DRAINUS
Worth it · Shooter · 2022
Steam Deck VerifiedThe verdict
BUY IT.
Worth it at $14.99, a BANGER if it drops to $6.82.
- Length
- 2.7h
- Value
- $5.55/hr
- Reviews
- 96% positive
Buy now or wait
The Autumn Sale is on until Oct 8. It is at full price today.
Discounted in 7 of its last 8 seasonal sales on record.
- Autumn Sale cooldown
- None on record
- Typical seasonal cut
- 30% ($10.49)
- Deepest seasonal cut
- 50% ($7.49)
- Last discount ended
- 8 days ago
Sources: IsThereAnyDeal, Valve.
Watch this gameOne alert when it is worth buying.
Minimum on the Steam store: 4 GB of memory, Open GL compliant video card, 205 MB of storage. Windows only.
This is a side-scrolling shooting game in which you take control of the "Drainus", the Kharlal Empire's most cutting-edge fighter with the ability to absorb energy bullets, and take down the enemy ships zipping through space.
What drives the score
How to read this
Grades run S to D, read from the buyer's side. ▲ marks a lift, ▼ a drag or a dock, ? an input we do not have, • a fact this genre's score does not use. How the grades work
The value story
The lowest price on record is $7.49, set in September 2025. It has been discounted 34 times in the 4 years tracked here, typically at 30 percent off, with about 6 weeks between sales. Today it is at full price, and its last discount ended 8 days ago. $6.82 is what it would take to make this a BANGER, and nothing in its history goes that low.
On value it sits in the top 15 percent of its genre. It is better reviewed than 94 percent of its genre. Among the games that feel like it, Bleed ($4.99, scores 86) beats it on value, while it beats Blazing Chrome ($16.99, scores 55).
Critics scored it 81. Players sit 15 points higher at 96 percent, which usually means a game that plays better than it reviews.
1 of the 343 Steam-purchase reviews sampled here comes from a buyer who refunded the game, sampled from reviews written May 2022 to September 2026. Inside the two-hour refund window, 91 percent of the 255 reviews written there were positive, against 96 percent overall, and those are 23 percent of everything written about it.
It carries Valve's Deck Verified rating and runs 2.7 hours, about as long as a handheld game wants to be.
The drop-off
96% start to 9% rarestNo achievement in this game marks the ending, so there is no finish rate. The curve runs from the most-unlocked achievement to the rarest, and its shape is where players stop. Steam global achievements
Players
2 players online when we last checked, on Oct 1, 06:50 UTC.
Player counts from the Steam Web API.
What players say
This game is the "anomaly" of Team Ladybug, as it's their only title to date not belonging to the Metroidvania genre (and even before the team proper was formed, the engine was also used for Pharaoh Rebirth ). It's also their first time not using an already existing IP. It was apparently a passion project, released the very moment it was announced. And most importantly, it's excellent. Of course, right from the...
Overall, quite fun. I tend to prefer vertical STG to horizontal ones, but this one is a good time. The graphics are fantastic, it's got a pretty fun story, and it's very, very accessible -- easily cleared it on my first run through. I think that it suffers a bit by the sheer variety of powerups, but it's also clearly not going for an arcade experience (can save between levels, etc). Not one I'm driven to replay...
Very epic. If you happen to be the perfect audience like I am: - Plays shmups for chilling and entertainment rather than high score or 1-cc - Appreciates gorgeous pixel art-powered visual spectacles - Willing to engage with interesting mechanics - Not fretted by hardcore perfection in balancing and design You are in for a treat.
Steam reviews, mixed to match its Steam ratio and rotated daily. Opinions are theirs.
Cite this score
DRAINUS scores 70/100 on the BANG Score (worth it) as of Oct 2, 2026. The BANG Score rates what a game is worth for the money. Via Steam BANGERS. https://steambangers.com/game/1975360/drainusReviews set the ceiling, and price against real length moves the BANG Score inside it. How it works, and where it is weak → Steam reviews as of Sep 27, price as of Oct 1.
A number here look wrong? Tell me and I will check the inputs.