Shell of a King

I saw this one in an ad and checked it out since the genres spoke to me. I'm really enjoying it so far - combat is well-done, exploring feels rewarding, and bosses are engaging. I really enjoy its hand-drawn aesthetic (I think the Steam banner doesn't do a good job of relaying that style - my friend immediately thought it was going to have an anime aesthetic). It really just checks all of the boxes for me.

i'm going to murder that sock puppet

Cool game, quite a difficult on start but once you get into the flow its really fun. Also pretty complicated, there is Official Shell of a King Wiki I recommend later on in the game if you wanna push for 100%. All in all 10/10 for me.

Amazing game and extremely underrated.

I'm really happy I bought this game. You can definitely tell a lot of love was put into it. I honestly had a blast playing it all the way to the neutral ending, and I'll probably end up going for the rest of the endings. It is pretty difficult but that is to be expected. It is basically a bullet-hell soulsvania after all. Very unique. There is an easy mode for those that would rather try that, but I haven't tried it as achievements are then disabled and I prefer a challenge anyway. The soundtrack for this game is also really nice. The charm system is really cool and offers a lot of build variety. Also I have to mention that the dev for this game gets bonus points for responding super fast when I reached out for help with a certain puzzle. Mad respect for that. But I would most definitely recommend this game. Especially if you like bullet-hells and soulsvanias. Underrated for sure!

Don't post reviews very often, but after completing NG++, this lil' hidden gem absolutely deserves it! Great boss fights, banger OST, smooth controls, lots of items that tweak more than just stats, and despite being someone who typically doesn't care for story in games, the lore and world building earned my full attention in this one! During the 3 cycles didn't bump into a single bug either. Just beautifully done! ^^ TLDR: If The Realm of The Mad God was actually a good game with fun exploration, progression and without enforced permadeath nonsense.

What a great game, glad to have discovered and gave it a shot, very cool hidden gem!

it's pretty fun and chill to play

im bout to put 100 hours into this

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.