Even for an Arkhouse game, this was a very masochistic experience, it's shame because this game has a great story and I wish more people could experience it - it's almost like the developer does not want anyone to see his artwork. It took me slightly over 4 hours to complete, it's pretty long for a 2D bullet-hell, give or take a few hours depending on your reflexes. The narrative is connected to at least 2 other Arkhouse games, so if you skip those you might have a hard time understanding the importance of recurring characters. Even though I love the narrative in his games, Arkhouse stories are very metaphorical, there is some space for personal interpretation. Unfortunately, the difficulty is not fair, I don't mind challenging gameplay, but a lot of it has to do with confusing hitboxes, punishing checkpoint system, and the need for excessive stage repetition. If you don't play carefully you can potentially create a very poor checkpoint with low HP, although sometimes you can reload the game and go a bit further back.
Arkhouse games don't have a particularly good review record, partially because the developer is somewhat of a misunderstood artist and you have to get used to his game design. Similar to a developer like Rail_Slave, he makes unique games that push the envelope; deconstruction is probably not the best word to describe it, perhaps 'cerebral' is more appropriate if that makes sense. I personally play them for the aesthetic experience, to me they are more like paintings than video games, that being said, I am not entirely sure why the game need to be so difficult, I know it makes sense within the narrative, but even with a few small changes, you could drastically make them more accessible. The artwork is very unique to this developer, there is nobody else out there that draws characters and backgrounds like that, it's almost like visualizing a deteriorating mind, very unique visual experience if nothing else. Every arkhouse game is very atmospheric, and the soundtrack is always good as well.
[h1] Pros: [/h1]
+ enjoyable story and characters, helps if you played previous games
+ as with all ArkHouse titles, unique art and immersive world
+ I didn't love the soundtrack as much, but still pretty decent
+ good amount of content, some unique gameplay elements
+ lots of boss fights
[h1] Feedback: [/h1]
[u] Very unfair difficulty [/u] - this entire game feels like the canyon flight in Saturn Quest which puzzles me because the developer agreed that it was kinda BS, you just have to know what is coming to deal with it.I think it would help if every checkpoint would at least increase your health back to 25 if lower, that way you don't make those 1 HP checkpoints. Visually the game is a complete clusterfaq of bullets, there is no way to play it properly without memorizing where you need to be, and the hitbox on the character is not exactly intuitive.
[u] Special power [/u] - I think visually it's not very clear what it does. Perhaps it should be a bit more reliable for the regular Joe.
[b] Overall Thoughts: 6/10 [/b]
Can I just say something, and this is just my personal opinion, as someone who purchased several Arkhouse games and loves the universe, I play your games for art and story, I don't care if they are super hard, it just prevents me from enjoying your artwork to the fullest. It's okey if you want to make a hard game, but I don't think it needs to be so hard that players consistently stop playing your games. As always the story and visuals were pretty good, but the game really makes you work for it. Probably my favorite Arkhouse game as far as artwork goes, I think the coloring was very good this time, not as blurry.
[code]Review By: http://store.steampowered.com/curator/31294838-Hidden-Gem-Discovery/ [/code]
