The developer of critically-acclaimed twin-stick shooter Assault Android Cactus has claimed that the Epic Games Store rejected his game when he submitted it for consideration. Understandably, Sanatana Mishra of Witch Beam is somewhat upset about the whole situation and took to Twitter to lay out his issues with the Epic Games Store. Chief among his complaints are an apparent lack of consideration for his game’s Metacritic score of 87 and a worrying similarly to the chaotic early days of curation on Steam.
First things first, let’s get a bit of context here. Assault Android Cactus is an adorable twin-stick shooter featuring the titular robot. She and 8 other androids can blaze through levels full of robotic enemies and shooting them to pieces with high-powered machine guns and varios power-ups. Each android has their own playstyle and personality, making for a lot of replayability. Recent updates have also added a first-person mode, essentially converting the game to another genre at the flip of a switch.
The game is plenty cool, but it’s also received more than a few accolades as noted on its Steam Store page;
- Winner: Technical Excellence, Australian Game Developer Awards, 2016
- Winner: International Award, Bitsummit, 2015
- Finalist: IGF China, 2015
- Winner: PAX 10, PAX Prime 2015
- Winner: Best International, BitSummit 2015
- Winner: PAX Aus Indie Showcase, PAX Aus 2014
- Winner: Shooter of the Year, Indie Haven 2013
- SexyFunTimeAward, Twinfinite, PAX East 2014
- Selected: Tokyo Game Show Indie Game Area
- Winner: Best Action Game, Intel Level Up 2013
- Selected: Eurogamer Expo Indie Game Arcade
Combine this with a score as high as 87 on Metacritic and 83 on OpenCritic and you have yourself what seems like a stellar game. Unfortunately, the Epic Games Store rejected Assault Android Cactus when Witch Beam submitted it for consideration to be added to the store. Witch Beam developer Sanatana Mishra detailed some of his complaints in a series of tweets, a portion of which we’ll include below:
https://twitter.com/SanatanaMishra/status/1111581358323712002
I'm not sure people understand how insanely stressful life was when Steam had the same approach to curation that Epic has now, the day we won an Intel Level Up award and got guaranteed access to steam as a bonus was fucking huge for Witch Beam, we were absolutely terrified.
— Sanatana Mishra (@SanatanaMishra) March 29, 2019
Although the Epic Games Store rejected Assault Android Cactus, the developer has had a decent amount of success getting it on digital stores and other platforms. It’s a fun game that’s well worth checking it out! You can get it on Steam and on the various storefronts for consoles.
