Assassin Of Aliens

Six levels, some troopers and spiders, and a UFO to bring down

Assassin Of Aliens is a budget 2D sci-fi shooter from solo developer Saylor Games, casting players as a lone space warrior tasked with clearing six levels of alien troopers and giant spiders before facing down a UFO boss at the end. This review draws on an English review sample, only 7 reviews at the time of research (5 positive, 2 negative).

Faintly praised as a cheap, harmless time-killer

Where this review found praise at all, it was consistently qualified by the game's low price rather than by genuine ambition. "A harmless time-killer, nothing out of the ordinary... it's fun and cheap!" reads one review, which goes on to list a storyline and epic battles among what's missing. A separate reviewer frames the same low bar even more explicitly: "got this for the price of a sad gas station coffee and it delivered exactly the kind of cheap-budget shooter brain rot I needed on a Friday... not pretending to be more than it is, and honestly that's refreshing." This review treats that as fair: reviewers independently and consistently pricing their expectations to match the cost of the game, rather than praising it against genre standards generally, is credible evidence the game's appeal, such as it is, rests almost entirely on being cheap and undemanding rather than on craft.

A fair, heavily corroborated complaint about clunky, dated production

Set against that faint praise, this review found the sample's most consistently repeated and severe complaint. "The gameplay feels stuck in the Flash-game era: clunky animations, enemies that act like mannequins, and any sense of 'variety' disappears after 15 minutes," reads the sample's top-voted, negative review. A separate reviewer, even while ultimately recommending the game, agrees on the same specific point: "AI logo, jank animations, but it runs fine." This review treats that as fair: reviewers across both negative and positive overall verdicts converging on the same specific production-quality complaint, dated, clunky animation work, is credible, corroborated evidence of a real quality gap rather than one dissatisfied player's exaggeration.

A fair, heavily corroborated complaint about thin content

This review also found a specific, repeated complaint about how little the game actually offers. "The game does not justify itself even for the discounted price. In fact, only walking is available here, and the game doesn't stand out, everything looks pretty clumsy," reads a second negative review, which explicitly frames the six levels as functionally interchangeable once the initial novelty wears off. A separate, otherwise positive reviewer reaches a similar conclusion about missing substance: "there's a lot to say about what's missing here: 1) a storyline, 2) epic battles," even while still recommending the game for its price. A third reviewer, framing the game as a student developer's debut project, puts it plainly: "this isn't AAA, it isn't AA, and it isn't even just 'a'. Keep that in mind!" This review treats that as fair: three independent reviewers, across the full range of the sample's sentiment, all converging on the same underlying observation, that there simply isn't much game here beyond its basic loop of walking, shooting, and collecting skulls across similar-feeling levels, is strong, corroborated evidence of genuinely shallow content.

A genuine highlight: a tough final boss fight

Amid an otherwise thin experience, this review did find one specific, corroborated point of real credit. "The UFO boss at the end is legit tough but fun," reads one review. A separate reviewer independently agrees, despite finding the standard enemies underwhelming: "the standard enemies didn't surprise me much... but some bosses were challenging." This review treats that as fair: two independent reviewers singling out the same specific encounter as a genuine highlight, in an otherwise critical or lukewarm sample, is credible evidence the developer put real effort into at least this one set-piece, even if the rest of the game does not match it.

Achievement data corroborates a short, mostly-finished game

This review's own check of Steam's global achievement data shows a relatively gentle decline from roughly 59% of players reaching the first level milestone down to 37% reaching the seventh and final one. That comparatively modest drop-off, rather than a steep falloff, is consistent with reviewer accounts of a very short, simple game: most players who start do see it through, less because it holds their attention for long and more because there simply isn't much of it to get through.

A note on this review's extremely small sample

This review draws on only 7 English reviews at the time of research, one of the smallest samples this review has covered. The specific claims above rest on two or three reviewers each rather than a large body of independent accounts, so while the pattern of complaints was notably consistent across both positive and negative reviewers, this rating should still be read with some caution given how few reviews currently exist to judge by.

Final verdict

Assassin Of Aliens is a shallow, clunky budget shooter that this review found genuinely thin on content and dated in its production, complaints raised independently by reviewers across the full range of the sample's sentiment. What little credit this review found rests almost entirely on the game's low price and one genuinely tough final boss fight, rather than on any broader ambition or polish. For players specifically looking for a cheap, undemanding shooter to fill a spare half hour and who can tolerate dated animation and a thin loop, it may pass the time; players wanting genuine variety, story, or production values should look elsewhere.