Rheum

Rheum, developed and published by SpaceMyFriend, is an unconventional vertical shoot ’em up that embraces surreal biological imagery and fast-paced arcade design to create a memorable and eccentric experience. Instead of piloting a spacecraft through outer space, players control an eyeball descending through the interior of an infected body. This unusual premise immediately sets the tone for a game that prioritizes originality and bold aesthetic choices. The environment is organic, visceral, and intentionally strange, immersing players in a fleshy world filled with hostile microorganisms and pulsating hazards. At its core, Rheum follows classic shoot ’em up structure. Players navigate downward-scrolling stages while firing continuously at waves of enemies that appear in increasingly complex formations. Dodging projectiles becomes essential as bullet patterns grow denser and more aggressive. The gameplay leans into bullet-hell intensity at times, requiring precise movement and quick reflexes to survive chaotic encounters. While the mechanics are rooted in traditional arcade shooters, the unusual setting and visual presentation give the action a distinctive identity. Progression in Rheum is tied to collecting “rheum,” which functions as both a thematic element and a gameplay mechanic. Gathering this resource allows players to strengthen their character during runs, improving offensive capabilities and survivability. This adds a light roguelite layer to the experience, encouraging repeated attempts to push further and achieve higher scores. Unlockable content, including additional playable characters with varying shot patterns and attributes, expands replay value and allows experimentation with different playstyles. Boss encounters serve as major highlights. These larger enemies introduce intricate attack patterns and demand careful positioning. The visual chaos of these battles can be overwhelming, especially when projectiles blend into the organic backgrounds, but mastering their patterns delivers satisfying moments of triumph. The game also includes difficulty modes and endless variations, providing additional challenges for players who want to refine their skills and compete for leaderboard rankings. Visually, Rheum is striking and unapologetically bold. The dominant color palette features deep reds and organic textures, reinforcing the sense of navigating through a living body. The aesthetic may not appeal to everyone due to its intense coloration and grotesque themes, but it succeeds in carving out a unique identity within the crowded indie shooter landscape. Sound design complements the atmosphere with pulsating effects and energetic audio cues that match the frantic gameplay. While the presentation is imaginative, it can occasionally impact clarity. During high-intensity moments, distinguishing between enemy bullets and background elements may become challenging. This adds to the difficulty but can also feel visually overwhelming. However, for players accustomed to fast-paced arcade shooters, this added layer of chaos contributes to the adrenaline-driven nature of the experience. Overall, Rheum stands as a creative and energetic indie shoot ’em up that blends classic arcade action with a bizarre biological theme. Its replay-focused design, unlockable content, and escalating difficulty provide substantial engagement for fans of the genre. Though its unconventional visuals and challenging moments may limit its appeal to a niche audience, it offers a distinct and memorable take on the traditional vertical shooter formula. For players seeking something experimental and mechanically focused, Rheum delivers a fast-paced journey through one of the most unusual battlegrounds in indie gaming. Rating: 7/10

