The Rush

Gorgeous, colorful retro-styled shmup with arcade sound effects, that plays really well. The difficulty is punishing, but it has menu options that make it quite accessible. For instance, there's a practice mode where you can load up any level, including ones you haven't reached yet in the score-tracking default mode. So that you can see the nifty level design, or jump directly into the boss fights. That's a nice touch, for those of us who might otherwise struggle to go on an extended run and see all of what the game offers up in visuals and gameplay. Pretty awesome addition to my library of shmups, and it's free!

I'm rushing it

Excellent Shoot'em'Up that shouldn't be so unknown. There are even almost no gameplay videos on youtube, what a shame. I think that it costs nothing is a steal, it has the quality and polish of a commerical game leaning into the MSX style aestethic, but with a lot of more stuff going on the screen. It definitely caters to more experienced shoot em up players, but there are settings allowing you to adjust the odds in your favor, to a certain degree, without trivializing the whole experience. You can also play every level on "Training Mode" from the start, that is sufficient to help you building the skills for a single credit clear and reach the ending. But even then, the game promises to have more in stock for people who challenge higher difficulty levels. It's a rewarding experience leveling up your own skill even though I don't like games that are so highly adjustable, there is a certain upper limit, that doesn't come across offending, making you feel you earned the ending, even on easiest possible settings. The Rush is really what the name implies 35 minutes high tension gameplay, keeps me on the edge of my seat and is always worth coming back for. The plethora of weapons and level variety doesn't grow old so fast and were perfectly timed to captivate you with little to no downtime.