XBOX REVIEW | Baseless

Baseless drops you into a chaotic single player universe where improvisation is your greatest weapon and survival depends on how quickly you can adapt. The controls immediately set the tone, since every shot also propels you around the arena, creating a constant push and pull between aiming and movement. It is a challenging planet jumping shooter at heart, with 360 degree gravity that lets you blast from one tiny world to another while creatively demolishing anything that gets in your way. The bright and colourful visuals grabbed my attention the moment I first saw the trailer, and that lively energy carries straight into the action as you fire powerful weapons, rescue cute friends, and slowly uncover a galaxy worth fighting for.

From the very first encounter, the game pushes you to think on your feet. Every run feels like a small experiment in controlled chaos, and the constant shifts in pace and structure keep you alert in a way that few single player shooters manage. The challenge builds quickly, but it does so with a sense of purpose that encourages you to learn, adjust, and dive back in.

Baseless has a distinct personality that sets it apart in a crowded genre. Its presentation, its rhythm, and its commitment to surprise give it an identity that is hard to ignore. Whether that identity works for you will depend on what you value most in a solo shooter, but there is no denying that Baseless arrives with confidence and a clear vision. So grab your blaster, steady your aim, and let’s jump into the review.

Things I liked!

• Visuals | Baseless won me over almost immediately with its look. The whole game pops with bright, saturated colours that make every stage feel energetic and easy to read, even when the screen gets busy. Enemies, projectiles, and power‑ups all stand out clearly against the backgrounds, and the framerate holds steady throughout, keeping the action crisp and readable. It’s playful, bold, and consistently fun to look at.

• Gameplay | Baseless clicked with me quicker than I expected. The core loop is simple but satisfying, with clean shooting, quick reactions and a steady flow of enemies that keeps you moving. It never feels messy for the sake of it. Each level gives you a different goal, whether that is clearing all enemies, collecting every cog or freeing prisoners, and that variety helps keep things feeling fresh. The pacing stays sharp, and swapping weapons at the stations dotted around each level gives you the flexibility you need without slowing the action. It has that familiar one more run pull that good arcade shooters always manage to spark.
  
  The big hook is the movement. You do not steer like a normal shooter. Every shot pushes you in the opposite direction, so you are constantly thinking about where each bullet will send you. It feels strange for the first minute, then suddenly it becomes this smooth, pinball like rhythm that makes even basic encounters feel lively. Things heat up fast once the screen fills with different types of energy. Patterns overlap, colours stack and the difficulty can spike quickly if you lose focus. It never feels unfair, but it does force you to stay alert. Every shot you fire to stay safe also shifts your position, so you are always balancing control and survival.
  
  I also really enjoyed planet hopping. Each stage is a tiny world you can circle in full 360 degrees, and every planet has its own atmosphere. Drift too far and your oxygen starts to drop, with a clear warning popping up when you are running low. It adds a small but effective layer of tension that keeps you close to the action and thinking about your next move.
  
  
• Weapons and Equipment | Baseless gives you a fun mix of weapons to experiment with, and each one changes how you approach a fight. Some fire fast, some hit like a truck, and a few spread shots everywhere which is great for clearing crowds. You will also find weapon stations scattered around each level. They let you swap guns on the fly, but each one only gives you a small handful of shots, so you really need to make them count.
  
  Equipment adds another layer. You start with the sword, which stuns enemies and is surprisingly handy when things get too close. More equipment unlocks as you progress, each with its own cooldown, so timing becomes part of the strategy. My favourite by far was the hook shot. It lets you zip around the arena and feels great to use, especially when you pull off a clean escape.
  
  The bubble shield sits on its own button and quickly becomes essential. It blocks all incoming damage for a short burst, and upgrading it makes those lifesaving moments last longer.
  
  The upgrade menu ties everything together. You earn points as you play and spend them on health, firepower or equipment boosts. It is simple, quick to use and gives you just enough control to shape your build without slowing the game down.
  
  
• Boss Fights | The bosses were a real highlight for me. Each one looks great, with designs that stand out from the regular enemies and give each zone a strong finish. Bosses appear at the end of every zone, usually after four regular levels, and facing one in the fifth stage always felt like a proper milestone. I enjoyed learning their patterns and figuring out the safest angles to attack from, and a few of them had some really striking visual moments that made the fights memorable. They are tough in places, but in a way that feels exciting rather than frustrating.
  
