What Did We Play Yesterday?

Fatal Twelve is an indie supernatural yuri JVN by aiueoKompany. It's about a young woman named Shishimai Rinka who dies and is resurrected in the Court of Fate with 11 other people who died at the same time. There, a goddess of Fate informs them they have been given a second chance at life, but the only way to survive is to eliminate the other players through a ritual called Divine Selection. All the players have temporarily have their deaths undone, but once they are eliminated the timeline will be altered again and their death will be restored. The winner will have their death reversed permanently, granting a second chance at life.

This one was on my list after enjoying Sound of Drop ~ Fall Into Poison. I somehow didn't realize this was a death game, which is a favorite genre of mine. There's a bit of a twist in that the participants don't kill each other outright, rather they are tasked with collecting information cards so they may formally eliminate each other. As with aiueoKompany's first game, the production values are good and the music, though limited, enhances the experience. This one's a bit longer, clocking around 15 to 20 hours, and is voiced.

Fatal Twelve has great characters and a compelling dilemma. Instead of asking, "What will people do to survive?" Divine Selection asks, "What is your reason for living?" The participants are all technically already dead, they must ask themselves why they should fight to have their death, and their death alone, undone. It's a welcome distinction in a genre traditionally fueled by desperation, some characters decide their deaths shouldn't necessarily be undone and spend this extra time living their lives or resolving personal issues. Others wade into the game, trying to collect information on the other participants in the hopes they will maneuver be the last ones standing. Others decide to sacrifice themselves for the sake of other participants. Additionally, the rules and technicalities of Divine Selection allow interesting opportunities for the participants to outmaneuver each other.

Though the story does drag a bit at times, overall I enjoyed this one. The translation is good, but the beginning in particular, where destiny and fate are discussed, was a little hard to follow. The mythology and plot get a bit convoluted by the true end, but that was also the case with aiueoKompany's previous VN. Overall, Fatal Twelve was a good read and a welcome breath of fresh air for the death game genre. I recommend it, and I heartily elect Numeral XI as A+ New Fave.

Brief aside on VNs. I picked this up on a whim during the Halloween sale and was glad I could get into another VN, but I definitely have an endurance limit on these types of games. Something like Doki Doki Literature Club ends up being just right, unconventional and short but with enough variation for multiple interesting playthroughs. I have a few more VNs in my library I'd like to muscle through, and I hate that I even have to describe it that way, but it's accurate. I've been partway through the House of Fata Morgana for over a year even though it's almost non-stop *cue popcorn-eating gif*. There's something about the traditional mechanics of VNs--constant clicking for fast readers, static sprites, reused backgrounds, the way stories are often forced into a "day by day" format which leads to unnecessary redundancy--that makes them feel like such a slog sometimes. I don't know if I'll ever get to, let alone through, my copy of Steins;Gate, and I can't imagine reading through something like Clannad.

Sky Force Reloaded is a grindy, collect-all-the-things shoot 'em up with persistent upgrades. It's based on the mobile game Sky Force and has classic STG-style gameplay. The player starts with a purposefully underpowered ship and earns stars for defeating enemies, which are used to purchase various upgrades. Each level has four main goals, which are generally some combination of save all the soldiers, defeat 70% of enemies, defeat 100% of enemies, get all stars, take no damage, etc.. You win a medal for each goal. Once you've completed all four medals a harder version of the stage unlocks with star bonuses. A certain number of medals are required to advance to later stages. (As a brief aside, the SFX is fun. Whenever you save a soldier they holler, "Ye-haw!" Clearly they are all Americans.)

The persistent upgrades were what lured me in. I enjoyed that feature of Danmaku Unlimited 2. I was warned the game was grindy, and it is. I kind of flip-flop on this aspect of it. In the beginning I got kind of burned out on having to replay stages so often, but later on I had the itch for comfort-zone shmuppery and I returned to the game and really enjoyed grinding out stars and mindlessly blasting things.There is something satisfying about returning to a level after several upgrades and being able to lay waste to the enemy.

The game isn't without it's frustrations. More than once I've missed a 100% defeat medal by missing a sole popcorn ship. While upgrades are persistent special ammunition/shields are not, so each time you die you lose everything you collected. You can purchase more at the start of each level with stars. So if you're not grinding for one thing you're grinding for another.

I have never seen a shmup with so many collectibles. You can collect cards that grant temporary gameplay bonuses (usually for about 10 minutes). You complete objectives (overall achievements, like down x enemies) to gain points, which are then used to unlock technicians, which are essentially perks that can be activated, but only one at a time. Some of the technicians are dead useful, one negates your first instance of damage taken so you still have a shot at the "no damage" medal for that level. Then there are the stars which are used to unlock upgrades, and laser, shield, and bomb upgrades, then there are some kind of weird medal pieces that randomly appear and I've collected a few and have no idea what they do. There are apparently multiple ships, which I only know because I stumbled across that section in one of the many GUI sections that dutifully catalogues all the Things one has Collected, along with the Things one has Not Collected.

Sky Force Reloaded is a very YMMV shmup. It reminds me a lot of the twin-stick arena shooter Riddled Corpses in terms of grindiness and how grinding is essential to get through certain levels. I do think the medal requirement for level advancement should be reduced so less grinding is required to unlock all the levels for play, but I accept the game for what it is. When I'm in a very particular mood I'll fire this up and grind out stars or angle for new challenges.

Sky Force Anniversary just came out on Switch. Originally, the release order was reversed. Apparently the difference is Anniversary is more difficult and has less collectibles. I cannot conceive fully completing Sky Force Reloaded, let alone needing More of That, but it's good to have options.

