Tempest 4000


Tempest 4000 is a shoot 'em up video game developed by Llamasoft and published by Atari, SA.

Gameplay

Tempest 4000 is a shoot 'em up video game. Players take a control of the Claw, a spacecraft that can shoot at enemies and obstructions. Levels take place on geometric prisms. The goal of the game is to survive each level by eliminating enemies as soon as possible and to achieve high scores for leaderboard positions. The game features one hundred levels and three game modes: standard, pure, and endurance.

Development

Tempest 4000 was developed by Llamasoft, a company founded by British video game designer and programmer Jeff Minter. In 1994, Minter created Tempest 2000—a remake of the 1981 arcade game Tempest—for the Atari Jaguar. In 2015, Llamasoft released the Tempest-inspired video game TxK independently for the PlayStation Vita. Due to similarities between Tempest and TxK, Atari, SA blocked the release of TxK on other platforms. Minter was unhappy with Ataris intervention; however despite this, he partnered with the company to create Tempest 4000.
The game supports native 4K resolution and features a soundtrack inspired by 1990s-era techno music.

Release

Tempest 4000 was announced August 2017, and the game was showcased later that month at Gamescom. The game was expected to release on Windows-based personal computers, and the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One video game consoles. Tempest 4000 was scheduled to be released on the PlayStation 4 on 28 March 2018 but was delayed with no new release date announced.
In July 2018 Tempest 4000 was released for multiple platforms.
Atari later announced that the game would be a launch title for their upcoming Atari VCS microconsole in 2019, but this was denied by Llamasoft.

Reception