Pudding: Lyre Knight

my first time playing anything from Katatema. right out the gate, the game throws a lot of quirky design decisions at you, such as eschewing a gun for the player character for a shield that harms you but deflects bullets, or the "Happiness Ring", which is something that ought to be experienced rather than described. its pulled off very well, especially with how its applied through the actual level, emphasizing figuring out the solutions to making progress over having the solutions themselves be difficult to perform (hence the game being called a puzzle/bullet-hell hybrid rather than a straight bullet-hell). combine all this with the fact that the game rewards experimentation with special items (that give lore, and maybe unlock other routes?) and a fair amount of endings (there's 5 in total, which is surprising considering the game really has two real levels, essentially), and you have a pretty unique take on the bullet hell genre as it is. but what really makes Pudding: Lyre Knight stand out is its approach to storytelling. it uses a couple different techniques, but the most prominent and notable is out it has characters, mainly Cygnus, displayed with their avatars on the left-hand side of the screen, talking to the player while they try to complete the run. this forces a player who is interested in the story (and the gameplay is so interconnected with its story that i can't imagine a player not caring about it) to divide their attention between reading the dialogue to parse the story and paying attention to the level for more accurate play. i can't think of any top-down shooters that do this, at least to this degree, perhaps because it could be very annoying in theory, but Pudding is easy enough that i never felt frustrated by this, and even if i did, delivering the dialogue with RNG against level design with little-to-no RNG reduces any possible annoyances. as a result, i found this way of delivering the story pretty entertaining. i also have to single out the wonderful presentation. the amount of detail put into this fantasy world is impressive, full of thoughtfully written lore, some entertaining hints about the layers beneath the cutesy surface of the world, and especially the wonderful, melancholic, faux-orchestral OST, which really sells the vibe Pudding: Lyre Knight is going for. really enjoyed my time with this one, and its already convinced me to play some of the other English-translated Katatema i can find.

English translation released. Will update review.

素晴らしいSTG。 ゲームシステムと混然一体となった演出には胸を掴まれました。 EDを迎えた時、思わず拍手してしまいました。 程よいミステリー的要素も相俟って、非常に楽しく最後まで遊ぶことが出来ました。 とてもドラマチックな、こういうフリーゲーム文化と地続きの温度感のゲームならではの非常に良い経験ができたと感じています。 とはいえチープな事はなく、全体的に程よいリッチさはあり、ゲームとしてしっかりした造りです。 安さもあって、買ってよかったと胸を張って思えるゲームでした。 難易度はガッツリSTGと比べて結構簡単ではあると思いますが、STG独自のプレイングは必要かもしれないです。 （某東の方の奴をEasyでクリアできるくらいなら余裕でいけると思います） 口幅ったいかもしれないけど、STG未経験者にも是非遊んでもらいたいので、STG初級者なりにガチSTG初心者へ向けた簡単な助言を書かせていただきたいと思います。 ・パターンを作る 　STGは基本的には雑魚の沸き方や弾の出方は固定なので、ここでこう動くというパターンを構築して少しずつ攻略していくのが肝。半ば暗記ゲーでもあります。 　このゲームの攻略で言えば、盾をどこで使うかのパターン構築を主に考えることになると思います。 　状況の整理が出来てきて未来のことを考えられるようになれば、自然とプレイは安定していくはず。 　また、「どうすれば奇麗か」という想定解を考えることで、逆算的に奇麗なパターンを作れることもあります。 　 ・弾を線で捉える 　弾の進行方向をレーザーのように縦線で捉え、弾が来そうな場所からあらかじめ逃げておく。 　2種類の弾を同時に避けようとすると途端に難しくなるので、"まず1番目の弾から当たらない場所に行き、そこで細かく2番目を避ける"といったように、避ける時系列をずらして1つずつ避けていくのが重要です。 ・"自機狙い弾"を知る 　このゲームにもありますが、STGによくある敵の弾で、弾が生まれた瞬間の自分の位置を記憶してそこにめがけて直進する弾があります。これを俗に自機狙い弾と言ったりします。この手の弾は、実は横にちょんっと移動するだけで簡単に回避できます。 　弾が進路を確定するタイミングを感覚で覚えれば、あとは左右にちょっと移動するだけ。盾を使う場合でも、動かずに盾だけ使えばOKです。 STG未経験者でも、ドラマチックな小規模ゲームが好みの方は是非プレイしてみて欲しい作品です。 沢山のプレイヤーがこのゲームをクリアできることを願っています。

푸딩과 방패거문고 한글패치 배포합니다. https://blog.naver.com/robeureu/223654132009

All games from Katatema sensei are "Stop reading reviews, play it now" type. [strike]But the thing is this game doesn't have English mode so far! (2025/2) [/strike] [strike]Please add English so my gaijin friends can play this beautiful game❤ [/strike] (2025/11) They added English mode, thank you so much<3<3

曲も内容もいい良ゲー

This taut, focused game includes: - Two ("three") stages with some neat tricks - One puzzle, a story, and some endings - A wildly, unbelievably powerful bomb button. It is your only weapon - Long conversations with the Great Creep Cygnus I adore it. It's easy to play, doesn't overstay its welcome, and it finely hones your Bomb Instinct. Shout outs to the English translation, it's clear that Cygnus seriously hates that ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ lyre.