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Day 1/Day 2/Day 3

Platypus Reclayed

A claymation shmup.

This is apparently a remake of a 2002 shmup, one which I've never played or heard of, so I won't be able to judge this on it's accuracy.

This is very much a classical style shmup. Powerups, No focused movement, no bombs, and large hitbox low density bullet patterns. The scoring system is also simple, based on the percentage of a wave killed and score items. That isn't an inherent knock against it, but I'm somewhat out of my element here.

The enemy placement and bullet patterns seemed mostly sound, but there's an element of memorization here. Enemies that drop score items will often spawn from behind the player, and if they're near the back wall it can be a surprise kill. It was only consistently a problem when I messed with the hardest difficulty (and didn't make far) but it still feels slightly unfair.

If you're a claymation lover, someone cravign a very specific style, or a fan of the original, I can see this being worth it. But I also have a lot of other shmups I need to get to.

Karaneko

Dark Bullet Hell RPG, taking cues from Undertale and Omori.

You play as a troubled and depressed teen who los their mother in a fire. The only thing keeping them going is taking care of their brother. During a seemingly normal day, you suddenly collapse, and wake up in a fantasy version of the world, wearing different clothes and surrounded by unfamiliar people, your brother nowhere in sight.

This game needs work.

The actual bullet hell design is actually pretty good. It's the standard "dodge for set amount of time, then talk or attack to end the fight" sort of deal. The devs are willing to throw some tricky stuff early on, you can tell they're severe Touhou heads.

While I'm not the hottest on the character designs, It has some undeniably good pixel art. Even the individual enemies have nice high resolution talk sprites when you go for dialogue options. There's legit effort here.

The problem is threefold.

On the combat side, the fights can last too long. It's both "the bullet segments drag on slightly too long" and "the menu transitions are too slow." a bunch of small things that add up.

On the writing side… it desperately needs a second pass. I'm pretty sure this is a translated script, but that only half explains the repetitiveness and stiffness of the text.

Lastly, once the game gave me a wide open area… the ability to navigate went to shit. I was given an objective, go to the fisherman's shop, but I accidentally spilled the bit of dialogue explaining where it is, and couldn't find any secondary way to get that info. After a good amount of wandering, I gave up.

I stopped before it got to the nightmare turn you see in the trailer, so there might be more of a hook later, but I was done with it.

Windswept

A duck and a turtle on a platforming adventure.

This is a very deliberate homage to Donkey Kong Country. From the percussion heavy soundtrack, to the two character health system, to the letter based stage collectables, to the launcher barrels, to the level gimmick mounts, it's all there. Thankfully this is a Very Good DKC homage.

Each character has different abilities, and you can freely switch betwen the two. The duckair glide and toss the turtle like a koopa shell. The turtle can groundpound and cancel the groundpound into a spinning attack. When you have both characters it gives you a lot of different ways to approach each obstacle. Getting hit means losing whoever is in the back, but they can be recovered, once again like in DKC.

The amount of movement tech on display means it'll probably be great for speedrunners, and while the "main path" pretty handleable, the optinal stuff really pushes you. An stage I found for collecting enough medals felt like a Celeste B-side, demanding a really specific amount of precision. I wasn't able to finish it, but I was impressed with what I saw.

SSR Wives: The Murder Of My Winter Crush

Anime Styled Classic Survival Horror.

I am not sure why it is called that aside from "There are anime girls in the cast." But that gets into an issue I'll expand on later.

I'll get this out of the way first: there is a lot of good craftsmanship going on here. This is some of the best use of tank controls and fixed camera angles I've seen in the indie survival horror scene. Playing it gave me mild vertigo (positive).

The UI design is also great, making heavy use of the "You wouldn't steal a car" font and deliberately evoking the era of the ps1/2 demo disc in the menus. The distorted anime look is bringing to mind classic denpa horror. Not much plot at all here, though. Just going through a Fucked Up Apartment and doing survival horror stuff.

On a gameplay level, I wish the demo had more difficulty options. Ended it with my pockets bursting with resources.

My main concern... let me show you the character select options.

I want to be clear, I'm not writing this off yet. I don't know anything about the devs, and don't want to make split judgements. Without any plot to contextualize these designs, I'm left wondering...

What level of irony are we working with here?

Tamashika

Psychadelic Speedrun Shooter.

This is an overstimulation game, same as the likes of PUSS! or the works of Jeff Minter. Do a precise task while being overloaded with flashing lights and sound.

The task here is a simple corridor shooter. Use your pistol to shoot at little green guys and use your knife to cut them down when they close in or to parry back a bullet. Death drains if you stand still, and refills upon kills. Keep moving and keep killing.

The difficulty of these actions is a little...uneven. There seems to be some degree of aim assist going on. I am not good enough at FPS to get the chain shots I was getting. You do need to find the right time to reload though, which can be hard considering the harsh time constraint you're under. The real precision comes from the knife work. The timing to get kills or parry bullets is strict, and it's a one hit kill if you mess up.

There's an aspect of memorization to all this, especially early on. Its a "die over and over until you perfect the run" type game, and the level will throw some blind turns without warning. If you don't mind that frustration and can get into the trance it's offering, it's great. But I can easily see someone bouncing off if they aren't in the right headspace.

EDIT: So some new information has come out that has made me rescind my recommendation.

EDGLRD, the studio founded by Harmony Korine, has launched a new video game division and announced its first title, Tamashika.

EDGLRD, the studio founded by Harmony Korine, has launched a new video game division and announced its first title, Tamashika. Tamashika is the first game being developed by EDGLRD Games. It’s a fast-paced arcade-style shooter. The game has been designed to be a pure sensory experience with its hand-drawn animations, precision sound effects, and upbeat background music. Players will be armed…

Cinematech's Trailer Park - TAMASHIKA (PC)