Project ZX

Step back in time and dive into a shoot ’em up adventure that celebrates the golden era of the ZX Spectrum with Project ZX, a free indie game developed by Richard Langford of Langford Productions for Windows and Mac that puts you in control of a tiny fighter jet tasked with stopping Sir Clive Sinclair’s revenge on the very machines he once envisioned as educational tools.

Set in 1982, at the height of the Spectrum’s success in the UK, the game imagines a furious Sir Clive Sinclair realizing his beloved computer is mostly used for “mindless games.” In a fit of rage, he hacks all ZX Spectrums worldwide, unleashing the sprites and enemies from classic games into the real world. Your mission: pilot your fighter, shrink and pixelate to infiltrate these rogue computers, and restore order to the chaotic 8-bit universe.

Released in 2017, Project ZX is a loving tribute to the Spectrum aesthetic, featuring from scanlines on the intro boot screen to the pixel-perfect recreation of classic sprites. There’s also music, visuals, and playful meta-humor that combine to create an experience that is at once nostalgic and refreshingly inventive. Project ZX is free to download and play on Windows PCs. Although a labor of love by Langford, donations are encouraged to support further development and remakes of other Spectrum-related projects.

You can get this free game here!

Trailer

Gameplay

Project ZX offers 13 main levels filled with waves of enemies, nostalgic graphics, and authentic Spectrum music. Players navigate a world made of ZX Spectrum computers, peripherals, microdrives, and ROM chips, facing off against sprites from over 100 classic titles, including Dizzy, Jet Pac, RoboCop, Horace Goes Skiing, and Trapdoor.

Controls are fully customizable, with the default setup using the arrow keys for movement and CTRL for firing. Hold the fire button to unleash a charged mega-blast capable of clearing the screen. Checkpoints ensure a fair progression, and power-ups grant additional lives, up to a maximum of nine.

The game features a progress screen, allowing players to view a library of all discovered Spectrum games, complete with original cassette inlays, screenshots, and level music — a nostalgic museum for retro enthusiasts. Hidden bonus levels and secret cheat codes add exploration and replayability values.

Each level pays homage to the ZX Spectrum era, with themed worlds such as Ocean World, Bug-Byte World, and US Gold World — nods to the publishers who defined the Spectrum library. Beyond the main stages, a secret bonus level and numerous easter eggs await players willing to explore every corner.

About the game

Anyone who ever owned a Sinclair ZX Spectrum is going to love this.

Blast your way through13 levels of retro action featuring the sights and sounds of over 100 classic ZX Spectrum games.

Sir Clive is furious that his beloved educational computer is being used for nothing but mindless games. In a fit of revenge he has hacked into every machine out there and turned those very games against you.

First fight your way over a landscape of Spectrum computers and peripherals before pixellating your ship and fighting the game sprites themselves. Can you defeat Sir Clive and revert your Spectrum back into the fun gaming machine it always was?