Phobos Down offers twin-stick action broken down to its barest essentials on Android

• Phobos Down offers exciting twin-stick shooter action in retro fashion
• Play a contractor tasked with completing missions on a hostile alien world
• Blast your way through dangerous monsters with simple weapons and upgrades

As we cross the middle of the week, you may already be hankering for more action. And while there are exciting new updates in all manner of big league names, there's also plenty of intriguing new releases. Case in point, the pared-down, but still extremely exciting Phobos Down!

If your initial instinct is that this is a Survivors-like, then hold your horses. Phobos Down is more intent on evoking the twin-stick shooters of yore, where your job is to blast your way through hordes of enemies as a contractor for a megacorporation on a hostile alien planet.

If you're getting shades of Deep Rock Galactic, then you're not alone. But Phobos Down focuses on the simple fun of randomised missions, a streamlined upgrade system and only three weapons tuned to perfection for run 'n gun excitement in the classic fashion.

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I won't blame you if the graphics are a little bit off-putting, but I think there's a big difference between what some may see as primitive and others may perceive as stylised. Which, in my case, I see as deliberately attempting to invoke hits from the olden days of gaming.

There's also something a little more tactical about the gameplay, as rather than automatically shooting, you'll have to think more carefully about your mission and when you're attacking. If you fancy something that puts aside the flash of the Survivors-like in favour of pulse-pounding survival gameplay, then Phobos Down may be just what you've been looking for!

And that's not to denigrate the Survivors-like, of course, after all, I'm an avowed fan of one of the biggest hits of the genre in Vampire Survivors. So why not dig into our list of the best games like Vampire Survivors to see what other action-packed entries we recommend on an app store near you?