terabient

I got a few games during Steam's Lunar New Year sale, despite having an enormous backlog of games already and a dwindling budget. At least this time, I actually played them instead of letting them sit uninstalled in my library forever. Some thoughts:

Strange Telephone


Okay, this wasn't actually part of the sale, but I did have a coupon for it that was about to expire. Strange Telephone is a pixel adventure game where you play as Jill, a girl who wakes up locked in a strange room. A floating, living phone named Graham serves as her only method of leaving the room: by dialing any six digit number, Jill can connect to a random "world" which may or may not have something that will help her escape to her own world.

The creator cites Yume Nikki as a direct inspiration for Strange Telephone, and while they share the same pixelated, eerie-cute aesthetic and gameplay that focuses on finding items and using them to interact with the strange worlds you encounter, Strange Telephone is more directed and linear than Yume Nikki, and less unsettling as well. It's also much smaller in scope; even though the potential number combinations you can call exceed 3 million, there are only 10 or so world 'templates' available, and each world is the size of a single screen length. (Exiting the world by walking off screen sends you to another number based on what your initial dial, i.e. if you dialed 222222, then walked off-screen right, you'd be in world 222223. I called about 7 numbers (2 given to you at the start of the game, then 5 numbers from my IRL address book) and between them I managed to see every generic world within an hour. The variety comes from the creatures and interactable items you find within each world, but there are not a lot of characters or items either so the fun that comes from exploring wears out quickly.

Being an adventure/escape the room game, there are a fair amount of puzzles. Unfortunately, they're not done particularly well; the clues given are pretty vague (if any are given at all) and a lot of puzzles lead to alternate endings and thus end up being self-contained--having absolutely no bearing on solving the major puzzle of the game, unlocking the door in your room. Thankfully, it's easy enough to brute-force most puzzles just by using your entire inventory on any object or character you come across. Eventually something will happen.

I ended up clearing the game in about 4 hours (11 endings, all items, completed library) and while it was an enjoyable game I probably won't be returning to it again.

....and I was going to write more, but I'm falling asleep at my desk so I'll continue tomorrow.

The Steam winter sale is almost done (it ends January 3rd), and i probably should have done this sooner, but here is a list of all the shmups I have played, their sale price, and my extremely biased thoughts on which ones are worth getting and which ones are not. d^_^b

Cream of the Crop

Danmaku Unlimited 2 ($0.99) - A straightfoward shmup with a beautiful esoteric soundtrack, a clean, minimalist graphic style and mechanics that are easy to grasp and connect in such a way that it's relatively easy to survive if that's what you focus on, but requires a high-risk, high reward approach for high scores.

Crimzon Clover ($1.99) A shmup classic and one that's frequently recommended by people who haven't obsessively played everything in the genre. Simple in the sense that gameplay boils down to "kill these waves of blisteringly fast enemies before they kill you," made difficult through brilliant enemy placement, variety and fiendish bullet patterns. Excellent boss design; the Stage 3 boss is one of my favorite fights in any game.

Trouble Witches Origin ($4.99) I cannot speak objectively about this game: it's probably my favorite shmup of all time. A horizontal cute 'em up where you control magical girls instead of ships, with a heavy emphasis on bullet cancelling rather than dodging. Has a large selection of characters to choose from, with very distinct ways of playing each one due to differences in shot type, familiars (a permanent 'option' that isnt' directly controlled) and magic barriers (the thing you use to cancel bullets). A little anemic on modes but the ones that exist (arcade/story, time attack and boss rush) are all very different from one another. For some reason has a rather robust storyline with a lot of cute art and an atrocious translation that makes everything hilarious whether it's intentional or not.

Ikaruga ($4.99) Another classic shmup. Has a "polarity" mechanic where you become immune to one type of bullet and you must switch frequently between types to get through patterns; doesn't feel like anything else in the genre. Rewards a more methodical approach compared to the pace of most shmups, so while it's not easy it's more approachable to those turned off by the twitchiness of more frenetic bullet hells.

