Cosmo Dreamer is one of the best shmups I have ever played, don't be put off by the basic-looking art. Nobody's reviews have really put into words that makes it (and the developer's other games) just so good. If you are curious about what makes a shmup feel fun and retain replay value: play this game and see for yourself. Most shmups have 5 stages and a fairly simple scoring mechanic to optimize, but with a forgettable early game and only the latter half of stages/bosses being any good. Cosmo Dreamer has 8 regular stages, a conditional 9th stage, a bonus separate EX stage, and (aside from Stage 1) they are ALL MEMORABLE AND UNIQUE. Cosmo Dreamer also has several scoring mechanics, and they have opposing interplay which means players have meaningful choices and multiple possible strategies. This game kicks the crap out of most of its competitors on Steam.

- Gameplay -
This game has fast movement by default and slow movement when holding down a button: this activates your focus weapon which is typically better at single target but worse at crowd clearing. This is pretty standard for shmups. Right off the bat you've got some depth: you can pick any combination of: primary weapon, focus weapon, bomb, and passive trait. Initially there are 3 options in each category but you eventually unlock 4: leading to a lot of possible builds. In most shmups you can pick from different ships or characters but their kits are a complete package: whereas in Cosmo Dreamer you get to build the kit exactly how you want. The passives also change how you play significantly, with the choices being less-costly auto-bombs when you get hit, stronger primary weapon, stronger focus weapon, or stronger BOTH weapons but auto-bombs are completely disabled. You're initially given a basic stage select mode but you quickly unlock practice mode and eventually full playthrough Arcade mode plus the Extra Stage. The game supports replays and online leaderboards as well. There's 4 difficulties available with the lowest one, Casual, being pretty accessible even to players new to the genre. There's also some options to make the game easier but using them disables high score saving (cheat codes basically).

- Scoring -
This is the most important part of any shmup and Cosmo Dreamer is first class here. In no particular order: you have multiple types of score items, an item magnet that only activates if you move very far up the screen (risky), point-blanking (bonus dmg and effects based on proximity to enemies), variable enemy scores with more for speed-killing, bullet grazing (get close without getting hit), the ability to cancel bullets with bombs for more score, and "perfect" bonuses for beating boss phases without getting hit or using bombs, and a final bonus for lives remaining at the end of the game. If that sounds like a lot: it is. When actually playing the game, you see how some of these scoring systems are actually opposing each other. Yeah, you'll get more points for hovering at the top of the screen and point-blanking enemies (at extreme risk to yourself), which will deal more dmg and build you more bomb meter. Being closer to enemies also helps with the goal of quick killing them for even more points, but then they won't be able to shoot as many bullets. With fewer bullets on-screen, you have nothing to graze (which also builds score and meter), and you also have less points available if you bomb. Saving bombs for times when enemies (or bosses) spew out a ton of bullets is also a huge part of scoring, and sometimes you'll find you want to leave enemies alive and let them stack up before these moments. Some boss patterns might be worth "milking" with multiple bombs to cancel tons of bullets, even though it reduces the "perfect" bonus for that wave. Of course, letting the screen fill with bullets is also not without risk; get hit and both your score and your chances of surviving till the end will take a hit. Like any good shmup scoring system, the path to the highest score involves making risk/reward decisions constantly. There's a lot of variety and nuance with how people play this game, to say nothing of how different builds will have easier times with different types of scoring. The game also supports true 0 score pacifist mode clears.

- Graphics -
The art is overall... meh, and it's the main reason that people might not want to buy Cosmo Dreamer. It "looks cheap", and it's hard to refute that. Unfortunately the game is also light on graphical options and doesn't support TATE mode for people who want to rotate their monitors. That said, the bullet patterns themselves are gorgeous and there's a fun variety of shapes that suit the enemy and boss personalities. The bullets are also "readable" with a correct draw order and crisp outlines, so you can easily see what you need to see. Some shmups get that crucial aspect wrong, but fortunately Cosmo Dreamer does not.