STG慣れしていても「何これ」感が強いです。 ロクに説明が書いてないのでざっくり解説すると、自機が下に向かって進むシューティングで、ショット＋ボムというオーソドックスに加え、パワーアップボタンが追加されているのが特徴みたいです。 また残機に加え最大５段階のシールド（画面ではHP）もあり、無くなった状態でミスると残機が減り、0でゲームオーバー。 パワーアップは大別して以下の２種類存在します。 ・パワーアップボタンで出てくるアイテム ・特定の敵を倒すと出てくる目玉アイテム パワーアップボタンのアイテムはゲージ（敵を倒すと出てくる黄色アイテムを集めると増加）が満タンのときに１度発動可能で、「ランダム」の種類のパワーアップアイテムが出ます。ここでのランダムの種類はショット、サブショット追加、ボムが主です。また発動時シールドが１回復します。 もう一つの目玉アイテムは時間カウント内で使える追加ショットが「ランダム」で加えられます。種類としては3Way、自機周りを覆うローリング、レーザーなど。 点数稼ぎに関しては ・敵に近接した状態で倒すと点数10倍 ・敵を倒すか敵弾にカスると倍率上昇し、最大15倍まで ・敵弾消し(発生はパワーアップボタンの方のパワーアップアイテム取得時や、ボス破壊など) が主と思われます。 肝心のゲームですが、しょっぱな感想を言うと、[h1]大味過ぎ[/h1]です。 ●どれが敵でどれが敵弾でどれがアイテムでどれが（略）・・・という見た目。 そのままです。せっかくデザインが独特なのに敵弾を避けてたら敵に当たっていたとかよくあります。破片なのか弾なのかもよくわからない点とか、いきなり画面外から敵が高速で突っ込んでくる場面も混乱します。 ●運要素が強すぎて安定しない。 出てくるパワーアップアイテムや目玉アイテムの種類が「ランダム」、敵が同じ見た目のザコでも弾撃つタイプや打ち返しを撃つタイプが居たり、何故か堅いザコも紛れ込んでいたりと「ランダム」、がとにかく多いので、マンネリのパターンゲーにならない代わりに安定できないのでイライラすると思います。 ●普通に難しい難易度EASYとHARDの区別があまり感じられない。 このゲームはEASYとHARDの２種類の難易度が存在しますが、EASYの最初から弾幕ゲーになってます。先程の運要素でもあった打ち返しとか(まれですが)来ます。HARDはその運要素の弾幕が多少ムズくなった（+ボス系などの追加攻撃）程度で、結果パターンが若干違う以外はそこまで変わらない感じです。 ●自機移動の速度が一定速度な上に、かなり狭いカスリ判定。 嫌いな人には嫌いでしょうが、こんな弾幕ゲーなのに低速とか存在しません。 その上ですが、稼ぎのためのカスリ判定が僅かながら存在しますが、コレが狭くて無理にカスリに行くと敵弾へ突っ込む事故を平気で起こします。 /*********************/ ただ悪くはないのですよ。隠し要素が結構ある（隠しボスとか）のでやりこみ要素はあるしデザインが独特なので魅力あるのですが、上記・・・特に運要素のせいでまず他人におすすめしづらいです。 ゲテモノ好きかマニア以外は回れ右で問題ないと思います。

For those who have played games like Lifeforce or Abadox, or wondered what Chronenberg's body horror would be like in a game, here you go. controls are fluid and easy to use, Although a focus button would be helpful, since it does share several bullet hell aspects. The music is nice, if understated to not be a distraction. The graphics are fitting for the game, and cartoonish enough to not make the experience nausiating.

一款弹幕射击游戏，游戏画风比较诡异（找不到更好的形容词了），游戏场景貌似在人体血管里 选择界面左面是难度/游戏模式选择，中间是角色选择，右侧是关卡选择，后面2个选择需要进度解锁 单周目总共3个关卡，每个关卡后面还有BOSS战。 2个难度，简单难度总共5条命，困难难度只有3条命，并且敌人子弹更密集 每条命有2滴血，可以受到两次攻击，血条在控制的单位的下方，比较不明显、只有受到伤害后会消失一下 界面左上角有个能量槽，攻击敌人积攒能量，积满后可以释放必杀，攻击正前方一直线的目标，BOSS战的时候基本不会增加，而且也没有全屏的范围，所以不算非常有用吧 一些感觉设计上的问题吧，导致难度非常非常高 1.己方的攻击范围太小，类似的弹幕游戏，一般来说主要是躲避子弹，攻击不是大范围就是追踪，而这个游戏只有正前方，导致的问题就是敌人击杀很慢，只能不停去找怪，但你又要躲避子弹，走位非常麻烦 2.游戏虽然有炸弹的设计，可以清屏，但这数量用了就没了，除了消灭敌人掉落外，死亡后是不会恢复的，导致生存能力又降了一个档次 3.己方的动画效果太多，包括打怪后掉落的能量会跟着自己让你方便拾取、还有不停冒数字。非常容易和敌人的子弹搞混，莫名其妙就中弹了 4.第三关的BOSS战时间太TM长了，大概8-10分钟，长时间的高强度躲避，有些让人觉得腻 不过游戏价格便宜，质量还算比较不错

