Uploaded August 2013 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Full game mode, difficulty impossible.
DIFFICULTY LEVELS: There are three default difficulty levels and three more hidden difficulty levels. Impossible is the easiest unlockable level and imo the last one fun to play. On suicide or LORD difficulty weapons are very ineffective and you don't get to destroy much anything. All the effort instead has to be directed at evading bullet streams. Imo part of the fun is to try and take risks to get high destruct ratings by also using shields/armor to ram enemies.
GAME MODES: At the beginning of episode 5 game switches to "ENGAGE" mode. I believe this happens only on impossible and harder difficulty modes, correct me if I'm wrong. Also, there should be two alternative levels to choose from at episode 5, but are unavailable in this play. ENGAGE mode is a special mode that can be activated at the beginning of the game with codes. In ENGAGE mode there's only a pea shooter as main weapon and additional weapons can be activated by specific key combinations.
At the end of the game I pick one of nine special ships that can be selected at main menu by specific codes. The ship I chose is Experimental PQZ. I use it to play through one of the many alternative bonus levels for which the entrance is found in first level (Tyrian). You can see the secret sphere at 03:54. There's also an artillery style minigame available by typing DESTRUCT at main menu. I forgot to record a clip from it before encoding the video, but it's really not that interesting.
UPGRADES: There's a gazillion of different weapons to choose from in addition to special abilities found in levels. I try to show as many as possible, but few are little short of useless and not that interesting, so couple of weapons are skipped entirely. Ship becomes fully upgraded little too soon because upgrades are too cheap to buy. Especially ship, shield and generator upgrades should be more expensive considering you only use one type of each. The game is relatively too easy at midpoint. Only towards the end it gets harder again when the ship can't be improved further and levels get harder.
SIMILAR GAMES: Tyrian 2K is still the best shooter for PC. There really hasn't been any notable activity in the genre for PC in a long time if not counting Jets'n'Guns which was a pretty decent attempt. However Jets'n'Guns is more similar to side scrolling Stargunner although there is perhaps an intentional reference to ALE minigame in Tyrian (Beer level in Jets'n'Guns). Imo Tyrian could be improved for example by lending ideas from Raptor. Distinguishing weapons effective to only air or ground targets and the ability to change weapon configurations during a level would add to tactical value.
I don't go through DATACUBES. If you wish to read the story (and spam) found in the cubes, you can found it all neatly organized at Tyrian 2000 fanpage. This page also contains lots of useful information about the game such as episode maps and (cheat) codes etc.
http://members.iinet.net.au/~vannevar/tyrian/
PATH: (S) = Secret level (A) = Alternative route
Episode 1: Escape
------------------------
0:01:55 Tyrian
0:06:27 (S) Bubbles
0:08:32 (A) Asteroid 1
0:11:09 (S) Asteroid
0:12:54 (S) Windy
0:14:47 Savara
0:17:40 Bonus
0:19:15 Mines
0:20:06 Delani
0:22:53 Savara V
0:25:44 Assassin
0:28:13 Episode Ending
0:28:57 ALE (minigame)
Episode 2: Treachery
---------------------------
0:36:04 Torm
0:39:31 Gyges
0:42:18 (S) Gem War
0:45:15 Markers
0:47:11 Mistakes
0:49:11 Soh Jin
0:51:47 (A) Botany A
0:54:47 Gryphon
0:57:48 Episode Ending
Episode 3: Mission: Suicide
----------------------------------
0:58:59 Gauntlet
1:00:44 Ixmucane
1:03:23 Bonus
1:06:02 Stargate
1:08:32 (S) Asteroid City
1:12:05 Camanis
1:15:16 Maces
1:17:07 Fleet
1:20:05 Tyrian X
1:22:42 Savara Y
1:25:03 New Deli
1:27:47 Episode Ending
Episode 4: An End to Faith
---------------------------------
1:29:40 Surface
1:32:27 (S) Windy
1:34:18 Lava Run
1:36:13 Core
1:39:10 (S) Side Exit
1:41:07 ?Tunnel?
1:41:43 Ice Exit
1:44:01 (S) Ice Secret
1:46:32 Harvest
1:50:23 Underdeli
1:53:08 Approach
1:55:17 Savara IV
1:57:19 Dread-Not
1:59:38 EyeSpy
2:02:54 Brainiac
2:08:14 Nose Drip
2:10:53 Time War (minigame)
2:14:12 Episode Ending
Episode 5: Hazudra Fodder
-----------------------------------
2:15:22 Asteroids
2:17:01 Miners
2:19:28 Coral
2:22:35 Station
2:24:32 Fruit
2:27:34 Ending
+ Bonus level 'Holes' played with an Experimental PQZ ship (2:30:43)
Developer: Eclipse Software
Publisher: XSIV Games (1999)
mobygames.com/game/tyrian-2000
Full game mode, difficulty impossible.
