires you using a dashing attack, incapacitating or confusing enemies with objects thrown by your tail, or occasionally catching a lift in another human meat shield, you’ll simply need to make the most of the tools you have, and perhaps have a little fun while you’re at it. To some degree the joy of playing the monster reminds me of the excellent Carrion, but this is a much more narrowly-focused affair.

Outside of the stage design, and your somewhat limited capabilities, there’s an unfortunate added challenge at times fighting with the controls and general mechanics. The fact that you’re able to stick to surfaces is essential as you quickly move around, but especially when things get intense things can get messy. Whether your jump isn’t quite hearty enough, that you end up transitioning to another direction when landing in or moving around a corner, or just not feeling fully in control in tense situations, I do wish the controls were more refined or the speed in which things need to happen could be a hair slower. Even when you survive it can sometimes feel like it was through luck more than skill, and that can be aggravating. The sometimes inexplicable behavior of the auto-turrets and some other building systems can also be irritating. Making the same quick moves multiple times it can feel like you’re sometimes shot instantly, but other times you somehow make it. The lack of clarity on how they’re meant to fully work is a bit irritating, just because it can waste time and effort.

In the end, some warts aside, this can still be quite a lot of fun when you get on a decent roll. Terrorizing people and working through entire rooms of troops can be a thrill, though if anything I wish there were a little more carnage thrown into the mix to make it more fun. You’ll definitely need to be patient at times, and not everything will always make sense, but perhaps that’s just the life of a chestburster trying to survive long enough to reach their next level of greatness.