Deathsmiles

love the game.....A great side-scroller!

I love it!

ᴅᴇᴀᴛʜ ꜱᴍɪʟᴇꜱ ᴀᴛ ᴜꜱ ᴀʟʟ. "ᴄᴜᴛᴇ ɢɪʀʟꜱ" ꜱᴍɪʟᴇ ʙᴀᴄᴋ! ↻(𓄼 .̀ ̮.́)Ψ Welcome to Gilverado, a purgatory in which some young souls seem to be stuck. After traumatizing near-death experiences and the like, the cast of cute characters is saved by a mysterious mage named 'Count Dior'. The group of children, often called 'angels', fights the armies of hell with magic thought by their saviour. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Deathsmiles is a classic horizontal schmup that charms you with gothic aesthetics and forgiving mechanics. If you're new to the bullet hell genre, this game showcases some of the best parts of those games while allowing you to learn at your own pace. Suicide bullets, counters.. all these tools are presented well without overwhelming someone who may be unfamiliar with the gameplay. When speaking of the Steam port, which made this arcade legend accessible to us all, a few problems arise. These little tech issues are the only thing bringing my rating down- please take it as a 5 stars game, otherwise. 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗥𝗧.. has never been so ambiguous! While playing the game, keep in mind that this might not always be 'enter' or whatever button you've been using. On keyboard, different parts of the game will require you to press ( 1 ) ( c ) and ( enter ), but this will not be disclosed to you at any point.. (^>⩊<^)⟆({}) With multiple game modes and the option of co-op, replayability is not a problem. Whenever Deathsmiles is the topic at hand, one thing that has to be brought up is how stylish the animations and designs are. A lot of people hold some prejudice due to the controversial appeal CAVE promoted- not only in the outfits worn by the girls or their gothic lolita-esque characters, but also through marketing with suggestive imagery. I'm pretty old school when it comes to anime and vidya, so this has never been a downside on my end. Still, there is a large crowd unsettled by these elements. The art inside this piece, is, however, so unique and inspiring... I have to encourage everyone with such opinions to swallow them for 30 minutes and give it a try. The bosses have really interesting designs, the soundtrack is fun and sets the mood. Pixel art, rendered sprites, beautiful vibrant colours everywhere. This game peaks at presentation. Overall? a must have for schmup lovers, a must try for the neutral and beyond.

Another great classic Cave shmup. There's technically another, more complete edition on Steam with I+II, but that's typically more than double the price per game, so if you only want the first game, this is a much better deal. Deathsmiles has great Junya Inoue art, a great soundtrack, and isn't that much of a difficulty cliff, so if you're into shooters, you can do a lot worse than this.