# A retro shmup roguelite: Pilot & customize your ship, scavenge enemy cores and chase bounties, across a space rogue odyssey. ### **You're Captain Cole Hunter - broke, hunted, and heavily armed.** In this retro-fueled space roguelite, blast through bullet hell gauntlets, collect enemy cores to upgrade your ship, and repay a galaxy-sized debt to a syndicate that wants your hide more than your money. The longer you fly, the hotter the chase gets. Make every shot count... or default in flames. **Cole Hunter: Payback** is a 2D side-scrolling shoot-’em-up with roguelite structure, high-stakes upgrade loops, and space-opera swagger. You’ll pilot customizable ships across hostile star systems, dodging waves of enemy fire, scrapping for core drops, and cashing in bounties to chip away at your crushing debt to the galaxy’s nastiest creditors. Featuring tight moment-to-moment gameplay, risk-reward magnetic pickups, and a snarky drone sidekick, Cole Hunter delivers a modern twist on the classics - blending R-Type precision with Enter the Gungeon progression and Firefly-flavored grit. Every run is a run for your life. And your wallet. ### Key Features - **Shoot. Dodge. Collect. Upgrade.** Harvest cores from fallen enemies mid-combat to evolve your arsenal. Trade firepower for loot at your own risk. - **The Debt Doesn’t Sleep.** A dynamic heat map tracks your overdue balance. Slack too long and Syndicate enforcers will hunt you down system by system. - **Builds That Beg to Be Broken.** Equip weapons, drones, and passive implants between runs. Mix and match for power combos—or total disasters. - **Retro Pixel Art, Modern Execution.** Hand-crafted visuals inspired by the golden age of shmups, tuned for today’s action junkies and roguelite obsessives. - **Space Opera With a Snarl.** Light narrative flavor story beats and banter between Cole and Lucy balance high-stakes action with dark humor and character. - **Fast Runs, Deep Progression.** 5–10 minute combat loops packed with decisions and rewards. Ideal for one-more-run marathons or bite-sized chaos.