- Music -
Incredible! There's so much variety in this soundtrack with soulful piano melodies, smooth jazz, awesome synths, shredding electric guitar riffs, and a special surprise genre in the Extra Stage. The music is also all really well-produced and mixed: basically it doesn't sound cheap; this ironically contrasts the art. They didn't skimp on boss themes either, with 7 total. You will want to blast this on your headphones or speakers.

- Verdict -
Buy this game already, buy it for yourself and buy it for your friends. I would be personally shocked if you didn't have fun while playing Cosmo Dreamer; it's a steal for the price.

I should have written a review long ago. After all, I've played this game for 1,000+ hours and idle'd in its level editor for a few hundred more.

Dustforce DX is the deepest and most technically demanding 2D platformer ever made. It has a momentum based engine where all actions have real weight and consequence, attacks have start-up frames, things are jump and dash-cancellable, and there are tricks measured in how many frames they save. Every level has leaderboards both for score and for raw time, and the community is fiercly competitive and still very active. More importantly, every run on the leaderboards also has a replay embedded. Being able to watch your run (or anyone else's) is not just fun, it's a fantastic learning tool. If that sounds like something you'd enjoy, then keep reading.

Dustforce DX will never hold the player's hand. Several people ragequit the third TUTORIAL, and a wide number of the advanced mechanics and workings of the game are never explained in-game. To really master this game and understand everything in it, you need to know other people who play it and/or engage on the subreddit and IRC channel. Even if you do that and arm yourself with knowledge: this game is HARD. When you think you've finally gotten good and beaten the game, you have only just begun because you unlocked "The Difficults". Honestly even getting that far is going to take you a hundred hours at least, because the only way to unlock new levels is to complete easier levels perfectly. I'll explain...

Dustforce DX has 4 main hub areas of one large world (The Nexus). Each hub has 4 baby levels, 4 easy levels, 4 medium levels, and 4 exceedingly hard levels. Each tier of level above the first is locked by a key, and you earn progress toward keys by playing the levels in the tier below. But the only way to get a full key from 1 single level is to get an SS rank. One S is completion: for cleaning all the dust and defeating all the enemies. The other S is Finesse: for never losing your combo from dying, getting hit, or letting it time out. The game doesn't just reward perfection, it demands it if you even want to see all the stock levels.

Now why did I say stock levels you may ask? That's because the true magic of this game is its INTENSELY POWERFUL level editor. Custom Dustforce Maps (it calls them maps instead of levels) are what keep me playing. This is one of several games where the editor gives you every tool the dev had, letting you make stuff on par with, and often exceeding, the quality of the stock game. You have 20 layers to work with, tons of cool props, almost complete RGB color control and control over the %blend of the color PER LAYER, a ♥♥♥♥ ton of props and emitters to place, several things with transparency for awesome effects, and total control over the music and sound effects at every point. The last sentence is very important since this game has a truly amazing soundtrack. Free control over the music in the editor doubles as a sound test, even if you don't enjoy making maps. The nice thing about the leaderboards and replays is that you can watch everyone playing your map once you publish it. That adds another level of enjoyment to the process, a feature missing from several other games with level editors.

There are almost no restrictions on what you can place anywhere, allowing the free mixing of themes from the 4 hubs if you have the skill to make it work. The game is easily moddable and the community has several killer spritemods available, one even turns a character into Kirby! There are several different classes of mods both for art and for performance, and they are all easy enough to find on the subreddit. Sadly they aren't integrated into Steam like with many other games. The community also has several third party tools available for more detailed stat-tracking, new kinds of competition, and even a cool TAS community.

In conclusion, Dustforce DX is a great game and one of my all time favorites. It's not easy to get into: indeed you will struggle if you go it alone and it's still very difficult even with friends beside you. You'll get what you put into it. We still learn things about this game every week; the engine is just that deep. A lot of the quirks in this game are things you just won't find anywhere else. When I say that there's no 2D platformer with the complexity of Dustforce... I mean it.