Combining arcade action with satisfying and chaotic gunplay, the best twin-stick shooters will never go out of style.
So if you’ve been scouring the internet looking for fresh twin-stick shooter games to get your adrenaline surging, you’ve come to the right place.
In this list, we’ll highlight the top twin-stick shooters on Steam, PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch.
We urge you to check back as we continue to update this list with new entries in the future!
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NeverAwake
Platforms: Windows, PS5, PS4, Nintendo Switch
To kick things off, we’re recommending NeverAwake, one of the finest twin-stick shooters to grace PC and console platforms.
Boasting colorful hand-drawn graphics and animations, the game casts you as a girl named Rem who finds herself trapped in a never-ending nightmare.
To survive, you’ll have to navigate 80+ levels packed with hazards and bosses ranging from vegetables to demonic dogs, schoolmates, and other absurd manifestations.
One of the most remarkable things about this game is its open-ended nature, with the ending changing based on the player’s dedication to seeing each level through to the end.
Beat Hazard 3
Platform: Windows
Blending rhythm and twin-stick shooter gameplay, Beat Hazard 3 allows you to map your music collection onto tense and action-packed battles.
Everything is experienced from the perspective of a small but mighty starship traveling through space.
While making your way around a fully-explorable galaxy of music, you’ll encounter enemy fighters whose attack patterns sync with the music.
To survive, you’ll have to time your assaults and tear through their ranks using powerful projectiles that can be enhanced over time.
Warhammer 40,000: Shootas, Blood u0026amp; Teef
Platforms: Windows, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch
Set in the vast Warhammer 40K universe, Shootas, Blood & Teef is a novel twin-stick shooter by Guns, Gore, and Cannoli developer Rogueside.
In it, you’re tasked with spearheading an Ork invasion into the hive city to defeat a powerful warboss and his army of minions across 2D run n’ gun levels.
The game supports both online and local co-op as well as PvP arena battles where up to four players can clash it out.
This is where Shooters really comes into its own, allowing you and your friends to play as diverse characters with distinctive weapons and unique playstyles.
West of Dead
Platforms: Windows, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch
It’s not every day you see a twin-stick shooter with voiced dialogue, especially from someone as renowned as Ron Perlman.
West of Dead is a roguelike shooter that casts you as a deceased cowboy venturing deeper and farther into Purgatory.
The game uses procedural generation to render environments, adversaries, and rewards, ensuring no two playthroughs feel equivalent.
The further you go, the better your chances of unlocking new weapons, enhancing your skills, and gaining insight into the enigmatic world around you.
MADNESS: Project Nexus
Platforms: Windows, Mac, Linux
MADNESS: Project Nexus is another twin-stick shooter with run n’ gun-inspired combat teeming with chaos and mayhem.
Taking on the role of lethal little bean men, you’ll mow down enemies across guarded facilities, cult camps, moving trains, and other perilous environments.
Armed with an assortment of pistols, rifles, shotguns, machine guns, and melee weapons with distinctive perks, you’ll sharpen your skills across an 8-hour solo campaign.
After that, you’re welcome to replay the story with a companion via local co-op or move over to arena mode with character customization and ability tree progression.
Vampire Survivors
Platforms: Windows, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Mac, iOS, Android
Our next suggestion is Vampire Survivors, a roguelike twin-stick shooter with survival elements and retro-inspired 2D pixel art.
Gameplay focuses on battling against ceaseless waves of monsters for as long as possible using one of many paranormal characters, weapons, and artifacts.
The longer players manage to stay alive, the more resources they’ll amass for unlocking new characters and gear for their next run.
Despite its relatively straightforward premise, Vampire Survivors does a great job of keeping you engaged with meaningful unlocks and action-packed gameplay.
Critadel
Platforms: Windows, Nintendo Switch
Critadel is a challenging twin-stick shooter with GBA-inspired pixel art graphics and a pulse-pounding techno soundtrack complemented by fast-paced gameplay.
In it, you assume the role of a hero entrusted with vanquishing throngs of liberal foes as you navigate an enigmatic mechanical tower known as Babel.
As you run, leap, and blast your way through Babel’s intricate pathways and hidden chambers, you’ll discover and wield an array of weapons and power-boosting items.
The game features three playable characters with distinct starting weapons and equipment as well as upgradeable abilities and unlockable costumes.
Brotato
Platform: Windows
Switching over, Brotato is an autonomous twin-stick shooter with sketched graphics and roguelite elements that see you making steady progress.
If it wasn’t obvious enough already, you play as a murderous potato caught in a never-ending battle with alien invaders.
Such a dangerous threat calls for drastic measures, including the ability to wield up to six weapons during tense battles.
There are other traits and items to unlock and explore on your journey to discovering the most powerful potato build for surviving the invasion.
The Ascent
Platforms: Windows, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S
Next on our list is The Ascent, one of the greatest twin-stick shooters for some cyberpunk futuristic action.
This twin-stick shooter also features RPG elements and sees you dashing and gunning your way through a contemporary metropolis occupied by rival factions.
The most notable of them is The Ascent Group, an authoritarian megacorp whose untimely demise creates a power struggle among the local gangs.
Players can take on the formidable undertaking of crowning a new king solo or with allies via online/local co-op.
Shakedown: Hawaii
Platforms: Windows, PS5, PS4, Nintendo Switch
Carrying on, Shakedown: Hawaii is a classic-inspired twin-stick shooter from developer Vblank Entertainment, best known for Retro City Rampage.
In it, you set out to build a criminal empire by taking control of legitimate businesses and sabotaging the competition.
This plays out across three protagonists with unique motivations and methods for exploring the world, including sports cars, monster trucks, and speed boats.