Deathsmiles ($7.99) This is...another horizontal cute 'em up with magical girls instead of ships. It's quite possibly CAVE's (a legendary shmup developer) most popular release. Has a creepy/cute gothic lolita aesthetic and soundtrack. Notable for having a non-linear stage progression and the ability to set the difficulty on a per-stage basis, excluding the extra and final stages. This release has several modes with different mechanics, with some featuring an extra character and stage.

Worth your time

Hurricane of the Varstray ($1.99) Made by the same developers as Trouble Witches, this is a vertical shmup that takes on an edgy sci-fi look. Suffers the same awful translation as Trouble Witches, but the ~edgy quality leads to some truly spectacular turns of phrase (there's a lot of very bizarre swearing and insulting that goes on). Like Trouble Witches, you're expected to cancel bullets rather than weave through them; in fact, it's literally impossible to dodge patterns after a certain point as the enemies and their bullets literally fill every inch of the screen for the vast majority of the levels. Instead of dodging, you fill up a super meter that sets off a screen clearing laser, which charges up another meter that temporarily turns your ship invincible and allows you to ram into literally everything for points. Timing your laser/invincibility use to coincide with the heaviest waves of enemies is where the difficulty lies. It's also pretty grueling at 12 stages with a second loop on top of that, so it's not suitable for short play sessions, although there is a Caravan mode included.

Diadra Empty ($2.99) An arena shmup heavily remincient of Defender, you play as a young girl searching for her sister with her dragon friend. Has a level-up mechanic where you can purchase different upgrades in between stages such as extra options, faster shield recharging, greater speed, etc. Stages are cleared by surviving for a set amount of time, then killing the boss that appears. I have the Amazon release, and the Steam release was apparently riddled with bugs on launch, though it appears a patch has fixed that issue.

RefRain -prism memories- ($7.49) This is another shmup that eschews dodging for cancelling mechanics; at higher difficulty levels, bullet patterns are deliberately designed to be impossible to weave through. Using bombs converts enemies into prisms that charge your bullet-cancelling weapon, and proper use of bombs and bullet cancelling can wipe out bosses within a second. Has a cyberpunkish plot that influences the presentation in a unique way (the idea is that you're hacking into some kind of database and each character has her own user interface/operating system(I think?). One of the few shmups where the story isn't an afterthought or complete nonsense.

Mushihimesama ($7.99) Vertical shooter that offers several different modes of varying difficulty levels and altered scoring mechanics. Normal is a straightforward "kill everything, don't die" affair, Manic and Ultra modes have a more complex scoring system that revolves around collecting gems to increase the points received on killing an enemy, and the Arrange/Version 1.5 modes add even more changes. Stages and sprites are beautiful and unlike any other shmup on the market; you play as the titular "Bug Princess" travelling through forests, deserts and mountains in order to find the God of the Kouju, the giant bugs you happen to be shooting down (but also serves as your mount and options). Infamous for having a bullet pattern so difficult it took 13 years to figure out how to survive it.

ESCHATOS (Wonder pack with Judgement Silversword and Cardinal Sins) ($12.99) While it's possible to purchase ESCHATOS and Judgement Silversword/Cardinal Sins separately, there's no reason not to buy them together; ESCHATOS is a semi-3D spiritual successor to Judgement Silversword, one of the last games released for the Wonderswan system, and playing both offers a nice contrast in how perspective can alter otherwise identical mechanics. ESCHATOS offers a time attack mode where you have a limited amount of time to clear level checkpoints and various actions will increase or decrease the time you have left. Both JSS and ESCHATOS have simple, understandable mechanics and don't feel as punishing as other shmups, although I wouldn't call either of them easy.

