RefRain - prism memories -

A very well designed shmup with interesting mechanics - a bullet cancel and a "special meter" similar to fighting games, that fills when killing enemies and can be used to perform 4 different levels of special attack. Not so hard as to put off new players, but with plenty of challenge and depth for experienced players. Definitely one of the best shumps on steam. Also plays perfectly on linux.

Interesting and quite original shmup with unique game mechanics.i don´t know any shmup similiar. The graphics are a bit dull, but do their job and bullet visibility is ok. Sound and music are good. The bullet patterns are quite fascinating, as i never see some of them in other types of shmuips. The game looks like a bullet heell , but truly some patterns are classic shmups patterns disguised as bullet hell. A game truly hard to define and perhpas it is his biggest strength. The game is fun.

One of the best shmups I've played on steam. Great soundtrack, fun bullet patterns, and multiple difficulties. I'd say a good shmup for beginners. Great game.

良作縦シュー。 起動しないと思われたが、「フォグを表示する」をOFFにしたら起動はできた。 おかしいな、 購入当初はそこをいじらなくても起動できたはずなのに。

A fun little game which acts as a sequel to another older SHMUP named Samidare, even though RefRain plays completely differently. You have a choice between three ships of balance, speed, and power as generalized archetypes the ships follow. The thing that makes this game really go click is mastering the use of your MEFA2 system to stun bigger enemies or damage shielded enemies, along with smart use of Concept Reactor to turn bullets on screen into more ammo for your MEFA2 system with proper timing. The game is designed in a way where you can get good enough to have a steady flow of resources to use if you know what you are doing. There's a lot of fast stuff to deal with so you are expected to abuse the mechanics to their fullest in order to survive. Not a traditional SHMUP where you spend a majority of the time dodging like it is a Cave game but more about learning how to maximize your aggressiveness and time your MEFA2 and Concept Reactor for bigger gains. Pretty fun game once it clicks.

This game is really cool. It has that hackerman "I'm in." with a side of diving into the internet type of aesthetic that I adore. The ship variants have their own unique personality in their playstyles and even down to the little desktop environments before you hop into a run. Using your bombs as the gauge builds up lets you pull off combos that are really satisfying, and I like that if you do it right they have a portrait cut-in with extra effects. The boss fights have intricate patterns that are as fun to look at as they are to weave through. These also let you stack up TONS of extends if used in the right places, so that helps the game be more beginner friendly. The music is also very catchy. I like the notes provided from the composer in the music room, always nice to get insight on how they intended to make it sound like a perfect fit. Sound design in general tickles your brain. I think my only complaint is the noise when you shoot some of those cube enemies, it's INCREDIBLY GRATING, way louder than anything else like nails on a chalkboard, lol.

Worth it for the music alone but the game is very fun too. The menus are very charming as they change based on which character/ship you want to play as and fit the whole VR/computer aesthetic very well.

Touhou with spaceships instead of anime girls, and a dash of Treasure. A must-play for any shmup fan, but especially the people who couldn't get into Touhou due to the anime girl thing. Intensely creative and satisfying bullet patterns with an emphasis on micro-dodging but a dash of arcade vibes to keep you on your toes. Secondary weapon-system nicely feeds into bombs as well creating a cohesive gameplay loop of building meter to bomb to build meter to bomb with some tasty bullet cancels.

For nearly the first hour of playing RefRain - prism memories, I was considering not giving this game a recommendation. The game wasn't bad, but I was not finding anything particularly fun about it. However, on my most recent play through, some of the mechanics started to fall into place. RefRain - prism memories is a vertical scrolling shoot 'em up that has the player taking the role of a computer hacker flying through cyberspace. Which I think is a neat premise to a shmup, but in this game it is so far in the background that it is almost not there. If that's a good thing or not is up to the player I suppose. There's emails for each of the three playable characters and some text on the stage screen, but the color and graphics barely convey this. The color is a lot of blues and grays for everything not bullets. So much so that it was enemy ships I was hitting more than enemy bullets. Especially when I was getting greedy in grabbing points pick ups that jump further up screen when enemies are destroyed. The graphics themselves are largely simple shapes for enemy designs. Though, they have enough differentiation that player learns what sort of attack to expect. The backgrounds are a mixed bag. I always like shmup city backgrounds, so I like Stage 2's high rise building background, but it doesn't really fit the hacking premise to be honest. Stage 3 has more of a computer chip look but it's more of an impression of microchips than anything. Still, the multi-layer background design is nice and simple enough that it never creates confusing in the game play. Overall, I just found the designs a little plain and drab. The music was excellent. I especially liked the piano piece on Stage 2. Even now, I can't remember when the game transitioned from calming music to more frenetic techno stuff. Probably at the boss fight. General sound effects were serviceable. They work well in the confines of the game. Game play took a while for me to figure out a more optimized way to play. Originally, I was hanging back and saving my special attacks for the bosses. I was finding that outside of popcorn enemies, it was taking so time to destroy things. Often I couldn't finish off a whole squadron of enemies. It was only my last play through I started to have a better idea of where enemies were going to be that I could get more point blank. As well as making more liberal use of my special attacks. This was a game changer. RefRain - prism memories really seems to want the play make use of rechargeable special attacks more than most other shooters. Once I started doing that, I found myself keeping control of the play area far better. In turn yielding a better play experience. An element I like with RefRain - prism memories is the telegraphing of certain shots. Often incredibly fast and power enemy attacks have a line or a circular icon appear on the screen split seconds before the attack actually happens. It's still not a lot of time to get out of the way. But once you know they sort of attacks are coming, it certainly helps make sure your not in the path of them. So, I do recommend RefRain - prism memories. It may take some time and a few play throughs to find things to like about it. Definitely try each of the characters to figure out which one matches your play style the most. It may take a little more time than most shooters even with the game's rather simple mechanics. But once your start to figure out how the game wants those mechanics used, I think STG players will like this game.

妹子很可爱，音乐也很不错，非常推荐。 唯一想吐槽的就是击中敌机时候的音效听着有点头痛