It’s all very reminiscent of older 2D Grand Theft Auto games with a sprinkling of nods to 1980s pop culture.
Nex Machina
Platforms: Windows, PS4
One of the finest twin-stick shooters to come out of Housemarque, Nex Machina draws inspiration from Robotron and Smash TV while ramping up the destruction.
Set in a world where mankind has become incredibly dependent on technology, it sees you waging war with sentient robots who no longer wish to serve humanity.
The campaign features 100+ levels spanning six worlds with hidden paths, humans in need of rescuing, and challenging enemies.
Nex Machina offers local co-op along with online multiplayer via Steam Remote Play, global leaderboards, and a host of unlockables to keep you engaged.
Blazing Beaks
Platforms: Windows, Nintendo Switch
From rogue robots to death-defying ducks, we’re covering all of our bases in this list.
Blazing Beaks is a cute and colorful twin-stick shooter that sees you controlling gun-wielding ducks forced to fight mutants and monsters.
Procedurally-generated levels are filled with mysteries and rewards that can net you some gold and help craft more potent weapons.
The game supports local co-op and PVP for up to four players, Steam Workshop, and daily challenges for refining your skills.
Helldivers
Platforms: Windows, PS4
Moving right along, Helldivers touts itself as a hardcore, competitive twin-stick shooter built for online and local 4-player co-op.
You and your team play as members of a chosen combat unit tasked with protecting Super Earth from droves of enemies amidst an interstellar war.
Missions see you traveling to various planets where you’ll have to push back hostile forces who have gained a stronghold.
Helldivers “Dive Harder Edition” includes a complimentary upgrade that adds all previous expansions, an innovative loadout system, and a fresh game+ mode.
Atomicrops
Platforms: Windows, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch
Atomicrops offers another unique experience equal parts roguelike, twin-stick shooter, and farming sim.
The game sees you trying to grow enough crops to sustain human life following a nuclear catastrophe while holding off mutated pests looking to corrupt your crops.
Growing and upgrading your farm requires exploring diverse biomes, unlocking new tools, and protecting your crops from enemies.
The game features the ability to raise cattle such as pigs, cows, and chickens and even gives you the option to get married.
Doing so allows you to have your spouse follow into battle and fight by your side, proving it’s still feasible to find love even during a radioactive apocalypse.
Enter the Gungeon
Platforms: Windows, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Mac, Linux
Any self-respecting fan of twin-stick shooters should take it upon themselves to check out Enter the Gungeon.
Modeled after classic bullet hell shooters with a rogue-lite twist, it sees you guiding one of four characters through a maze filled with traps, adversaries, and loot.
Flexibility is the name of the game as each protagonist comes equipped with a unique ability from lock-picking to reduced reload times and an extended dodge roll.
This is further complemented by an arsenal of unusual weaponry that ranges from handguns with bouncing bullets to cactus-powered rifles and target-seeking beehives.
Nuclear Throne
Platforms: Windows, PS4, PS Vita, Nintendo Switch, Mac, Linux
Nuclear Throne is another roguelike with a post-apocalyptic setting, only much farther in the future where mankind has vanished and only mutated creatures remain.
Fighting your way through randomly-generated wastelands, you’ll wield a wide array of weaponry and radioactive abilities.
As you collect more and more radiation, your character acquires new mutations that can affect gameplay and often turn you into a monster-obliterating machine.
Complimenting these abilities is an arsenal of shotguns, rocket launchers, machine guns, and lasers, all rendered in vibrant 2D pixel graphics.
Ruiner
Platforms: Windows, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Linux
Presented as a rapid twin-stick shooter, Ruiner takes place in a Cyberpunk metropolis called Rengkok during the year 2091.
You play as a cybernetically-enhanced thug who finds themselves on the warpath after your brother gets kidnapped by a corrupt organization known as HEAVEN.
Teaming up with an enigmatic hacker ally, you set out to uncover the truth behind the organization and destroy anyone who gets in your way.
Your character is equipped with a wide range of augmented gadgets and high-tech weaponry that allow you to slow down time and swiftly tear through foes.
The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth
Platforms: Windows, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, iOS
The Binding of Isaac is another twin-stick shooter roguelike that comes from Edmund McMillen, best known for the popular platformer Super Meat Boy.
It was originally created for a week-long game jam before expanding into a flash game and eventually a full-fledged title as The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth.
Gamers assume the part of Isaac, a young individual compelled to escape to his cellar following his mother’s descent into madness, initiating a warped journey.
While its somber themes and imagery may be a bit too explicit for some, Rebirth’s gameplay and level design are top-notch.
Assault Android Cactus
Platforms: Windows, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Mac, Linux
You would be hard-pressed to find twin-stick shooters with as much style and pizzazz as Assault Android Cactus.
The game has you pick from one of nine unique heroes before blasting your way through waves of your ship’s worker robots that have gone rogue.
Instead of a traditional ‘Lives’ system, it features a unique battery-draining mechanic that forces you to react swiftly and deal consistent damage.
Assault Android Cactus includes a 25-stage campaign with up to four player local co-op and everyday challenges for a position on the leaderboards.
Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions Evolved
Platforms: Windows, PS4, Xbox One, Linux, Mac, iOS, Android
Geometry Wars has long been considered one of the best ongoing arcade franchises, and Dimensions Evolved is among the series’ strongest entries.
Presented as a twin-stick shooter, the game has you battling swarms of enemies on over 100 varied 3D grid environments
The visuals are top-notch, the battles chaotic and fast-paced, and the music is everything we’ve ever dreamed of.
Dimensions Evolved includes a broad selection of classic game modes, many of which support online and local multiplayer for up to four.