Recent reviews by zetto156

This is the TouHou Project fangame game that made me "get" TouHou. Very fun bullet hell game with a cinematic flair. The practice mode is really useful for learning the phases of the bosses, and overcoming these stages that seemed impossible is immensely gratifying.

As much as I like the PC release, I wish it had the enhancements of the arcade port - which is how I found it in the first place. The EXA Arcade port seems to be a higher resolution (this release is limited to 720p) and has full voice over. I would be really nice for the PC release to get some of those enhancements. Finally the translation can be a little rough, it could have used a native english speaker reviewing the text, but it's fine.

Note that on both my PC and Steam Deck, I had to use Steam Input to map the controls to the controller buttons. If you select the controller option none of the buttons work and the player character will just try to drift up to the top left of the screen. Be sure to select "none" on the launcher when you open the game. I went with:
- Arrow Keys > Map to D-Pad directions; map D-Pad to left analog stick
- Z (shoot) -> A button
- X (bomb) -> right shoulder
- Shift (slow + focus shot) -> X button
- Esc (Pause) -> Start button

Enjoy!

It's like everything I like about Persona, without the stuff I don't like about Persona, in an intriguing fantasy world with mysterious connections to our own. Barely started it and I think it's easily my 2024 GOTY. Will update when I play more of it.

After pumping many, many quarters into Infinos EXA at a local arcade, I finally picked up the Steam version of the original release, Infinos Gaiden. In both releases, you get a tight shmup with beautiful pixel work and parallax scrolling environments. All the mech designs are excellent, and some of the effects work is surprising and very memorable. The music is also remarkable. Clearly inspired by the classics of the 90s, and executing that with the design philosophy and technology of today, this game plays the way those legendary titles felt in your memory.

Gaiden lacks the enhancements of EXA, most obviously the alternate ships and changes to bosses. Some bullet patterns are different, and it's also lacking the arranged soundtrack. That being said, it does have some features that EXA lacks - the options menu allows you to increase or decrease the dificulty (EASY, ARCADE, HARD), and further fine tune how forgiving the experience is by setting the total number of continues (credits) your run will have. There's also a challenge mode, which after you've cleared a stage once, allows you to go back and replay specific stages to try for a high score. Great for practicing as you work toward a 1CC.

Be aware that the technical settings for the game are tucked in an alternate launcher than Steam will prompt you for (Game Editor). Here you can change your default keys, if the game launches windowed or fullscreen, the default scaling for windowed mode, toggle a CRT filter effect, toggle "timer sync" (vsync?), and set volume levels.

This game also runs perfectly out of the box on the Steam Deck. I suggest hotkeying R (resets the game, as you cannot exit to the main menu during gameplay without intentionally getting a game over) and Enter (toggles Fullscreen, just in case).

If there's one problem for me with this release, it's that Steam Cloud is not available. If you're playing it on both a PC and a Steam Deck like I am, having progress on the challenges and scoreboard not be available in both places is a bummer. I doubt this functionality is ever enabled. Hopefully, someday, they will release EXA for PC.

All in all, this is a great release, and worth checking out if you enjoy a good arcade shmup.

Zero Ranger is the embodiment of what I love about video games.

A much better game than its sequel, it's baffling and sad that this game will be pulled from sale because people in suits can't sign some license papers. Runs great on the Steam Deck.

Unbelievably polished for an early access title, Hades II is shaping up to be everything I would have wanted from a sequel to one of the most beloved games of the last decade. Everyone at Supergiant are firing on all cylinders here. The game already looks wonderful, plays great, and having fresh Darren Korb music in my ears is a delight.

Steam Deck performance is flawless - locked at 90fps on the OLED.

I thought this would be a very limited experience but its very feature rich, even story is presented here already. The only bits that make it obvious it's in Easy Access are some placeholder assets (character portraits) and that there will surely be more dialogue as it develops.

If you're looking forward to this game I wholeheartedly recommend picking it up now in Early Access and supporting its development. Support Indies!

I've played through and beaten this game twice now (first time on xbox gamepass, second time now on steam) and I enjoyed it just as much the second time as the first. I 100%ed it in just under ten hours, and it took me right about 8 to beat. This is great for me, as a person who appreciates games that are short enough to beat and replay. Not everything needs to be 100 hours long.

If you are familiar with Record of Lodoss War you will get even more out of this, though familiarity with the property is not necessary to enjoy it.

Wonderful pixel art (and strongly inspired by Castlevania:SotN), good music, satisfying combat, several different zones that each have their own identity... the only thing I could even ask for is MORE, like the expansion update that Touhou Luna Nights (another game by this developer) received. While it's a bummer that it won't be getting any additional content, what is here is really nice, and I recommend it.

SONY HAS BEEN SERVED A STRONG HELPING OF DEMOCRACY

WE DIVE TOGETHER! FOR DEMOCRACY!!!

It's really nice to see a developer really thoughtfully consider all the feedback from their first attempt and factor that into the sequel. OT2 really clicks for me in a way the original didn't. Everything that was great about the original is back, but the characters have a lot more characterization, and they actually interact with each other. The stories are more interesting in my view.

Also - it runs impeccably on the Steam Deck.

Thoroughly enjoyed Team Ladybug's schmup. Lovely pixel work, great music, and fun gameplay that feels a bit like Ikaruga with absorbing enemy bullets, but being easy enough (on normal at least) that you can actually complete the game without pulling your hair out. I haven't messed with the harder difficulties but I really enjoyed playing through the campaign. Short and sweet, but I still feel like I got my money's worth. Consider me a true Team Ladybug fan at this point.

If I could make one criticism, I would have liked a colorblind option to change the color of the non-energy bullets to something other than pink. It was often extremely hard to tell them apart, and being able to change it to something better contrasting for me like yellow or white would have been nice.