WESTGUNNE, Zanrai's upcoming shmup/Heaven Variant 2D revival

[M.Knight]

I searched for an existing topic on this game but couldn't find one, so there you go.

Remember the awesome-looking but sadly-cancelled Heaven Variant project? It turns out that Team Zanrai is now currently working on a 2D shmup called Westgunne, which takes a lot of inspiration from the plans they had for Heaven Variant : the main character is the same, the playable mecha is still called Heaven Variant, and the Einhänder influences are still stronger than ever.
Even though they bit more than what they could chew with HV, the developers seem to have learned from their mistakes and are now working with 2D assets that are faster for them to produce and tweak.

Westgunne is not out yet, but regular updates are being posted on the team's twitter : https://twitter.com/zanrai_int
Despite no longer being in 3D, the game still looks fantastic IMO and retains a very dynamic and exciting mise-en-scène, with a powerful cinematic flair. I personally love most if not all the things I see in their screenshots and animations.

The only thing I am still kinda wondering about is the way the game mechanics actually work. I don't know how the weapon systems will function and if some of the odd design choices that were considered for HV (such as the 360° aimable shot) will be purged from Westgunne or if they'll stick around for a while longer.

Is anybody else following this game's development?

[BulletMagnet]

Is anybody else following this game's development?

Hadn't caught wind of this before, but it's certainly on my radar henceforth; it looks gorgeous, though as you say certain elements have me questioning whether the gameplay will impress in equal measure. Hopefully this time around we'll actually find out!

[M.Knight]

If we take in consideration the design choices they went with in their previous game Stardust Vanguards, we can at least be sure that they will avoid the usual euroshmup pitfalls (inertia, lifebar, etc.).

In all honesty, even if the mechanics and the level-design turn out average, I'll probably still get it for the incredible soundtrack (if HV and SV are any indications) and the sheer spectacle of it alone. While this is not the primary strength of a shmup, it's still an often-neglected aspect to them that can make them very memorable and cool. Westgunne seems to have a bunch of cinematic setpieces that all look as impressive as the boss intros from G-Darius or the atmosphere re-entry from Rayforce and it's not everyday you have a new shmup with such emphasis on making the world it takes place in so vibrant and alive.

[Squire Grooktook]

I've talked with the dev on twitter briefly. He's pretty open and cool guy, really dedicated to making a good Einhander spiritual sequel.

[EmperorIng]

Man, Heaven's Variant... That takes me back. I can't believe I had been looking at that game years and years ago. I am glad the team has still stuck to trying to get some version of it out. While I'm itty-bitty bummed by the switch to 2D, those sprites at least look very nice. I really hope they pull through!

[qmish]

Will they keep soundtrack?

This song was sublime
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2ZMgQEv_k4

[M.Knight]

According to this interview, the devs are using HV's soundtrack as a base for remixes and arrangements.

The soundtrack you released for Heaven Variant has 67 tracks! How long did it take to produce?

JK: I’m really proud of HV’s soundtrack. It took about a year or a year and half to produce them, but again, at the time I was wearing a lot of hats working on 2D art, managerial, and game design stuff. I’m not really sure how I produced that many tracks so quickly, but looking back, there quality compared to what I can do today is not nearly up my current standard. In fact, in addition to making new tracks, I’m remixing and rearranging a few choice tracks from that soundtrack for our new game, Westgunne, since it seems a shame not to use those tracks for something. It’s nice to have a back catalog of unused music to pick and choose from. Haha.

You can also find some of them on their soundcloud page :
https://soundcloud.com/zanrai
When I take a look at the massive amount of tracks that were produced for HV, I wonder how big its intended scope was. No way you could fit ~70 tracks in an arcade-length game. For that reason I kinda doubt they will use every single music piece from the HV soundtrack in Westgunne.

Man, Heaven's Variant... That takes me back. I can't believe I had been looking at that game years and years ago.

You made me realize the project was from ~6 years ago now. I remember looking at the videos back then and I still look at them from time to time because they just ooze style and coolness, but I totally didn't see the years passing by so quickly.

[FRO]

This looks awesome, and the boss music snippet I just listened to is right up my alley. Just followed the dev on Twitter, and will be looking forward to seeing how this develops!