zX is a free-roaming bullet-hell shmup that draws inspiration and gameplay elements from Bangai-O, Gunstar Heroes, Radiant Silvergun and Hero Core. The player roams through 66 cavernous levels (11 available in the demo) laying waste to all the horrors they encounter. The player can switch at will between 3 primary weapon systems, Thumper (knockback and high fire rate), Spread (3-way and ricochet) and Homing (homing and speed). Each level contains 3 power keys which are required to activate the exit portal. The power keys act as a weapon upgrade, randomly assigning a secondary flavor to each of the primary weapon types (eg. Spread/Homing, Thumper/Spread etc.) Most importantly, and the key gameplay feature is the deflector blade which deflects enemy bullets back at them and acts as a powerful melee attack. Deflected bullets damage enemies on impact and generate hyper gems which are automatically vacuumed up by the player. This fills up a hyper meter, which if filled, actives hyper shot
