- Tight gameplay and fair difficulty.
- Abundant content and unlockables.
- Unique and varied boss fights.
- Excellent roguelike progression system.
- Gorgeous and charming art style.
- Repetitive gameplay, excessive grinding.
Verdict
Mostly positive
Summary
Positive 98% · Negative 2%. Score: 2 / 100
Positives:
- The game features tight, polished gameplay, crucial for the bullet hell/shooter genre. It offers a well-handled difficulty curve, making it approachable for beginners while still challenging experienced players. The controls are responsive, and the hitboxes are fair, contributing to a satisfying and engaging experience.
- The game is praised for its substantial content, including numerous unlockables, achievements, and game modes. The progression system is well-balanced, providing a constant stream of rewards and encouraging players to explore different strategies and challenges. This keeps the gameplay fresh and engaging, with players constantly discovering new content and mechanics.
- The game features a large and diverse roster of bosses, each with unique attack patterns and mechanics. These bosses are available across various difficulty levels, allowing players to gradually learn their behavior and develop effective strategies. The boss designs are excellent, making each fight interesting and rewarding.
- The game is lauded for its well-designed roguelike progression, offering a unique experience with tough choices that make each run possible. Runs are fast, averaging 10-15 minutes, unlike other roguelikes that can take upwards of an hour. The game is considered one of the best roguelikes in the genre.
- The game features a gorgeous art style and direction, giving a surreal and unique feel to the game. The visuals are often described as beautiful and charming, contributing to an immersive and emotionally engaging experience. The art style is a big highlight for many reviewers.
Negatives:
- The game's repetitive gameplay loop, combined with excessive grinding for unlocks and progression, leads to monotony and a lack of meaningful variety. Players find themselves repeating the same content without significant changes to the core experience, making it difficult to stay invested long-term. The quickplay mode exacerbates the grind.
- The game's story is frequently criticized for being disjointed, confusing, and unengaging. Reviewers found the narrative disconnected from the gameplay, making it difficult to invest in the characters or the overall plot. Some reviewers also noted that the story felt incomplete, likely due to the game's early access status.
- Several reviewers expressed discomfort with the game's character designs, citing issues with nudity and suggestive art styles. This content was seen as misaligned with the game's genre and themes, creating an awkward or off-putting experience for some players.
- Some reviewers found that the bullets blend into the background, making it difficult to see and dodge them. This issue is exacerbated by the pixelated art style and similar color palettes, leading to frustrating and unfair deaths.
- The reviewer suggests that the number of panic attacks (blanks) a player can have at once should be capped, or a system to make them disappear if there are too many for too long.
Gameplay:
- The game features multiple modes, including a story mode and a quickplay mode where players can select bosses and difficulty levels. The story mode unlocks content for quickplay, creating interconnected gameplay and offering varied ways to experience the game.
- Bosses have unique attack patterns that change based on their level and the game's difficulty. Enemies are composed of multiple parts, each with its own health bar, and destroying parts changes enemy behavior and resistances, adding strategic depth to combat.
- The game is a blend of bullet hell and roguelike genres, where players control a heart-shaped character that shoots heart bullets to defeat enemies. It combines intense dodging and shooting mechanics with randomized runs and permanent upgrades, offering a unique twist on both genres.
- The game emphasizes horizontal progression, focusing on player knowledge and strategic choices rather than raw stats. Players unlock and reveal information about monsters and upgrades, allowing for informed decisions and a continuously evolving understanding of the game mechanics.
- The game features a dynamic difficulty system where players can choose to fight higher-level bosses for greater rewards and challenges. Optional challenges and a karma system add further depth, rewarding skillful play with better gifts and secret encounters.
Performance:
- The game is well-optimized, runs smoothly, and is polished with few to no bugs. It also works well on the Steam Deck, with good controller and keyboard support, and has quick loading times.
- The game's sound effects are well-received, enhancing the overall gaming experience. This contributes positively to the game's atmosphere and player immersion.
- Some players have reported minor audio crackling, potentially related to using Proton. This issue appears to be infrequent and may not affect all users.
Recommendations:
- The game is overwhelmingly recommended as a must-buy, especially for fans of roguelites and bullet hells, with many reviewers calling it a hidden gem and one of the best in its genres. Reviewers highlight the game's high replayability, engaging content, and overall value, often stating that it's worth more than its price. Some reviewers express that the game is one of the best they've ever played.
- The game is lauded for its excellent design, mechanics, and engaging bullet patterns, making it a standout title in the shmup genre. It's considered a great entry point for newcomers and a solid experience for veterans, with some comparing it favorably to classics like Gradius 3. Some reviewers recommend it as a practice tool for bullet hells.
- Reviewers suggest that if the game's concept or visuals are appealing, it's worth trying, especially if on sale. This is a general recommendation based on initial impressions.
- Reviewers express strong anticipation for future updates and story content, indicating a desire for more from the developer. This suggests a positive reception to the existing content and a belief in the game's potential.
- Reviewers describe the game as a passion project and interactive art, encouraging support for the developer's work. This highlights the personal and artistic nature of the game's creation.
Miscellaneous:
- The game is in early access but receives frequent updates from a solo developer. Despite being in development for several years, the game continues to be updated with new content and features, showing strong developer support.
- The game is primarily developed by a single person, which is impressive considering the amount of content and ongoing updates. This highlights the developer's dedication and passion for the project.
- The game explores themes of overcoming depression and loneliness through love, set in a world where monsters forget everything daily. The story revolves around a young woman using love to eliminate the fears of monsters and stop the rain.
- The game contains artistic nudity featuring alien-like characters, with an option to censor it. Some reviewers did not find the nudity to be sexualized.
- The reviewer recommends using a gamepad for optimal control due to the character's 360-degree flight capabilities. This suggests that the game's control scheme is better suited for a gamepad.
