Beat Hazard

Beat Hazard is a music-driven twin-stick arena shooter from solo developer Steve Hunt that turns your music library into a procedurally generated content engine. Every song produces a unique level — the enemy waves, projectile patterns, screen visuals and your own weapon's firepower all respond directly to the song's volume, tempo and instrumentation. Quiet passages give you breathing room; loud crescendos crank the on-screen chaos and the damage your ship deals.

The game accepts a wide range of file formats — mp3, wav, aiff, ogg, wma, flac — with iTunes, AAC, mp4 and m4a support available as a small additional download to cover patent licensing on the relevant decoders. LastFM scrobble support and internet radio integration mean you can play with streaming sources as well as your own files, and the resulting level catalogue is as deep as whatever music you bring to it.

Game modes spread the core mechanic across different structures. Survival mode asks how long you can last across a full album. Boss Rush throws huge boss ships at you at the climaxes of tracks. Local two-player head-to-head and co-op modes let you share the chaos, and 25 Steam achievements plus leaderboards give you something to chase across friends. A kicking rock album is bundled to get you started if your library isn't varied enough, and ranking up to Elite pilot status — and surviving Suicidal mode — is the long-term skill target.