CYGNI: All Guns Blazing

Kept saying my controller was disconnected and even after trying to reconnect it, It just stay's frozen.

I bounced off of this game a couple of times. I wanted to like it, but it just didn't click. After finishing the game on Easy today I feel this is a very misunderstood title. You basically have to play it on Easy to start. All the mechanical pieces will fall into place. You'll grasp the shield\power and air\ground mechanics and upgrade your ship along the way in Easy which enables you to handle Medium (default) difficulty. Had they just started you off on the "Easy" setting but named the difficulty levels something like Normal, Hard, Extreme and set Normal as the default instead it would have made all the difference in reviews. Once this game clicked with me, it is an outstanding game and shmup. The graphics are spectacular! The controls are outstanding once you wrap your head around what you're doing. The sound is masterful; the echo of the explosions and depth of it is so cool. Upgrades to the ship are game changing and deceptively simple. Take a moment to understand how to set your gun width combinations, it makes a huge difference. It's not your typical shmup; you will get hit, it's impossible not to (for mortals) it's about balancing your shot width\angle, shields, and missiles. I went from 'meh' to 'wow' once it clicked. If you have a solid PC and an HDR OLED or mini-LED display this is absolutely stunning! Well done KeelWorks, it was me, not you.

I finally sat down and played through this start to finish. This game gets a lot of heat that to an extent it deserves, but I gotta say I'm super impressed with the massivity of it all. Playing it on hard was an act of futility but after completing it on easy and feeling the full weight of the story they were trying to tell displayed in the most gorgeous design in an on-rails shooter I've ever played... it's just epic. Pros: - Unparrallel level design, clearly inspired by The Matrix - Epic Bosses - Intricate Detail - Highly responsive controller scheme - Long Levels (I actually really enjoyed this part due to the interesting aliens and sometimes frustrating obstacles. This is also a bad thing - see below) Cons - Unless you have the utmost fine tuned zero-lag input and display settings, this game is impossible at level 1. - Also, Long Levels, (I know I mentioned this as a plus above but..) dying really tests my willingness to try again. Maybe consider allowing the player to earn a halfway point by number of kills? - Upgrade Menu could use a bit more explaining with an overlay that demos the items upon mouseover. - The opening scene includes the pilot exposing themselves which seemed ... campy and forced. This was obviously a labor of love. With some very small tweaks it could improve greatly. Get it on sale.

Lets start with what this game does well. The visuals are gorgeous. The enemies, the bosses, levels themselves and the animations are phenomenal ... Pretty much everything else I'd say the game does terribly. Just a pain to play.

Cygni is a spiritual successor to Ikaruga with less brain-breaking mechanics. [table][tr][td] Overall      ★★★★★★★☆☆☆ - 7/10 Music        ★★★★★★☆☆☆☆ - 6/10 Graphics   ★★★★★★★★★★ - 10/10 Gameplay ★★★★★★★☆☆☆ - 7/10 Story         ★★★★★☆☆☆☆☆ - 5/10 [/td][/tr][/table] Difficulty ★★★★★★★☆☆☆ (steep learning curve) [b]What did I like?[/b] * graphic and overall presentation is awesome * no mechanics that will break your brain * bullet-hell situations are random but still evadable * uses a 'health system' with a focus on a energy managemet system (transfering shield to weapon and vice versa) * ground bombardment adds an extra layer of tactic * coop mode * auto-fire available [b]What did I not like?[/b] * arcade mode lacks a difficult setting (attack patterns are hard mode, but enemy hitpoints medium mode) * tutorial is important, but I somehow only understood about half of what I supposed to learn there * campaign mode starts with medium difficulty, this is definitely not the level to begin with unless you are upgraded * upgrade points are only earned if you fully conclude the level (the whole upgrade system should be reworked if you ask me). Th first level is one of the longest ones also, making it difficult to get some upgrade points at the beginning * design mode and weapon adjustments is not intuitive - needed some time to figure it out * weapon layout is bound to active weapon energy, so you auto-change firing modes while using/transfering energy (bad idea) * very hefty system requirements (especially in 4K a problem, no FSR support unfortunetally) * the framerate is locked at 30 or 60 FPS currently (there is a manual fix, a patch is promised) [b]Difficulty[/b] While the game is way more accessible than Ikaruga (due to its brain-breaking polarization mechanic) this game still has a very steep learning curve most people seem to struggle with. I strongly recommend doing the tutorial first. And definitely switch down to easy mode for the campaign until you earned some upgrades and learned also some basics how to handle enemies. If you are a good shmup player you should then be able to beat at least medium without too much hassle. Only if you really learn how to use the energy management system properly and use rockets tactically you will master hard mode though. Don't judge the game by just the first half of an hour gameplay. It is the phase you pretty much learn everything the hard way. Be persistent and you will enjoy the game a lot. [b]Summary:[/b] An awesome bullet-hell-shmup which is way better than Ikaruga and does not deserve the many bad reviews you read on Steam. Yes, there are some questionable design flaws here and there, but it makes fun neithertheless if you are up to learn the game mechanics and invest many retries. And due to its coop mode a friend can join in as well. I definitely can recommend it if you are up for such kind of games.

