Published by The Edge in 1987, Shadow Skimmer is an overhead scrolling shooter set on a large, maze-like spaceship. At first glance, the game looks a bit like Andrew Braybrook‘s Paradroid, but it plays much differently.

The story goes something like this: during a routine inspection of the ship’s engines, the master computer malfunctions and identifies you as hostile, and you’re then trapped inside the nacelle and must blast your way through a series of different mazes in order to find the exit. To open the exits, you must first destroy the hidden power generator, found locally, and shut down the security systems.

The Shadow Skimmer you’re piloting can move and fire its lasers in eight directions, and can also flip onto its back, to fit through tight spaces. Pressing the space bar toggles between this mode, and when it’s on its back it’s significantly more vulnerable.

There are vents that you can enter, to reach other parts of the maze, and generators that spew out hostile robots that will kill you if they damage you too much. The panel at the top of the screen shows you which unit you need to find next, plus other vital gameplay information.

Shadow Skimmer is well-presented, with decent graphics and sound, but the gameplay is arguably a little too ‘generic’, and difficult, for my liking. I wouldn’t say that Shadow Skimmer is a particularly well-remembered game, because of that. It’s certainly not a bad game, though, and may entertain those who like blasting exploration games for a few hours.

More: Shadow Skimmer on CSDb