Armalyte: The Remake (PC)

Armalyte: The Remake was originally published by Psytronik Software in 2010. As part of our efforts to preserve legacy titles from Thalamus' past, the game has been updated to support Windows 10 & 11.

THE FAST LANE TO HELL...

Two hundred years ago war broke out between the H'Siffian Khanate and the Terran Empire, after it was proven the H'siffians were responsible for acts of piracy.  Earth finally won after 50 years of conflict.  Things were in a mess, but out of the ashes  ARMALYTE INDUSTRIES emerged and seized power.

Five years ago, a space patrol stumbled into appeared to be an abandoned H'siffian research outpost.  Armalyte Industries established a research base on the ruins of the old H'siffian outpost where scientists were accompanied by only a token force of light armour because H'siffian resistance was low.

Four months ago Armalyte industries received a message that the scientists were on the verge of a massive breakthrough, but shortly afterwards all contact was lost with the outpost. Communications haven't been re-established since, and no patrol can get near the place.  This suggests the outpost has been overrun by invading forces.

According to transmissions received just before the loss of contact, the H'siffians had made a similar breakthrough to that of AI's scientists.  They had discovered a power source of near-infinite potential, but they weren't ready to tap the source. AI have decided to hire independent fighting forces to disguise their military involvement - for such risky manoeuvres would surely alert their clients around the galaxy and seriously damage their business reputation.

Your mission is enter H'siffian controlled space and reclaim the outpost.  According to intelligence, much of the surrounding  area of space is under H'siffian control;  be careful out there!

The H'siffians, utilising the resources at the base have an almost limitless supply of ships and   firepower far more advanced than our own.  To counter this we can equip you with state-of-the-art weaponry and the very latest in military transport. We will be on hand to ferry replacement craft although your ships are expensive and supply is short.

To get the ship into H'siffian controlled space, it has to be stripped of all heavy weaponry.  But throughout the deep space battlefield there are munition pods (crystal-like formations in space) to collect. These provide the ship with a massive energy surge activating the inner-built shield rendering you invulnerable for a while.  

For more information about the game, please refer to the scanned instructions included in the downloads.

CONTROLS

ARMALYTE can be controlled either by using the keyboard or controller.

• The player controls can be modified via the OPTIONS / PLAYER ONE and PLAYER TWO CONTROLS menu. 
• You can also modify how the SUPER WEAPONS are fired via the OPTIONS / IN-GAME OPTIONS menu.  This will allow you to either fire your SUPER WEAPONS using the NEW mode which lets you allocate the SUPER WEAPONS their own fire button - or you can use CLASSIC mode which will fire the SUPER WEAPONS by holding down fire (the same as the original C64 version).
• During the game press ESC for PAUSE MENU.  From here you can RESUME GAME, QUIT TO MENU or EXIT GAME (which will end the game completely ).

Please note that any changes you make to the controls will be saved when you exit the game.

SHIP ENHANCEMENTS

Continually shooting the crystal-like munitions pods provides the ship with weaponry, the more shots the pod takes the better the weapon received. In two-player mode additional pods appear, providing enough power for both fighters.  If you're fighting alone there is a remote unit which fires as you do, and follows your every move unless you detach it from your ship.

• MUNITIONS POD: Collecting a pod without shooting it will add a shield that makes the ship invulnerable for five seconds (ship flashes). 
• EXTRA FORWARD FIRE: At the start of each level you have two forward shots which can be increased to four.
• TAIL FIRE: Gives the craft a formation of backward-firing bullets.
• VERTICAL CANNON: Adds vertical fire to your arsenal.
• TRIDENT: Enables two flanking guns to complement your main weapon.
• CONVERGE: Adds two more shots to the main guns by diverting them from the tail gun (if you have one!) and two extra fore gun enhancements are needed.
• GENERATOR: Collecting this will make the super weapon recharge faster.
• BATTERY: Adds one extra energy storage cell to your craft (maximum of four). Each stores six charges.  For use by the superweapons at the required time.

SUPER WEAPONS

Both ships have three super weapons, selected by either player via the super-weapon select. They are fired by either holding down the fire button for a few seconds (in CLASSIC mode) or by pressing the super-weapon fire button.

When fired they use up energy, which is supplied by the ships on-board generator system.  This, on its own, stores six energy charges, and once fired you have to wait until the generator builds up to full power again. If, however, you have some batteries, the energy is dumped to an available battery and can be used later.

• TYPE A: Discharges a long sustained blast, which passes through solid matter and destroys aliens or installations otherwise impossible to destroy. This weapon uses two charges to fire and has a low availability.
• TYPE B: Releases a swarm of laser fire around the craft, protecting you from two directions. One charge per blast, medium availability.
• TYPE C: Fires a rapid burst of pulsed energy, ideal for close encounters in any environment. One charge per blast; very high availability.

THE REMOTE

In one-player mode, the second ship is replaced by an automatic remote drone. This follows you and can act as a shield against most enemy shots. It can also be detached from your craft (press remote button), and glides along its own trajectory until you recall it (press remote button again).

CREDITS & ACKNOWLDGEMENTS

CYBERDYNE SYSTEMS
Original C64 game

S-A-S DESIGNS
PC Remake

STU COLLIER
Programming

TREV STOREY
Graphics & Design

CHRIS BAILEY
Music & SFX 

MARTIN WALKER
Original Music

JASON MACKENZIE
Production

OLI FREY
Original Cover Artwork

RUNNING THE GAME

The Armalyte ZIP file contains numerous .EXE files:

• Armalyte (the game)
• Jukebox (the music)
• Mix-E-Load (the, er, Mix-E-Load)

COMPATIBILITY

Armalyte: The Remake is presented as a standalone executable for PCs running Windows 10 or 11.

© 1987-2026 Thalamus Digital Publishing, Ltd.