DIFFICULTY LEVELS: There are three default difficulty levels and three more hidden difficulty levels. Impossible is the easiest unlockable level and imo the last one fun to play. On suicide or LORD difficulty weapons are very ineffective and you don't get to destroy much anything. All the effort instead has to be directed at evading bullet streams. Imo part of the fun is to try and take risks to get high destruct ratings by also using shields/armor to ram enemies.
GAME MODES: At the beginning of episode 5 game switches to "ENGAGE" mode. I believe this happens only on impossible and harder difficulty modes, correct me if I'm wrong. Also, there should be two alternative levels to choose from at episode 5, but are unavailable in this play. ENGAGE mode is a special mode that can be activated at the beginning of the game with codes. In ENGAGE mode there's only a pea shooter as main weapon and additional weapons can be activated by specific key combinations.
At the end of the game I pick one of nine special ships that can be selected at main menu by specific codes. The ship I chose is Experimental PQZ. I use it to play through one of the many alternative bonus levels for which the entrance is found in first level (Tyrian). You can see the secret sphere at 03:54. There's also an artillery style minigame available by typing DESTRUCT at main menu. I forgot to record a clip from it before encoding the video, but it's really not that interesting.
UPGRADES: There's a gazillion of different weapons to choose from in addition to special abilities found in levels. I try to show as many as possible, but few are little short of useless and not that interesting, so couple of weapons are skipped entirely. Ship becomes fully upgraded little too soon because upgrades are too cheap to buy. Especially ship, shield and generator upgrades should be more expensive considering you only use one type of each. The game is relatively too easy at midpoint. Only towards the end it gets harder again when the ship can't be improved further and levels get harder.
SIMILAR GAMES: Tyrian 2K is still the best shooter for PC. There really hasn't been any notable activity in the genre for PC in a long time if not counting Jets'n'Guns which was a pretty decent attempt. However Jets'n'Guns is more similar to side scrolling Stargunner although there is perhaps an intentional reference to ALE minigame in Tyrian (Beer level in Jets'n'Guns). Imo Tyrian could be improved for example by lending ideas from Raptor. Distinguishing weapons effective to only air or ground targets and the ability to change weapon configurations during a level would add to tactical value.
I don't go through DATACUBES. If you wish to read the story (and spam) found in the cubes, you can found it all neatly organized at Tyrian 2000 fanpage. This page also contains lots of useful information about the game such as episode maps and (cheat) codes etc.
http://members.iinet.net.au/~vannevar/tyrian/
PATH: (S) = Secret level (A) = Alternative route
Episode 1: Escape
------------------------
0:01:55 Tyrian
0:06:27 (S) Bubbles
0:08:32 (A) Asteroid 1
0:11:09 (S) Asteroid
0:12:54 (S) Windy
0:14:47 Savara
0:17:40 Bonus
0:19:15 Mines
0:20:06 Delani
0:22:53 Savara V
0:25:44 Assassin
0:28:13 Episode Ending
0:28:57 ALE (minigame)
Episode 2: Treachery
---------------------------
0:36:04 Torm
0:39:31 Gyges
0:42:18 (S) Gem War
0:45:15 Markers
0:47:11 Mistakes
0:49:11 Soh Jin
0:51:47 (A) Botany A
0:54:47 Gryphon
0:57:48 Episode Ending
Episode 3: Mission: Suicide
----------------------------------
0:58:59 Gauntlet
1:00:44 Ixmucane
1:03:23 Bonus
1:06:02 Stargate
1:08:32 (S) Asteroid City
1:12:05 Camanis
1:15:16 Maces
1:17:07 Fleet
1:20:05 Tyrian X
1:22:42 Savara Y
1:25:03 New Deli
1:27:47 Episode Ending
Episode 4: An End to Faith
---------------------------------
1:29:40 Surface
1:32:27 (S) Windy
1:34:18 Lava Run
1:36:13 Core
1:39:10 (S) Side Exit
1:41:07 ?Tunnel?
1:41:43 Ice Exit
1:44:01 (S) Ice Secret
1:46:32 Harvest
1:50:23 Underdeli
1:53:08 Approach
1:55:17 Savara IV
1:57:19 Dread-Not
1:59:38 EyeSpy
2:02:54 Brainiac
2:08:14 Nose Drip
2:10:53 Time War (minigame)
2:14:12 Episode Ending
Episode 5: Hazudra Fodder
-----------------------------------
2:15:22 Asteroids
2:17:01 Miners
2:19:28 Coral
2:22:35 Station
2:24:32 Fruit
2:27:34 Ending
+ Bonus level 'Holes' played with an Experimental PQZ ship (2:30:43)
Developer: Eclipse Software
Publisher: XSIV Games (1999)
mobygames.com/game/tyrian-2000
