Nebulock

A bad game with real balancing issues. Fights go like this: easy, easy, easy, easy, IMPOSSIBLE (then repeat). Too many different upgrade paths, so you can easily soft lock yourself; only way to try a different build is to start over. Not good. Note: game might be playable if you have a joystick, but I wouldn't bet on it.

The game’s objective is to defeat 26 bosses by shooting them with your craft while dodging their projectiles as you fly. You can take a hit now and then, but that won’t help much because the bosses’ attack patterns are similar to those found in bullet hell games. However, you can come back stronger by collecting resources that drop from destroyed parts. You need to pick them up before you get blown up, though, because if you die, you lose everything. The upgrade tree follows a familiar formula. You start with a single upgrade that branches out into additional upgrades as soon as you purchase it. You can’t see what upgrades will unlock next, which adds a nice element of surprise. Although some upgrades can be purchased multiple times, with the number of available purchases clearly shown, and each level costs more than the last, you only need to buy an upgrade once to unlock the next upgrades connected to it. Progress through the upgrade tree is limited by various resources, which restricts how much you can purchase before you need to defeat tougher bosses. You can either work through the tree methodically, upgrading everything before moving on, or rely on your skill and try to defeat bosses with minimal upgrades. You won’t get far that way, especially on the hardest difficulty, which unlocks after beating the game on Hard and wipes all progress with a single death. Upgrades provide a wide range of benefits, including increased speed and damage, shorter reload times, additional bullets, a stronger resource magnet, a higher chance of earning extra resources, drones that collect resources for you, and more. The good news is that you can replay any boss as many times as you like, and if you get stuck on one, you can simply return to an earlier boss. The bosses are somewhat similar because each new one adds a few more blocks to its structure, either as part of its hull or as additional weapon platforms. New types of blocks are added regularly, like the one that restores constantly until you destroy the main block, or shield that goes down when you blow up the connected block. Even so, it remains satisfying to destroy them piece by piece, and different blocks almost make it a puzzle. Better yet, if you completely sever a connection, everything no longer attached to the main structure explodes as well. You also don’t need to destroy an entire boss to win. Taking out the core at its center is enough, although reaching it requires blasting through several layers of hull plating. As mentioned, there's a perma-death mode where entire save file is wiped upon first death. The positive is that there's a resource multiplier that makes it less grindy. What ruins the mode is the fact a stage doesn't end immediately when the boss dies, but keeps going for a few seconds. This means that a sea of bullets left by a boss can still kill you, and cause you to end a game in a very cheap death.