Drainus is a side-scrolling arcade shooter developed by WSS playground, released in 2022 for PC and Nintendo Switch. Players pilot the Drainus, a stolen cutting-edge fighter ship originally belonging to the oppressive Kharlal Empire, through waves of enemy spacecraft. The central mechanic is the Reflector system, which temporarily absorbs incoming energy projectiles and converts them into counterattacks, with the scale of retaliation proportional to the amount of fire absorbed. Stored energy can also be spent upgrading the ship's weapons and other functions. The game follows Irina, a slave on the planet Halpax whose father is afflicted with Planetary Compatibility Disorder and must reach Earth to survive. A time-traveling frog-like humanoid named Gehnie arrives warning of a future galactic war in which the Kharlal Empire destroys over 5,000 planets, and recruits Irina to help prevent it. Notable characters include Irina's sister Layla, a Kharlal Empire commander, and Izumo, the Empire's Governor-General.
The Planet Halpax is located in the far reaches of space, suffering from the oppressive rule of the Kharlal Empire. One of the slaves residing there is battling an illness. He must return home to the faraway planet of Earth to be cured of the disease, known as "Planetary Compatibility Disorder".His daughter, also a slave, is both devastated by her father's illness and helpless to do anything about it. At that moment, a humanoid named Ghenie, who looks strangely like a frog, appears and says, "I have come from 50 years in the future. A galactic war is about to break out, in which more than 5000 planets will be annihilated by the Kharlal Empire. I have come to this time period to stop that war and the oppressive rule of the Kharlal Empire. I need your help." Why me? What can I do? Irina had no idea what was going on, but her father's illness was worsening by the minute. With no time to hesitate and nowhere else to turn, she takes Gehnie's green hand and sets off... Now she has begun her journey into a universe filled with the armies of the Kharlal Empire, and her quest to reach her distant home planet while taking the Empire down once and for all.
