Praecantor Lila ~ Bell Spell

Placeholder review, will update later but the fact this game is currently sitting at 0 reviews is a crime so have a tl;dr (full disclosure: I did playtest the game for a bit and got a free copy from the dev) Very good shmup with a fairly accessible story mode but tons of depth and challenge in the arcade mode, great music and a fun story and characters. All six main stages are playable in the Early Access version with some placeholder graphics but the gameplay is so fun that I'd recommend just getting it now if you can. Stage portions are fun and fast-paced and the bosses have some really interesting attacks to learn and dodge as well. The bell mechanic takes the place of your normal bombs and makes for a brilliant system for both survival and scoring, acting as a sort-of autobomb that can be deployed manually and "rung" by shooting it to cancel bullets, absorb score items and merged with other bells for a bigger score bonus when finally collected. You also get three weapons to switch between (with plenty of sections that encourage doing so!) that each have their small intricacies to exploit to spice up the gameplay even more, such as the ice shot causing enemies to explode into damaging crystals to take out large crowds quickly. There's plenty of small nuances to the scoring and mechanics as well so I can imagine highly optimized plays being pretty crazy to watch. buy the game pls

If you know Touhou, it's like UFO but on steroids. Which is to say, a solid shmup with a lot of depth added by the titular bells and how you can interact with them onscreen. Also some pretty patterns and unique characters

This is a very fun and inventive spin on the shmup witchy heroes formula. The style is danmaku nut what sets it apart imho is the bell mechanism employed in the game. The use of the bells is very multifacited, enabling a whole load of strategies and playstyles which can be implememnted to try and clear the game. Bells can be used as shields, screen clearing bombs, combining with other bells to give more score and replenishing lives. the best way of seeing this is to try the demo. An excellent , addictive game which has just recieved a large update.It's in early access but on well on the way to completion think it's worrth its money as it is now.

yo this game is mad poggies, love the art, the sfx, the ost its all ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ SEX

For anyone familiar with the Touhou Project, the challenge presented here is in no way a disappointment. To further the comparison, the patterns of the later levels lean more on the sheer speed and density of the bullets for their impact, which can be rationalized in the encouragement of clever usage of the bell mechanic on the part of the player. The bell mechanic itself is an innovative take on the death-bombing mechanic, one that takes precision to leverage to its fullest. One can draw a parallel to the collectible UFOs from the Touhou game of the same name, in which survivability and points are trade-offs when deciding how to make use of them. The stage backgrounds have a variety to them, each of which owes its ambience to an amount of details that rival the most ambient of Touhou stages. As far as the story goes, it is simple and easy to follow, yet one is given a sense that this is but a small glimpse of what seems to be an expansive universe that can definitely be further delved into.