Wait on it these are good games, but you can probably wait for another price drop

BULLET SOUL and BULLET SOUL INFINITE BURST ($5.99 each) For some reason, Bullet Soul and Infinite Burst are separate releases on Steam, while the 360 release (the version I own) has both Bullet Soul and Infinite Burst in a single package. Bullet Soul vanilla is a mediocre game; it has very little in the way of gameplay that elevates it from 'shoot things before they shoot you' beyond the bizarre choice to cancel an enemy's bullet pattern upon their death. This makes things forgiving to the point of dullness for significant portions of the game. The secondary modes like Caravan, Score Attack and Version B are more enjoyable but it's hard to recommend a game when the main mode is so boring. Infinite Burst is essentially an Arrange mode that adds a coin-collecting mechanic where coins bounce up from the bottom of the screen before floating away at the top; letting coins disappear lowers your score. Bombs are replaced with a super-shot mode that is charged by collecting coins, and instead of extends there is a shield system in place. Infinite Burst is a much better game, but it's also devoid of secondary modes due the split release. So uh, idk wait until they're bundled or something?

DoDonPachi Resurrection ($14.99) The most accessible of CAVE's legendarily difficult DoDonPachi series, this is...still a hard game. Comes with a plethora of arranged/reworked modes in addition to the base game, which itself can be a massive time sink with multiple loops with strict requirements to access them. Scoring revolves around keeping a combo counter constantly active by either killing stuff or having your focus shot on an enemy; the counter resets very quickly if you aren't hitting something. Unique to this installment is a laser beam system where you can push back enemy lasers with your ship's focus shot; this leads to some brutal laser-grids-overlapped-with-bullet-waves sections in later levels. A great game if you don't mind the steep learning curve to become remotely proficient, but I find it hard to recommend at $15 when Deathsmiles and Mushihimesama are both below $10.

DARIUSBURST Chronicle Saviors ($24.99) The latest, and possibly, last release in the long-running DARIUSBURST series, this game has like a bajillion different modes, 9 ships with distinct, unique mechanics (and even more available as DLC) fantastic boss design and a eerie, beautiful soundtrack that stands out in a genre where a good soundtrack is practically a requirement. It is, in fact, so stuffed with content (which explains its high base price tag) that it becomes a little overwhelming: I've only played the arcade mode and cannot tell you much of anything about other modes. Arcade mode itself is quite robust; instead of a fixed level progression there are branching paths after each stage cleared and the boss you face at the end is determined by the route you picked. As a series that began in the 80s it features many of the design choices that defined shmups from that era--horizontal scrolling, several weapon types that you upgrade by collecting powerups, and tends to fill the screen with environmental hazards and varied enemy spawns instead of curtains of bullets. Has a "burst" system where you charge up a laser that can be shot and directed in several directions while your ship stays in a fixed position; against bosses, you can "intercept" their laser attacks by activating your own just before the opposing laser hits, which leads to enormous damage and can wipe out bosses quickly if you're willing to to take the risk. There's actually nothing bad and a lot that's good about DBCS; if you're a fan of older style shmups like Gradius it's worth buying even at this price, given that this is the lowest it's ever been. Still, it's significantly more than literally every other shmup on Steam, so a bit hard to recommend in that respect.

Not recommended for various reasons, i didn't enjoy these

QP Shooting Dangerous!! ($2.39) I played this very intensely for about a week then dropped it and I've never felt the need to revisit it. Not especially bad just kind of generic. There is only one character but there are a lot of option formations available but that's about all I remember.

Redux: Dark Matters ($2.59) This is R-Type stripped down to the absolute basic mechanics. Uninspired level design, some okay-ish bosses. Tends to be really easy OR obnoxiously difficult as the higher difficulty level just takes away some of your resources. Weird sound design that sometimes makes it hard to tell if you're hitting something or absorbing stuff with your bit, so dumb, unexpected deaths do occur.

XIIZEAL ($5.99) Vertical shmup that has a side-shot mechanic that you access by rapidly wiggling your ship from side-to-side. You're supposed to wiggle your analog or arcade stick to wiggle the ship, but in the PC release you can bind that to a button. The side-shot and enemy spawn patterns encourage you to use more of the screen real estate than most shmups but gameplay is pretty standard besides that. Has well-crafted sprites but the design is standard sci-fi military stuff.

Astebreed ($9.99) I played this for about 30 minutes and for the life of me I cannot remember anything about the experience beyond "I didn't like it." Uh, you pilot mechas instead of ships and I think meleeing enemies is involved?