Singularis is a sort of shmup for amoebas. You play Proto, a protozoan with the unlikely ambition of becoming the most powerful being in the universe. Initially, you can do nothing more than move (which, in the default control scheme, you do by choosing direction with the mouse and pressing the Up arrow to move forward, or the Back arrow to move back). Later on, you gain additional abilities, including cilia to let you row yourself forward more quickly, and -- I did call it a shmup -- a gun. Or if you prefer, the ability to shoot destructive viruses at enemies.
The nature of movement takes a little getting used to, since you are, after all, embedded in a fluid; you have some momentum, but fluid resistance damps it slowly. Positioning yourself is a little tricky -- and also essential, since particularly in the early stages, when you have no weapons yourself, you defeat enemies mainly by dodging in such a way as to lead one enemy into another. That's what's happening in the screenshot -- a wall-mounted enemy is darting out to attack because you're nearby, but is hitting another, larger enemy.
There's quite a variety of enemies, each with their own characteristic behavior, so there's a certain amount of strategy involved, too -- figuring out how to exploit their behaviors to defeat them.
There are five "levels" -- each is, apparently, an animal whose body you have invaded, and you beat the level by getting to the central nervous system, taking it over, and thereby using it to get to the next animal. But each level is quite large, with typically 60 or so rooms -- and while you can always just move through the level directly to the boss battle, you're better off if you explore the level thoroughly, gaining the mitochondria that let you level up, the level map, and so on.
There's a surprising amount of depth and polish here, for a one-man project (nice techno score as well), and enough variety over time to keep you interested. A nice job, really.
Developer's gameplay trailer below the fold:
