Gran Vitreous

This is Geometry Wars mixed with Rogue Legacy. Everytime you die, you start over from the first level but keep your upgrades and can buy new upgrades with the money you made from a run. Features: [*]You can customize your ship with new hull components, weapons, secondary weapons... [*]Ship changes appearance based on the weapons you carry. [*]You can level up and buy upgrades in a skill tree [*]You can reroll the attributes of an item. [*]You can switch between 4 main weapons (gatlin gun, laser, particle cannon, phaser arrays...) [*]You have a secondary weapon like missiles, mines, drones.... [*]You have a super that allows you to throw bombs, grenades, clustergrenades... [*]Randomized level generation which is reminiscent of FTL (you travel between nodes) [*]Level modifiers like area size, enemy size, exp gained, player damage, enemy damage but also environmental effects like black holes or meteor storms. It's quite the ambitious project! And it mostly delivers! One of the downsides is (and why a lot of people would give it a pass) is that the graphics don't look great. If you can look past that, I think you'd be pleasantly surprised.

Geometry Wars + Rogue Legacy = Gran Vitreous if I want to say it in tl:dr format. [h1]So what to expect from this shmup[/h1] Well the game got to offer some RPG-lite elements( leveling up, passive skills,gear) and Rogue-lite elements(randomly generated lvls) . Gameplay is pretty straightforward : Kill or be killed. At the moment you can pick one of the two modes to play : Campaign and Endless. [b] Campaign [/b] There isnt much of a story in the campaign: your goal is to destroy Gran Vitreous, the mother shape that creates the ships that attack the galaxy. In order to find Gran Vitreous you need to find its coordinates so you go on an adventure to collect 3 segments from the meaniest ships created by Gran Vitreous . So the campaign is separated into 4 zones and each one of them got a level range(0-30,30-60,60-95,95-125) . Though the level number seems to be high you wont need to reach the suggest level in order to complete the zone( I was able to finish the game as level 83) . Each zone contains a lot of arenas to fight in . The fun part is that each arena gets random "perks" like increased enemy,drop, player's damage and the likes but also you may encounter and specific arena perks like asteroid field, debris, gravity wells, solar flares . When comes to encountering enemies you may end up against a mothership, station or a boss monster( once you beat the zone boss,you can find it as an encounter in next zones) . Other bonuses you may find are infinite secondary or super ammo ... or why not ... disabled weapon systems! Every arena got only 1 way to be completed : kill everything, kill the "elite" , wait for the timer to finish the countdown, repair the ship. Depending on the arena you pick you will get an additional objective that you can try to complete for bonus experience. Overall a good RNG system that may frustrate you if you are down on your luck. [b] RPG elements [/b] Game features 6 gear slots(main/secondary/super weapon, hull,shield and utility) and 3 skill trees(offensive,defensive and utility). Hull and shield are simple , the higher the number the better . At the time of the review there are 6 utilities, each one of them with their own pros and cons. During playing I tried only half of them but overall they enchant the gameplay and are able to save your ship quite often. Same goes for guns, not big variety of guns at the moment in my opinion but gonna be added some new weapons later on with updates. The general stat for your weapons is damage/ damage per second , the higher the better ... if you like the gun of course. Depending on the rarity of the gear you can get bonus stats : higher numbers mainly with some utility like bonus items/higher chance for better gear and the likes. You can upgrade your gear in the dock hub(aka before you go on adventure) with credits. Skill trees provide only passive bonuses and cost skill points and credits to unlock them. You can unlock higher ammo capacity, more lives at the start , higher chance to find items, get more experience, deal more dmg and so on. Overall Campaign offers quite good content if you have only 10-15 minutes to play . [b] Endless [/b] Endless mode is completly different compared to Campaign . In Endless you pick utility and then RNG picks your weapon and put you in an arena in which you have to survive for as much as you can . You can upgrade your weapons when the clock hits 0(its time-gated upgrade system) and upgrade your hull/shield/utility from collection dropped items. In Endless you will encounter everything that you saw in Campaign apart from boss monsters(thats if you played Campaign first) . That includes both mobs and galaxy events(asteroids,debris and so on) The goal of endless mode is to survive as much as possible and compare your result with other players thanks to steam leaderboards . [b] Art/Graphics [/b] The graphics are simple but flashy ... at times WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY too flashy ... so flashy that you may end up confused for a split second ... in which you got hit by an asteroid. But graphics are doing their job just fine. [b] Sound [/b] The background sound of the game is fitting, it doesnt break immersion but the sound effects at times are bad. To be more precise : you can hear a boss to charge its gun ... that you just destroyed. Now I need to say that the first time you play you may encounter 2 crashes : once when you reach your first store on the galaxy map , and the 2nd crash is when you try to load the game after the 1st crash but after them I had no issues with the game [h1] Overall [/h1] The price tag is fair for the content that the game offers and its a steal if you are fan of the genre. The game is fun and offers enough genuine content and playtime to make the purchase worth it .