  
• Accessibility | Baseless does not offer traditional difficulty settings, but it does include a very generous assist menu. You can turn on things like unlimited revives, a permanent bubble, endless ammo, endless equipment, invincible mode, quad damage and even unlimited oxygen. It gives you plenty of freedom to shape the experience to your comfort level. There is one small catch. If you enable everything at once, the game disables achievements on your current save file. For me, unlimited revives became essential during the busier stages and made the whole experience far more enjoyable without removing the challenge completely.
  
  Outside of assists, the game also includes a strong set of general accessibility options. You can adjust the UI scale, pick a HUD style, lock the camera rotation and toggle damage numbers if you prefer a cleaner screen. Visual comfort is well supported with brightness and gamma sliders, along with the option to disable screen shake, flashes and gore. Audio and feedback can be tuned through separate volume controls and controller vibration settings, and there is an aim assist option if you need a little help lining up shots. The game also supports multiple languages, rounding out a thoughtful set of tools that make Baseless easy to tailor to your needs.

Mixed & disliked!

• Music and Sound | The audio in Baseless sits in an odd place for me. The sound effects are great and do a lot of the heavy lifting, especially during the busier moments when every shot and impact helps you read the action. The background music, on the other hand, never really stuck with me. It is not bad, just forgettable, and I think the game would have benefited from a stronger soundtrack to match its energy. I also found the lack of spoken dialogue a bit of a shame, since a few voiced lines could have added some extra personality. It all works well enough, but it never quite reaches the same highs as the visuals or gameplay.

• Story | Baseless keeps its story simple, and that is probably for the best. There is a basic setup that explains why you are jumping between planets and fighting off waves of energy, but it never tries to be anything deeper. There are no spoken lines or big narrative moments, so most of the storytelling comes from the environments and the way each stage is themed. It does enough to give the action some context, but it is not the kind of game you play for plot. I never felt disappointed by that, but I also never felt pulled in by the world in the way a stronger narrative might have managed.
  
  
• Hub Activities and Objectives | Baseless has a main hub area that you return to between missions. This is where you change equipment, pick upgrades and talk to a few characters who offer optional objectives. The hub also includes several mini games, which range from simple distractions to challenges that can be surprisingly tough to pull off. I enjoyed dipping into these between stages, although the difficulty can feel a little uneven at times.
  
  I also lost more time than I would like to admit trying to complete certain mini games before realising I had not actually unlocked the objective tied to them. The fishing mini game with the hook shot was the biggest culprit. I kept trying to land the achievement, only to discover later that the objective for it was not active yet. Moments like that were a little frustrating, but the hub still adds a nice bit of variety between the main missions.
  
  
• Difficulty Spikes | One thing that stood out to me was how uneven the difficulty could feel at times. There is an early level built around tight corridors, rising hazards and laser‑lined walls, and this was the first point where the challenge suddenly spiked. It is a short section, but it caught me off guard and pushed back harder than anything before it. Much later in the story, the game brings back a similar idea on a much larger scale. You have to navigate long, narrow passages while balls of fire climb upward, and touching one usually knocks you straight into the laser beams. Even with invincibility turned on, hitting those beams still sends you right back to the start of the sequence, which makes the whole thing feel more punishing than the rest of the game. These moments do not ruin the experience, but they definitely tested my patience more than I expected.

How long did I play the review before publishing? 11 Hours
How long to beat the story? 6 Hours
How many Achievements did I earn before publishing? 19/27 OR 800/1000G
How long to achieve 1000G | 15 Hours+
You’ll love this game if you like these | Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet & Gravity Heroes

CONCLUSION

Score: 79/100

Baseless hooked me with its fast combat, varied weapons and satisfying upgrades. Each zone ends with a great-looking boss fight, and the hub adds some fun side activities even if a few mini games and objectives can be a bit uneven. The music and story are light but enjoyable, and while a couple of difficulty spikes caught me off guard, I still had a great time working through its zones and challenges.