Twnkl Gft 2: A Lust For Blood

Really easy to pick up despite its overwhelming first impression, the act of learning the levels and working through them bit by bit feels really rewarding. You're given just enough time to lock back in between stages, keeping a constant momentum of play going, and eventually the nuances in one's routing start to come so naturally that delivering the titular gifts to their targets becomes the background noise of piloting the non-titular Christmas Person. The only real failing point is that the controls for navigating the menu are woefully baffling, but once you're in the game itself, that can be mostly ignored.

I loved the part where santa attacks and kills you with his secret sonic blast, great work!

I go "pew pew" and children go "yippee!" Also a Santa figurine screamed at me. The chibi worlds are aesthetically really dope Also the cutscene/shop art is legitimately peak

christmas gnomes

very fun single-stick arcade shooter with cute orb stages. worth full price, extra worth it on sale. i enjoy the snappy stage transitions which remind me of Nex Machina's. i hope to see more orb-based shooters! the game looks super beautiful. in particular i like the coins and the main character design. pacing feels better after you've gone through it once so you know what you're doing. (never trust a review whose playtime starts with a zero lol) don't believe the game when it says there's no lore. there's more lore than you could ever imagine

I have no idea what's going on but I'm having fun. It's like a baby sensory video but for people who are old enough to develop hand eye coordination

this boss is going to make me the christmas joker

i don't know what i'm doing. i keep losing at the final boss. "skill issue" i repeat to myself, preparing for another loss

Twnkl Gft 2 has a few positive things going for it, but I wouldn't recommend it. Pros: +If you're a dopamine fiend or have TikTok brain, you'll probably enjoy the speed at which this game just... goes. You move fast, shoot fast, and part of the level design actually encourages you to stop for a bit, but it doesn't tell you how to do that in-game (RT on controller). +The art in general is charming, simplified shapes and character designs are pleasing to look at, although limited in terms of how many there are. +Sound effects are fun, smacking kids in the face with presents shot out from your present gun is quite funny for about 30 seconds. The damage sound effect being a loud boom sucks, though, and there's no separate volume option for music / sound effects. Cons: -You get the dopamine from an arcade game of "score go up" but that's about it in terms of satisfying feedback from this game. The moment-to-moment gameplay of wrapping around the planets to shoot presents just isn't all that fun. I'm not sure why I need to hold down the shoot button either, since there's no reason to ever stop shooting, you might as well have it auto-fire. -Although the levels are short, they aren't that memorable. Most of them look the same even though you are supposedly jettisoning yourself to a different planet for each one. -I had felt exhausted by the game and wanted it to end SOONER actually, which is not a great feeling for a $3 arcade game to have. The ending being a mid-tier Undertale boss was also uninspiring and kind of lame. Overall, I didn't hate Twnkl Gft 2, but I can't say I liked it enough to say much about it. 5/10.