[b] Target Audience: [/b] [I] Shoot em Up Players [/i] [b] Summary: [/b] Gran Vitreous is a small yet content filled game that will give shoot em'up genre players something to really go into and progress reasonably with, in terms of ship customization and different equipment. For $5 dollars, it's not a game that's going to blow your doors off, the visuals suffer from lack of design and there's some problems in seeing certain elements on the screen, and you can be put into some situations that can really screw you up in terms of levels versus enemies. It started slow for me, but as I began to play it more it started to grow on me, to the point where yeah, switching weapons and really taking advantage of what's available was fun. Reasonable title for the price in question. [b]Gameplay Footage and Video Review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vzSJo6vZyA [/b] [u] Lists: [/u] [b]Positives:[/b] [list] [*] Using item Variety is the strength of the game, to get yourself out of situations and in particular deal with the various issues at hat. [*] Optional Objectives and level variety give you reasons to play differently and try something different. Mothership, repairing missions, and enhancers are pretty cool. [*] RPG elements added in well with upgrade systems of various sorts. Makes you really feel like you're doing something to improve and take on the situations in question. [*] Enemy Variety, despite have a good amount of rushing enemies, is there. Enemies that pull, shoot, rush, and have weird attack patterns exist, keeping things interesting. [*] Utility usage being its own bar and rechargable keeps you really understanding of when to use it and not, especially with the blitz of enemies at you. [*] Music doesn't wear on me at all, I can keep listening to it despite there not being variety. [/list] [b]Negatives:[/b] [list] [*] Early on, you'll get overwhelmed due to the level and lack of weapons you start off with. Can turn people off pretty quickly. Need a little patience. [*] Visuals are sub-par, and in particular can be problematic with all that's happening on screen. No frame rate issues, but hard to tell where things are at times. [*] Even with the variety that's present, even more weapon variety would have really put the game on an another level. Some updates could push the game into a need to get territory, even at its low cost. [*] Weird sound drop when starting battles. Unsure why. [*] Game plays a lot better with a keyboard and mouse. Controller with secondary weapons has awkward firing mechanisms. [/list] [b] If you want more reviews/information regarding games I've reviewed, visit my curator. [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/6861768/]Dragnix Curator [/url][/b]

[b][i]Gran Vitreous[/i] is a wonderful shmup, well worth the asking price.[/b] There is [i]alot[/i] of game here, as long as you are ok with the graphics (I personally love them, as someone who loves the indie retro style). [i]Essentially, you fight your way through level-after-level of bullet hell, collecting stuff along the way in order to perma-upgrade your ship for future runs.[/i] It's as simple as that. [b]Pros:[/b] +Hours of fun for a too-small asking price +Great retro visuals and graphics - explosions and pickups are epic! +Controller support works really well for a great couch experience +All the upgrades are complex enough to keep me coming back, yet simple enough to dive into without too much trouble +Upgrades really make you feel more powerful - and they are quite diverse, which changes your playstyle substantially [b]Cons:[/b] -Definately only for those fond of bullet hell with retro-ish graphics [b]Totally worth the five bucks.[/b] You will get well worth your money if this is your jam.