Rheum is yet another of literally hundreds of lazy amateur 2D retro bullet hell shoot 'em ups infesting Steam and lowering the average quality of all video games everywhere. This one has an oesophagus theme, which is a terrible idea, but then again, so is reskinning a shoot 'em up template from the GameMaker Studio construction kit and pretending to be a game developer. And then inflicting that on Steam gamers after paying $100 to publish garbage through Valve's disastrous Steam Direct program. Yet here we are. Anyway this is a really badly made shmup. There's a slew of defects on top of the shallow, mediocre gameplay and craptastic "art". From a technical perspective, the game doesn't meet basic minimum requirements that most PC gamers expect as standard. A choice was made to use obsolete, decades old retro pixel "art" as a substitute for contemporary PC graphics. It's unclear if this is due to lack of budget or talent, regardless, the overall visual quality of the game is extremely low as a result. There's no option to change the resolution and no useful graphics tweaks. There's no way to ensure this is running at the native resolution of your display. There's no guarantee this game will look right on any PC as a result of this hamfisted design decision. The game only displays in 4:3 pillarboxed aspect ratio. It's possible they developed this using an old CRT they found in a dumpster, or this game has been specifically designed for people gaming on PC's from 1995... either way, this isn't really acceptable in the modern era of PC gaming. However, it gets worse, as the developer assumes your screen resolution is, well, arbitrarily grabbed from the available ones, so the developer decided my system must display the game at 1920x2160 ultra pillarboxed. Why would anyone do that? It's basically just sheer incompetence. But this is something gamers shouldn't have to put up with. The controls can't be customised, which will be an annoyance for many, but it can also render the game unplayable for differently-abled gamers, left handed gamers or gamers using AZERTY or other international keyboard layouts. While this is on PC, it has all the hallmarks and deficiencies of a console game, from the clunkier than needed control scheme to the less than cutting edge graphics. There's 10's of thousands of PC games on Steam, and PC gamers deserve only the best. This might not appeal to many gamers due to the lack of PC-centric design. It's unclear why this game was never accepted on the video game console appliances it seems to have been designed for. Some of the defects in the game can be attributed to the choice of using the GameMaker Studio construction kit/toolset. This is a very poor quality toolset favoured by amateur developers as it's cheap and requires little in the way of development skill, but unfortunately has very limited capabilities. Just as you can't make a silk purse out of a sows ear, you can't make a great video game if you use a terrible engine. GameMaker Studio is most commonly used to make retro pixel shovelware and cash grabs. A strong argument can be made that construction kits like GameMaker Studio should never be used to make games for profit, as the "developer", SpaceMyFriend has done here. These construction kits are intended to teach people some of the basic principles of game development, and to make small demos to pass around with friends. They're not intended to replace to actual work of real, professional game developers. So it's inappropriate when amateurs try to use these for profit, without any actual, real game development effort taking place. This doesn't result in products that have any real meaningful value for gamers. These technical defects push this game below acceptable standards for any modern PC game. The poor quality of this game is reflected by how many people spent time with it. At the time of this review, SteamDB shows the all-time peak player number was only 4 players. This is a remarkably low number, and now, the only player activity occurs once or twice a month, presumably someone loading it up to see what it is then quickly uninstalling it. Considering there's over 120 million gamers on Steam and well over 50,000 games for gamers to choose from, the overwhelming lack of interest in this low quality game is to be expected. Rheum is relatively cheap at $3 USD, but it's not worth it. Given the defects and quality issues with the game, coupled with the unrealistic price, this is impossible to recommend. This is also competing with over 9,000 free games available on Steam, many of them far better than this paid product.

I'd say SpaceMyFriend has done it again but this is an older title (2018) that I've just discovered. I love his visceral themes and just the quirky nature of his games, and all the hidden little extras you can find if you delve deep enough. Bosses are hard as nails! Replayable. Rheum's a superb top-scrolling shooter which quickly turns into a bullet hell. Super challenging; has secrets if you can survive long enough to find them. Love the visceral theme, great little game. For more niche curation, follow me at: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/27440015-CSH-Picone/

very cool game

Deserves more atention

Nice shoot 'em that will turn into a bullet hell during its bossfights. I especially like the upgrade mechanic where taking permanent upgrades makes you weaker for a short time. This way you always have to keep in mind the long term and short term implications of taking an upgrade. The bullets and patterns are always clearly distinguishable, never had problems with that. Only major complaint I have, is the lacking soundscape as there are very few sound effects in relation to what's going on on the screen, which feels very odd. If you're looking for a shmup that's a little bit out of the ordinary, give Rheum a go.

# 我喜欢的画风 但真的很难 比那些清版射击混乱太多 目前只能打到第三关 箭头攻击真的快把我弄瞎了！