Sektori is a psychedelic, grit-forward twin-stick shooter that earns every ounce of sweat through its punishing pace and retro-flavored design. Developed by a former Housemarque creator from Returnal, you pilot a compact ship that slices through swarms of foes while you thread through danger to snag upgrades that extend your life. Most runs end in a blink, reminiscent of a classic arcade hit, yet Kimmo Lahtinen injects modern roguelike ideas and pairs them with kinetic visuals and a pulsing soundtrack to forge a hypnotic experience.
A core part of what makes Sektori feel special is the way it nudges you into a flow state. The campaign description rings with lofty lines—"Sektori is a place, a form of being, a method of transformation. Sektori is seeking, processing, shaping. Sektori is a specter of your zero state." It reads as high concept, and while that language sounds ornate, the gameplay mechanics quickly translate this abstraction into something tangible. It took me a while to grasp how everything interlocks, and that understanding is what lifts the game to its memorable heights.
At the start of a campaign run, your tiny ship drops into a compact arena. You have two basic offensive tools: a gun that shoots endless lasers in the direction you point with the right stick, and a forward-pushing “strike” move that charges your ship but carries a short cooldown. Enemies mostly appear as red-outlined polygons that briefly flash before hardening into real threats. If you take damage, you lose one of your three shields. Destroying enemies drops small triangles called “glimmer,” and collecting enough of them unlocks upgrades.
The upgrade system is the heartbeat of Sektori. On the left side of the screen sits a vertical list of potential improvements spanning speed, score, strike, shield, missiles, and a blaster. Picking up a selector token nudges the current upgrade option up one step, but once you actually claim an upgrade, the selector resets to the top of the list. For instance, you might advance to a missile upgrade via tokens, and the next token would then unlock a speed upgrade instead. This dynamic forces you to weigh which path to chase in the heat of combat.
This setup creates a constant stream of decisions, often while surrounded by foes, about whether to settle for a reachable speed or strike upgrade or to gamble for a higher-tier improvement further up the chain. To add a layer of tension, you only get five extra shields via selector tokens in a run, so you must decide if grabbing a shield is worth it or if you should push on for a more powerful offensive upgrade that could tilt the odds in your favor.
Occasionally, you’ll encounter evolver tokens that offer larger, deck-style choices: drones that orbit your ship, a secondary gun that fires behind you, and other substantial options. Every so often you’ll also see a token bearing a rotating set of letters; spelling the word (the length of which scales with difficulty) unlocks a brief, rainbow-hued power-up state reminiscent of grabbing a star in Mario Kart.
Adding to the challenge, the arena itself continuously shifts. Every few seconds the map can expand, shrink, or briefly block access to areas you’ve relied on. If you’re trapped in a region that gets boxed out as it vanishes, marked by flashing red indicators, it’s an instant game over. Survive long enough and the environment morphs into a boss encounter—for example a towering, worm-like foe akin to Moldorm from classic adventures—and conquering the boss propels you to the next, tougher stage. Survive five stages, and you’ve cleared the run.
All of this can feel overwhelming. Many sessions never take off because upgrades arrive too slowly to combat the relentless onslaught. Even with a strong build, victory often hinges on extremely narrow margins. Yet that tension is exactly what makes Sektori so gripping: when a run finally takes off, you’re sprinting across levels, blasting enemies, chasing upgrades, and pushing your limits—while a dazzling visual feast and a driving techno score flood your senses.
I’ve beaten the game only once, but that single breakthrough clarified what Sektori is really about.
Sektori is available now on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.
