Shell of a King

Good souls indie fun

I don't write game reviews often and It's very hard for me to recommend games. but in this case, it's an easy recommend. The game is a mix of Realm of the Mad God gameplay with Dark Souls/Undertale exploration/narrative. You know the drill: blind exploration, multiple endings, missable stuff, hard boss fights. Besides the gameplay, I REALLY loved the OST. It reminds of an old game from the PS2 era called Eternal Poison which also had great OST. I want the dev to make more games in this vein, the formula clearly works. As I mentioned, I'm a very picky gamer so, even thought I loved the game enough to get all achievements, I still have some feedback: - I'm not sure the leveling system really contributed to the experience. I did do some grinding for levels and it's just not a fun experience, running the same path over and over to farm coins. Admitedly, it's not really necessary to farm levels in order to beat the game, at least not in the first run. But in NG+ and beyond things get ugly quickly and you want every advantage you can get your hands on. You can either remove the leveling or make it checkpoint based rather than grind based. - Add an achievement of some sort linked to beating the game on it's highest difficulty (AFAIK that is the "normal" one). It just makes everything more enjoyable when there is official recognition from the devs when you decide to take on their challenge. In a similar vein, add some recognition for beating the game without using healing. The game has this option but there is no incentive to take it AFAIK. - Please never add any item that requires constant click spam to use ever again (Ballista) - Not a fan of challenges you only get one attempt at, it just promotes save scumming. I do understand that is a tool for storytelling, but is still frustrating for people that actually want to tackle the challenge. Anyway, none of my complaints really stopped me from enjoying the game. It deserves way more attention than it's getting. GG, dev, keep up the good work.

Binding of Isaac Souls-like, basically. Feels very solid, like it was constructed with a clear vision in mind. Fun and cute and occasionally difficult, though much less so than is traditional in the genre. Definitely worth a shot if you like bullet hells and RPGs

9.5/10. This is a truly unique piece of media, one of those indie games that makes the space stand out for creative ideas to thrive. The combat echoes known things like Soulslikes because of its dodge roll, but it's at its core a bullet-hell game-- with RPG mechanics to get stronger and customize your kit as you progress through the game, with lots of variety in how you do it thanks to dozens of options, every enemy type in the game has a unique tool as a drop that can modify your style. Visually, it reminds me of the Square Enix HD-2D games that have been picking up steam lately, but instead of sprite art, it leans a little more towards classic Flash animations-- like something from the Newgrounds days stepped into the modern world, or like Binding of Isaac. I don't believe I ever saw a single puzzle *repeat*, every time I came across one it was new and fresh, and every corner of the world was interesting and worth exploring. This game deserves to be mentioned alongside some of the other greats like Celeste, in my opinion, it was a world that I couldn't stop probing at and trying to find more of through the entirety of my journey. There was a sense of wonder that I don't think I've felt in navigating and poking my head around since the original Dark Souls.

This is an extremely endearing little bullet-hell RPG. Solo developed, it shows all the heart and soul of a game made with love. Highly recommended, especially for the asking price.

Amazing game and extremely underrated.

Love the game. Worth the price and much more.