This game is really fun in my opinion.

I like this game a lot! It’s not easy at all but the total Chaos makes it so fun and the visuals are amazing

Finished the game on Easy, maxed out my build, got around 4 hours of playtime, but I had a blast! The visuals and audio effects are top notch, the gameplay is fun and engaging. Having to switch between attacking ground and air units is a new mechanic for me and it was a fun addition to the whole set of things you can do in this game. Don't really get the use case for "Railgun" since it's not powerful enough for me to justice it's reload time even with full energy, so I just gave up on using it. Other than that I like the limited but solid weapon choice, and the setup options. I recommend the game.

Дуже багато чув про цю гру Я до кінця думав що гра не може бути настільки поганою АЛЕ 1) Оптимізація це окрема шляпа робиш налаштування Steam Deck -> все одно фрізить, ну дякую 2) Вони думали що керування ЛИШЕ на стік геймпада це революція в жанрі Корабель несеться як різаний навіть швидше як в Fewer SOS, а фокуса тут нема бо тобі треба чучуть нахилити стік щоб він медлено пересувався, сори але всі TouHou гравці звикли використовувати стрілочки на ноуті 3) Це буквально Твін Стік шутер, без 2ого стіку 2 стік ніяк не змусить повернути основну зброю на 180 градусів, тож вони буквально могли зробиши норм шмап але додумались зробити блятьі ІНОВАЦІЙ 4) Більлше механік не робить гру Складною ХП, Конвертування ХП в Ракети та бурст буквально спрощує гру, тобто це мусило бути Ризикзк/Реворд механіка до того моменту поки всі вороги не виплбовують капсулами ХП 5) Хтось пам'ятає Xevious? А то хтось в Конамі фанатів від цьєї гри, саме тому додали механіки наземних ворогів що націлюється АВТОЛОКОМ, НАШО ТА ♥♥♥♥♥? 6) Сюжет немає сенсу Я намагався вникнути в сюжет але, просто сюжет нудотний 7) Прокачка, серйозно? Це ще й Еврошмап, Сори але прокачка в Тиріан набагато цікавіше ніж тут Якщо коротко то Конамі просто всрала грощі чисто по приколу, наняли людей котрі шарили лише за Gradius, Ikaruga, Xevious і сказали їм зробити щось нове, вони не знали що робити і понапихали все підряд шо зробили месиво з різних механік але людям котрі грають в шмапи 20+ років це не сподобається бо це не шмап, це взагалі якась інша гра, це навіть Еврошмапом складно назвати бо Еврошмапи таої ІНОВАЦІЇ не робили Якщо ЯКИМОСЬ ЧИНОМ хочете пограти щось схоже але з нормальними мехакіками котрі як мінімум НЕ ЛАМАЮТЬ ГРУ то для вас є https://store.steampowered.com/app/2478020/Rayz_Arcade_Chronology/ Удачі