Riddled Corpses

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I like this game a lot and do recommend it if your looking for a brutal challenge however there are a few problems that being the PC version is horribly outdated and lacks both the story mode and the EX version features also the Switch and PS5 versions are also a bit outdated but they do at least have story mode and the EX features and while these versions are perfectly fine to play if you only have a Switch or PS5 they are still missing half of the screen filters if you want to get this game at it's absolute best pick it up on Xbox as that seems to be the most up to date version of the game

TLDR: Fun bullet-hell with retro feel for extreme-casuals only and absolutely no one else. Loading this up for the first time, I greatly appreciated the intro cutscenes, retro tunes, and pixel graphics. The old-school arcade and NES nostalgia is more effective here than in other modern pixel-based games I've played. That's it for the purely positive aspects of Riddled Corpses. The rest of the game is a mixed bag. Gameplay mechanics that the player has control of are skill-based in the sense that it plays like a twin-stick, bullet-hell, wave shooter with the level shifting into different areas as waves complete. That part is cool. However, the design of gameplay progression means you can't beat the game based on skill alone. As other reviews note, progression is a grind, you must level up your character with gold you collect from defeated enemies, and stages are impossible to beat without grinding to level up. To make this clear: If your character is low level, your attack power can be so weak that you may not even notice a mini-boss or boss' health lowering as you fire at them. You essentially do no damage. Stupid design. For this reason, I can't recommend the game to anyone other than the absolute most casual of casual gamers. Riddled Corpses must be like water torture for skill-based completionists. Adding to the water torture is the slow pace of the game. It feels like everything should be 1.25x or 1.5x faster and, with the gameplay loop being a total grind, this really is detrimental. I enjoyed the hour I played so far, but can't see coming back to it for any reason other than mindlessly casual entertainment. I imagine the updated console version is much more satisfying. I haven't played it, but the design here is so dumb that I wouldn't suggest paying any more than $1 or $2 for the current Steam version. The devs and publisher should upgrade the Steam release to the console version free for current owners and no longer sell this version of the game. Edit: There is some fun to be had if you edit the local save data to eliminate the grind. Hence, my additional play time.