My thumbs hurt -------------- GET THIS GAME The paper napkin pitch? Twinstick shooter roguelite. Geometry Wars mashed with Rogue Legacy, with a dash of FTL. -Geometry Wars: You are a shape, shooting other shapes for points. -Rogue Legacy: There is an item progression and a skill progression. You retain these when you die, which allows you to push further. -FTL: The game is comprised of 4 sectors that you must progress through and defeat the boss at the end. Being a roguelite there is also a healthy amount of randomization throughout. Each sector has dozens of levels. Each level is randomly generated with a subset of the enemy shapes, and various buffs and debuffs. For example, 50% smaller playfield, 200% Enemy health, 75% increased item rarity, and an ASTEROID FIELD. Beat one level and unlock paths to 2-5 others which are similarly randomized. The classic FTL conundrum of pushing forward to simply survive to see the final encounter, versus moving laterally for more loot/XP is in full effect here (though there is no pressure of an enemy fleet encroaching). There are at least a half dozen primary weapons, probably as many secondary and super weapons, and likewise about as many items for the Utility slot, which have various effects like a repulsor field, 'phase shift' which grants a moment of invulnerability, or simple speed boosts. Rounding out the equippable items are hull and shield items, which aren't really as exciting. All these things have their own iLevels and stats. Your Level 15 Rare quality hull is probably better than the level 20 Common hull that just dropped. Standard roguelite stuff. But it works so, so well. FTL, Rogue Legacy, and Geometry Wars are heavyweights with devoted fanbases, and deservedly so. Gran Vitreous is the result of putting those games in a blender. It's $5 USD (!!!) and well worth it. After 6 hours I've just beat the first sector, and I want to do nothing more than dive back in right now. You know if you're the type of player interested in this game. You really ought to check it out.

Firstly I want to say that this game has potential and could be an interesting twin-stick 'Diablo'-style game - there's plenty of options, upgrades, variations in the levels - some good ideas in there. Problem is it has some design issues which cripple it as it currently stands - they make the game hard to play, hard to enjoy and are all fundamental design issues which no amount of practice or upgrading will fix. Biggest issue - there's too much clutter/debris on-screen and it's not clear what's harmful and what isn't. Harmless debris obscures enemies (in particular, enemy spawns) and generally makes it impossible to see what's going on. This is a fundamental failing in a shooter. Controls are less-than-ideal and there's zero options to customize em. You have a switchable primary, secondary, charge shot, utility and super weapon. Some weapons are 'aimed' and some lock - some need triggering - 10 fingers per hand required!! SOME rationalization/customization would be welcome here too! Lastly for now, it's also crashed a couple of times - game continues but controls stop working - maybe my multi-monitor setup or something but it's not ideal. So right now I can't recommend it. If the developer wants to address the 'visual confusion' and offer some control customisation it might be worth another peek but I suspect it's going to remain gimped by being 'too busy' in both looks, controls and weapon options... Shame but that's how it is right now

I can already tell after .2 hours of playing this game that it is a very fun twin stick shooter. I think someone else described it as being a cross between Geometry Wars, FTL, and Rogue Legacy. That description is very apt. Procedural generation + Roguelike + upgrades and inventory kept after death prevents this from being repetitive, frantic action makes it fun. A lethal combination that makes it one of the better time-killers available on Steam for $5.

Gran Vitreous is a highly polished, FAST paced 2d twin stick space shooter with rogue light elements and a deep skill tree/level up system(say that once fast). It's got lots of loot and great graphics with tons of mesmerizing particle effects. Catchy tunes and punchy sound effects. GV also has fantastic writing and complex yet streamlined RPG style menus and UI. Addictive and highly recommended.

Steering in such games is a priority and with Gran Vitreous it fails as there is no option to change your mouse sensitivity, and without having 3k DPI set you can forget about smooth targeting when moving with your ship is linear in 8 direction without some curving mechanism and because of that it feels like you play Gran Vitreous handicapped, which put whole game at its worst no matter how interesting upgrade system is, no matter how good storyline is, if there is any, of course. Such a shame. 3/10

Wait until it's $2 or $3 .... it's fun and the mechanics are great. Upgrading your ship is the coolest part by far. The game is missing intensity though... it feels way too much like a true throwback. Update the soundtrack and any screen effects when you kill other guys and this game will be completely worth $5