Air Hares – Retro Shmup With a Farming Twist

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• DEVELOPER: Wondoro LLC
• PUBLISHER: indie.io
• PLATFORMS: PC
• GENRE: Shmup
• RELEASE DATE: January 14, 2026  
• STARTING PRICE: 8,49€
• REVIEWED VERSION: PC

Air Hares is an unusual take on the classic top-down shooter. At first glance, it presents itself as a retro-inspired bullet-hell game, complete with pixel art visuals, patterned enemy attacks, and fast aerial movement. But beneath that familiar exterior lies a surprisingly original concept: instead of focusing on destruction, Air Hares is fundamentally about restoration. The game blends shmup mechanics with light farming ideas, resulting in an experience that feels both nostalgic and different.

While playing, I kept asking myself: who is this game really for? The answer is fairly clear. If you love top-down shooters, especially games like Star Fox or titles focused on aerial combat, this will be right up your alley. It’s also a great pick if you have a friend or partner to play with, as it includes co-op and is easy to jump into. Air Hares is a fun experience, but very much one aimed at the right audience. There are no bugs, glitches, or strange mechanics to worry about, it’s as straightforward as it gets.

Four Main Stages With Similar Loop

You take on the role of Captain Rabbo, a hare piloting a small aircraft. The objective isn’t simply to survive enemy encounters, but to restore the land by planting and watering carrot fields from the air. Seeds and water are limited resources, forcing you to think carefully about positioning, timing, and route planning while under constant pressure from hostile bird gangs. Enemies attack in recognizable patterns, demanding precise movement and quick reactions.

To defend yourself, Captain Rabbo’s plane can perform barrel rolls, sharp turns, and evasive maneuvers. While it is possible to stun enemies, combat always feels secondary to survival and resource management. When flying over the fields, you can slow the plane to more easily aim at the ground, and if you miss a few spots, you’re free to backtrack and finish the area. The planting system works in a Tetris-like fashion, once you complete a row where carrots were missing, that section is fulfilled and you earn points. Collecting points is essential, as they determine whether you successfully complete a level.

The game is structured into four main stages, each made up of several farming missions that culminate in boss encounters. These boss fights focus more on pattern recognition than raw difficulty. In most cases, you need to time their attacks to stun them before dealing damage. The same applies to regular bird enemies, stunning them causes them to drop feathers, which restore health. Overall, the game isn’t particularly demanding in terms of difficulty. Once you get the hang of its mechanics, it becomes fairly easy to complete, and stunning enemies rarely feels challenging.

That said, I do have some issues I want to address. You can’t directly aim at the ground yourself, instead, you must position your plane at a specific angle (left, right, or forward) which is then indicated by a ground marker. This means you have to act quickly, throwing carrot seeds and water bombs in the correct order or vice-versa to successfully plant an area. The process feels cumbersome, as you never know your exact positioning until the marker appears on the ground. This becomes more frustrating when combined with constant bird attacks and environmental hazards. As a result, your attention is constantly pulled in multiple directions, and it takes time to fully adjust to these mechanics.

Perfect For Players Who Enjoy Classic Shooters

As mentioned before, environmental effects like strong winds or storms slightly change how the plane handles. They add some variety without making the controls more complex, but the core idea always stays the same. There isn’t much gameplay variety overall, and the game does suffer from repetition. Co-op doesn’t greatly alter the game’s structure either, but it does make the experience more fun and approachable, especially for players who enjoy playing together.

On the positive side, the pixel art is clean and easy to read, with colorful characters and clear environments that never get in the way of gameplay, which is very important for the shmup genre. Animations are smooth and feel natural, especially during flight moves and enemy attacks. The soundtrack fits the game well, mixing upbeat flying themes with calmer, almost countryside-like music that supports the game’s focus on healing the land and moving forward.

By focusing more on growing and restoring rather than pure destruction, Air Hares offers a softer take on arcade action, making it suitable for younger players as well. The game isn’t very long, but the story mode can always be replayed in Arcade mode without starting from scratch. While it has some interesting ideas, I really wish there was an endless mode or something similar to provide a stronger challenge. Still, for players who enjoy classic shooters and want something with more meaning, Air Hares is a memorable experience that’s worth taking to the skies.

Review copy provided by the publisher