So, I'm 5 hours into this game and what do I have to say about it? Three simple words:
IT'S FRIKKING AWESOME!
What if you aren't a hardcore SHMUP nerd? What if you don't get along with those 'bullet hell' thingies? Is this worth having? Let me convince you that even if you aren't a traditional shoot em up fan, this title is worth your time.
Schildmaid feels like a classic 1990's horizontal shoot 'em up and it pays careful attention to the tropes and expectations of SHMUPs past, but it is loaded with modern sensibilities, a fair difficulty curve and a slick gameplay loop that is easy to learn and addicting to master.
Some shoot 'em ups will bombard you with waves of enemies and a blistering cavalcade of on-screen objects to dodge. Others will obscure the real gameplay behind arcane scoring systems and hidden difficulty modifiers. This can leave newer players intimidated, often unable to get past the fun of surviving the first few levels. Schildmaid does none of these things - it treats its audience with respect, guiding you into its systems, being upfront about how to play and score well, all the while providing accessibility and difficulty options to keep any level of player equally engaged. It's a fantastic balancing act that few SHMUPs seem to be able to manage.
Schildmaid has several difficulty modes and a dynamic difficulty adjuster that makes the game harder or easier according to how well you complete levels. To start out you are offered a quick training zone to learn in. After this, a new player is offered the easiest difficulty mode of the game and is flown into battle. The rate of progression is steady and the game lets the player have enough space to find their own feet. If the player does well by not dying before completing the level, the game rewards that player with additional scoring potential by raising their maximum score multiplier and raises the difficulty of the next level a little. If the player dies, the game backs off the difficulty a little to help them cope.
This dynamic difficulty adjustment ensures that the more skilled player is challenged and rewarded with scoring opportunities while the less skilled players are offered chances to improve and progress. It’s very clever indeed and makes the game very welcoming to new players while not dampening the fun for veterans.
Players have the choice of three different ships with differing speeds, super-weapons and slightly different shot/missile loadouts and as they progress they unlock new game modes and even a 4th ship to play in one of them.
Players with visual impairments or those that struggle to track objects on a busy screen are catered for as the game also includes the most complete menu of accessibility settings I've ever seen in a SHMUP. It allows you to add or remove certain effects, highlight enemy ships on screen, take away in-game effect markers and many more. I've never seen a game that was so determined to pay attention to its audience's potential needs. Schildmaid won't mollycoddle you as a baby player or assume that you are a badass arcade god who needs to eat bullets right now - it genuinely creates a welcoming environment to enjoy your gameplay experience.
Dynamic difficulty isn't Schildmaid's only clever trick and it’s the central gimmick of the game that gives it a “one more try” feel.
The central gimmick is the shield that your ship is equipped with. The shield charges over time and, when charged, getting hit by a bullet won't destroy your ship. Instead it will ACTIVATE your shield, protecting you against all incoming bullets for as long as the shield has energy. Killing enemies tops up the shield gauge, while collecting bullets with the shield fills your score multiplier and powers up your ship's weapons systems. If you ever run out of shield energy, you enter a DANGER mode, where you are no longer protected and when 1 hit will destroy you until your shield is charged once more.
This shield mechanic is very clever - it acts as the main power-up mechanism, meaning that to get more deadly you must fly INTO bullets, rather than avoid them. Bullet collection acts as the main scoring function, meaning score-chasers will try and find patterns in the enemies and delay shooting them to flood the screen with bullets for score, only to snipe tactically at enemies to keep that all-important shield gauge as full as possible and extent the length of time the shield is active. It's a beautiful dance and becomes second nature very quickly thanks to the game's dynamic difficulty curve and training mode.
The music score and SFX is superb. The writers of the music were very careful to keep a couple of main musical themes, remixing the recognisable riffs and melodies for different levels so you always KNOW that you are playing Schildmaid.
The graphics are clear - hazards are outlined in red to show what you shouldn't fly into. Enemy bullets are clear and take priority over any other sprite on-screen. Bullet colours change to visually indicate whether you are in DANGER mode, shield ready or shield active modes. You're never in doubt as to whether you can collect bullets.
The superweapons are meaty and recharge with enemy kills, so you get to use them often.
Japanese sounding audio cues tell you when superweapons, powerups and shields are ready. No need to look at the UI.
There are hidden secret bosses, awards, unlockable game modes and extra difficulties to keep players coming back again and again.
Schildmaid isn’t perfect. It does drop the ball in a few areas. These include:
* The amount of particle effects on-screen when the screen is busy can make it easy to lose sight of hazards among the explosions and effects. (NOTE: The excellent accessibility settings allow you to turn off these particle effects, or reduce visual noise in other ways to help you play)
* The Japanese audio prompts aren't as clear as they could be (but you do get used to them)
* You'll see the same boss ship at the end of many levels, just like in the old Gradius game (this is a fantastic nostalia nod, but can get samey for players looking for variety)
* The levels aren't different enough from one another and can get a little boring (the excellent music helps to make up for some of this lack of diversity)
Overall, Schildmaid MX is not only worth your time, but an essential component in any new SHMUP player's library or for older SHMUP fans looking for a different take on the genre. It never outstays it's welcome and is well worth the price of entry. I look forward to what this Dev produces next.
Bring on Schildmaid 2!
