Shell of a King

interesting mix of bullet hell + metroidvania + souls genres combined, first run will take around 10-15h and there is enough of hidden stuff/endings to add more hours for 100% completion. Map is interconnected very well letting you to go anywhere you want to from the start with multiple ways to get to different locations while game is also not holding your hand to stop you from entering dangerous places where you arent ready which makes exploration very good and rewarding when you get good items early. Difficulty wise game wasnt too hard for anybody experienced with bullet hells/shmups besides needing to be vary of no invul on hit so multiple bullets can hit you at same time but you do have dodge roll to work around situations like that.

Pros: - fun bosses - interesting world and level design - build customization - multiple endings - rewarding exploration - lots of secrets - never experienced any bugs Cons: - a bit shorter than I’d like - a default control scheme was wonky imo, but allows rebinding so easily fixable - camera rotation occasionally makes some areas annoying to fight in, as your view of certain enemies and bullets can be completely blocked at some angles. Final thoughts: - if you like bullet hell that’s not too extreme, but still challenging, it’s a very fun game and worth the asking price. It feels crafted with a lot of care and is a densely packed world to explore.

a real hidden gem game, has an ambitious vision and doesnt compromise in any aspects. i hope this game gets more attention

Fantastic game. This deserves a lot more attention than it's currently received. This is what gaming is about.

It is simply peak, sad to see I was the sole player on. Deserves far more players. Simply a well crafted ROTMGsouls-like. Has an IMMENSE amount of care and effort poured into the world and progression. All the items are real fun upgrades, and the addition of some of them being rare enemy drops itches the white bag attainer in me. Perfect if you want both a metroidvania with fun progression and a singleplayer Realm Of The Mad God-esque bullet hell ( I've been yearning for years ) Simply Peak

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.

This game is absolutely amazing. I originally saw the game on Reddit and loved the premise, but thought it would be more of a proof of concept. What I got was a game with a wonderful sound-track, interesting mechanics, bosses, items, and it was a game that 100% got better over time until the end. Easily one of my favorite hidden gems I've ever found, worth every penny.

This is the first review I have ever taken the time to write over the years. This game is a hidden gem if I have ever seen one. Honestly, in the first 30mins to and hour I felt kind of unsure about the controls and camera movement; however, once you get the hang of it it's solid. This has to be by far one of the best indie/solo dev games out there. The gameplay is great, the souls like aspects play well and the game doesn't feel to forgiving but at the same time gives you that souls frustration. It's amazing...play it

This is probably one of THE BEST bullet-hell games that I have played. Imagine this game as realm of the mad god, but 10 times better, and a souls-like. I literally have nothing bad to say about this game, the combat is super fun (especially with the camera rotate), it's not insanely hard, but still a great challenge for players experienced with souls-like and bullet hell games, the music is really good and the build variety is amazing. This game needs and deserves way more attention than it has. overall I would give it a 9/10, this game is probably in my top 10 favorite games right now.

Despite some issues, it is very cool game.