Service with a Shotgun

The concepts are fun, with good music and a relaxing atmosphere, the zombies making it a little stressful but in a good way, the game had a lot of potential, and the first two chapters were pretty fun. And then it got progressively worse. Every new chapter completely wipes out your progress. Including whatever money you had saved, so youre barely able to enjoy whatever "build mode" might come after. Which is also an issue, because its not always a "build mode". Sometimes its randomized and you only get barriers, sometimes its only combat, and sometimes its a.. skill tree...?? Which sounds fun! But I had ZERO time to enjoy any of those. By the time you're JUST ABOUT unlock what you want, the chapter is over. you get zero breathing room to actually enjoy anything you saved up for. The first chapter's build mode was very fun, and I had a really cool setup for about.. one day. And right before I could get a few turrets (or even one), the chapter ended and there wasn't a build mode anymore. When it was brought back, the defenses you got were purely randomized and the best you were getting was 12 barricades, 1 barbed wire, and maybe an electric trap. After that it was a skill tree...? And it hinted at a glue trap upgrade which makes you think build mode is being brought back, but it wasn't. And what you upgraded in that skill tree was thrown out the window when that chapter ended too. That's the first big issue, the second, the writing. oh my god the writing. what happened. It was interesting and down to earth at first, a little silly, some corny modern jokes, but otherwise fine. It felt like the moment the "cult" stuff got introduced, (chapter 3), the characters became husks and the writing went full-blown tumblr mode. like, REALLY REALLY over the top and super corny childish writing. The character you play as completely switched up and started being overdramatic and yelling all the time. it was ROUGH to read. and it only kind of went back to normal halfway through chapter 4, and afterwards. The 3d sections are cool for a minute and then just.. kind of boring? The first one with the car turret was AWESOME and got me really excited for the rest of the game! but the vent/doom-esc one toward the end was kinda just.. meh? It feels like the creators had these really cool ideas, and just threw them in without giving it more thought or polish. The final chapter was just purely talking, and decorating the community/memorial of someone you lost, and catching up with everyone. It would've been really sweet if I didn't feel so unfulfilled over everything. I'm not even really sad when these characters die? You have about 5 minutes to get to know them total, and then they get written off. And if they leave, it feels like they've only been gone for a literal day? Ironically, for a game with this much dialogue, I still feel like I hardly know ANYTHING about any of these people??? They feel so one-dimensional, especially after chapter 3. The entire game I've been wondering when id be able to finally get a damn turret </3 How are you gonna tease me with automation mechanics and not even let me touch them. Not even an endless mode either. AND THE WORST PART! I DIDNT EVEN GET TO BUY ALL THE PARTY DECORATIONS IN THE FINAL CHAPTER EVEN WITH A FIXED INCOME??? WHAT!!! The credits song is very nice, I just wish i could enjoy it without feeling like i got jipped out of every damn build mode

I wouldn't recommend this because I think all gameplay points are underdeveloped. I wish there were more NPCs to sell things and talk to, instead of the same 5 characters and guest appearances. None of the cast stuck out to me as memorable or likeable that much. It's not that they have their flaws, but all they really bring are just flaws. It'd be cool if extra attention towards certain NPCs unlocked upgrades, or something. For the most part, the whole cast goes off to either find a solution to get into the next chapter, or off doing something unrelated and useless. I'm okay with the reward for remembering key details in conversations, but there are more annoying instances than good ones. I missed a reward once because I couldn't remember the spelling of a character's name, and the multiple choice options were "Gordon/Gorden/Gordan". In-game, the protagonist would be saying the name out loud, so it would all sound the same. Overall, not a fan of this gameplay bit. I think losing all your resources every chapter is ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, and I don't like new gameplay variaitions across the chapters that much. A later chapter had a skill tree that I think should've been in the game earlier. Another chapter had loot crates that 90% of the time were glue traps. It'd be cool if the shooting gallery evolved to a more tower-defense type game, like I thought it was going to be. All in all it would've been better to keep persistent upgrades, items, and buildings across all chapters and remixing them to fit a challenge, rather than throwing out the system per chapter. Chapter 2 had a cool thing with a second enemy lane opening up, but none of the building aspects of the first chapter. I get that's a choice for the narrative, but I didn't think it was a good one. If the devs read this, I hope they consider what's important to the gameplay and develop on that throughout rather than trying to reinvent every chapter. It's a short game, so I'll give props for trying to keep it fresh, even though I don't think it paid off. Make the cast seem more useful, too. It'd be cool to assign them errands or keep them to help defend or talk.

Very enjoyable short and quirky visual novel. The boomer shooter section is a very fun touch too. Controller genie was a lot funnier than I expected. Good game!

This feels really unfinished only praise I can give is that it has potential. Chapter 5 barely exists, new random mechanics that gets forgotten after each chapter, 4th wall jokes attempt in game like reusing sprites is just not good, idk anymore all I could think about is how disappointing it is tbh

A solid short game. The pacing in some chapters felt a little off (some rushed, some too slow), but other than that, I really enjoyed playing this! :)

I saw I think a NextFest vid that included the demo for this game a while ago and I thought it seemed quirky enough to be a laugh. The idea of being a minimum wage store clerk in a postapocalyptic zombie hellscape seemed really funny, and the idea that there were shooting mechanics attached to what really is more of like a nice breezy VN kind of thing got me intrigued, and it didn't hurt that it was cheap. Well, all my initial impressions held up, the game IS funny and the setting has the right amount of worldbuilding and stakes, but what I don't think I was really expecting was for it to get so damn heartfelt and sincere near the end. Like the wacky, zany writing is the initial impression you get of course, but the actual character growth of the folks you deal with (well those who do grow, some don't, just like real life) really surprised me. This was an unexpected treat and an easy recommend especially for the price. Much love and best wishes to the dev, and I hope to see more from you in the future!

TFW NO AMANDA GF

本应玩起来挺休闲，但烂俗到一定境界的剧情加文笔体验起来就有点流汗了， 不过体量还蛮大的，每隔一段加了点新玩法的小游戏，特别是结尾的高速射击还挺意外的，虽然手感相当稀烂 BGM倒不错

A tower defence, visual novel & FMV style shooter mish-mash, for 5 I would take the bait.

Really liked the heart and humor service with a shotgun has, all the way to the very end i was in it for the story, love it.