Tachyon Project Collector's Edition

Twin stick shooters live and die by feel, and Tachyon Project nails it. The Tachyon Project Collector's Edition on PlayStation 4 packages one of the PS4 era's most underrated dual stick shooters into a physical release that belongs on every shmup collector's shelf. This is the kind of game that slipped past most people during the digital deluge of the mid-2010s, which makes owning the disc all the more satisfying.

You play as Ada, a sentient software program blasting through cyberspace to uncover what happened to her creators. It's a surprisingly compelling hook wrapped around razor-sharp gameplay. Six primary weapons, nine secondary weapons, and seven perks mean you can fine-tune your loadout across hundreds of combinations before tackling over 30 enemy types and four screen-filling bosses. The hand-drawn cutscenes across 10 story levels give it a personality most shooters in this space never bother with. Add in co-op challenge modes and an Asia-exclusive platinum trophy, and you've got a feature set that punches well above its weight.

For those of us who were stacking PS4 discs during the golden age of indie physical releases, Tachyon Project represents a corner of the library that's becoming harder and harder to fill. Limited collector's editions from this era aren't getting any easier to find, and dual stick shooters with this much craft deserve a permanent spot on the shelf. This one's for the collectors who know that the best hidden gems are the ones nobody else thought to grab.