Shikondo: Soul Eater is an indie Korean-style yokai bullet hell by DeerFarm in which you control two flying young women who combats demons who have entered our realm and are stealing souls. The default mode features grazing gameplay for charging a special attack meter and novice mode includes auto-bomb. There is no story to speak of, which is a missed opportunity, because these bosses just beg to have names and dialogue. The soundtrack is unfortunately limited but nicely compliments gameplay. You absolutely have to get into the charge mechanic because the 2-phase boss battles can be incredibly long without the higher-damage special soul attack, but this bullet hell is, as they say, "forgiving and fair," and can be enjoyed by reasonable people and not just masochists. Difficulty ranges from Novice to Hardcore, and there is Boss Rush. There is also a custom mode where you can choose how the soul gauge is refilled (graze or damage) and so on. I don't think I've seen a bullet hell that offers that type of customization before.

Shikondo has really beautiful hand-drawn backgrounds that draw the eye without overwhelming or distracting from bullets and some pretty gnarly bosses. Each transforms into a more sinister version during the second phase, so--for example--scary upsidedown tiddy boss becomes EVEN SCARIER UPSIDEDOWN TIDDY BOSS and I didn't sign up for tiddies of any kind but whatever, I'll take it. My favorite is the Level 3 boss, not just because I have a thing for spider ladies but because her patterns are really fantastic.

The game does not have keymapping, and at first I was really bummed because the more powerful attack requires a 2-button hold, which meant I couldn't play for an extended amount of time with a controller (arthritis). Then I figured out there is an alternate mapping on the shoulder buttons and all was well.

My other gripe, and this sounds so petty, is that they zoom in on the bosses at the beginning of each phase and at the end of the battle, and since some of the art isn't a high enough resolution it gets all pixelated and blobby. It's weird they put so much effort into the backgrounds and GUI but didn't use higher-resolution images for the bosses.

I had a bit of a disappointing shmup run for a while where I tried a lot of indie bullet hells that just didn't click so I went into this one with no real expectations beyond having something pretty to look at and was pleasantly surprised. While Shikondo doesn't bring anything new to the table in terms of mechanics I found it really enjoyable to play. The art style makes the bosses much more memorable and the bosses have a good variety of patterns. There aren't many reviews or conversations about the Switch port of this game. I feel it's a bit underrated and a solid rec for bullet hell fans.

unExplored is a real-time graphical roguelike in which you descend the Dungeon of Doom to find ye old Amulet of Yendor. I purchased this when I was deep into a roguelike phase and desperate for anything on Switch. I hated it. I could barely play an hour. Then I came back a few months later and absolutely loved it, so I have no idea what my damage was. In the interim I played several other roguelikes, including the Switch's other offering, Yōdanji, so it may be I was better able to appreciate what unExplored brings to the table. Chiefly, a comparatively low learning curve, intuitive play, and very good level generation. The game has a strong Brogue feel, which is always a plus for me. I was initially put-off by the vector graphics, having become so accustomed to ASCII or pixel tiles, but later came to appreciate how easy it was to read a room and the directions enemies are facing.

My main lingering complaint is the interface is a bit clunky and the text is quite small on the Switch handheld and there is no way to increase the font size. The UI is quickly learned but inventory management can become a game of "shuffle the item" because you have to manually select and move things around. The game does not take advantage of the Switch's touch screen (sadly, few games do). This can be a little troublesome in a real-time game, but you have the option to set auto-pause when the inventory is opened. After a while you will accumulate a pile of unlabeled potions and scrolls and will occasionally find it necessary to stop and paw through them, which means scrolling about in your main and side inventories in a manner reminiscent of digging through a large sack, but it could certainly be worse.

The real-time movement is smooth and fast, so combat becomes a whirl of circling around objects and enemies, attempting to catch them in a vulnerable spot without getting caught yourself. Real-time gameplay is something purists may take issue with, but I enjoy this aspect.

Level design is where Unexplored really shines. The game uses cyclic level generation rather than linear branching. (The developer wrote a paper on level design prior to creating unExplored.) As a result the game has a more organic, natural feel, and there is a minimum of backtracking, but it also means the game routinely pauses to generate another aspect of the dungeon. The regular interruptions are slightly annoying, but it's hard to argue with the end result. The levels are varied and interesting, which was definitely a nice change of pace after the sameness of so many dungeon crawlers. There are puzzles and traps, some supplemented with dropped diaries or signs. As with Brogue, there is no leveling and your stats are only increased via equipment, which encourages exploration over combat. Over time you gain achievements and unlock classes and starting items, and at the start of each new run you can use your accumulated wealth to buy additional items. There are also many tweakable options in terms of difficulty, more traps, more bosses, etc., as well as an arcade mode which, true to its description, is indeed more mayhem.

Screenshots are worth 1000 words dept. I was warned not to use unidentified magical staffs in enclosed areas. Naturally, I did not listen, and my 23rd hero's introduction to firey doom staffs was traumatic, to say the least.

I don't think any roguelike will ever usurp Brogue as my first and true love, but unExplored is the first game I've played since then that provides a distinct experience while maintaining such a strong Brogue Feel. Though these games are, by their nature, somewhat inaccessible to newcomers, I think unExplored is about as welcoming as a roguelike can get.

If you've never played these types of games before let me put it to you this way. I read a guide which said something along the lines of, "If you get set on fire as often as I do..." If that line in any way appeals to your sensibilities as a gamer, consider roguelikes.