CASTILLO: Shattered Mirrors

okay, so this one really likes shooter games. really went into this hoping to like it, because a boomer shooter and collectathon sound like they'd go together really well! unfortunately, this game gets it... really, really wrong. the graphics are EXTREMELY oversaturated, and it's a bit hard to look at. that wouldn't be an issue if the gunplay felt good. unfortunately, it really... really doesn't. things feel weak and flimsy. and the audio mixing... the audio mixing is really, REALLY bad. the main character is way too loud and has this filter over his voice that makes it hard to listen to, some guns feel really quiet, while others play their firing sound REALLY loudly... and you don't even need to use the guns half the time because the whip is so overtuned that the only thing keeping it in check is the one second cooldown. some of the enemies are really annoying to fight-- the organ spiders are just... they're only vulnerable for a moment while they're attacking and take off 4 hearts from your healthbar! at the point you first encounter them, that is OVER HALF. and the bugs are just... this game is unpolished. many textures look like they have z-fighting, geometry doesn't line up at all half the time, various things are left floating, it's hard to tell what's a pick up-- picking things up has this weird finagly hitbox, the game wants you to platform but doesn't let you jump half the time when on some of those platforms, sometimes when getting out the whip, it'd just be stuck and i couldn't attack anymore-- and for the love of god, whatever you do, do not press C. at best, you'll be placed randomly nearby. at worst, you'll fall out of the map. Jackson Clayton, mr. dev guy... if you're reading this, i hope you come back around and do a patch on this game, it really needs it ;;

I love this game. I love the CASTILLO games. I am always talking about them. Play this. Do it.

Found myself enjoying it more than I expected. Really liked the final fight.

I really like the graphical style. Very fun and fast paced. Would recommend.

This game is very cool. I recommend it to all movement shooter enthusiasts. The story is creative. The graphics are also very unique and fun.

I had a lot of fun playing this. The thing that stood out the most to me was the enemies. A lot of them did more than just walk towards you and attack. They also synergized well together. Sometimes a scarecrow would pull me in and a couple zombies would get me while I'm down. I like this take on a familiar genre. Would recommend.

A good bit of retro shooter fun. I enjoyed the variety of themed worlds and how each one has its own environmental mini-story. Running around whipping zombies and blasting aliens through the hundred or so bite sized levels is all good fun.

Support independent developers! Full disclosure: I know the developer for this product personally. I worked with Jackson to make sure CASTILLO was a game that played nice, and ran way nicer. Being a small developer, that level of communication you have and share is amazing. You can see everywhere in discussions and existing reviews complaints and suggestions that were addressed almost instantaneously. This is definitely someone you want to support financially. As for the game itself: You're getting a lot of bang for your buck too. You get a main campaign telling a story about alternate realities and an unlikely ally, an independent survival mode repurposing those levels, a (little rough around the edges) custom level creation tool, and the original CASTILLO prototype game in one package. The art style is a little not to my taste, but this is still a lot of well-designed content in a cheap and lightweight (in disk size) package. Would purchase again.

C'est quoi ce truc..... quel ennuie