Vacant Kingdom

Yes, yes, yes! Charming RPG-ish game with bullet hell bosses that are hard and frustrating, without being impossible. The puzzles also succeed in making you feel somewhat intelligent.

what the hell did I just play

Transparency Notice: I received the game from the developer as a result of participating in beta testing. This game is a fun combo of a bullet hell boss battle game, but with a fun puzzle-filled adventure in between, and lovely characters you meet along the way with funny dialogue. This is an awesome combo because typically bullet hells are just battles, and adventure game might not have the most in depth combat, but this game does both well and both gameplays compliment each other adding a feeling of variety. I'm not great at bullet hells, but I found the medium difficulty really fun. I had to put sa good amount of tries in the boss battles, but eventually I could get through them. The final boss was particularly tough, but it felt good when I beat it. As a bullet hell, the game is also a unique experience. The bosses are really varied and you will have to move all over the area in most battles. You also get a slow down mechanic to help you gt through tough patterns. Finally, the ability to change your main shot and special shot makes for some fun ways to replay bosses and can even lead to decision making as certain combos might actually be more useful on certain bosses. Then the adventure part is pure classic stuff you might expect from JRPGs or Zelda style games. You've got outdoor and indoor areas as well as puzzle sections in between with cool people you meet along the way. The game even has a side objective of inviting NPCs to the the starting area, encouraging interactions with the characters and adding a fun side challenge. Exploration and optional puzzles can lead you to finding new bullets and specials that feed into the combat part of the game. There's even some secret bosses to find. If I had to make criticisms, I was hoping there would have been more major areas in the game, but I am happy that the ones that are in the game are well made and even allow solving problems in varied ways. The game also doesn't have the most interesting plot as a whole, but the journey itself and the characters you meet along the way are great. Basically, don't expect a super epic or complex plot. In summary, a great combo of bullet hell and adventure. If you already love both of these, this is the game for you. Might even be a good way to get into bullet hells if your someone who hasn't played them but are used to games with a JRPG like progression.

"Vacant Kingdom" is a quite unique little title: A pixelated top-down twin-stick bullet hell and a puzzle- and exploration-adventure. The bullet-hell passages are quite challenging and the puzzles can get tricky too, but apart from that it still manages to create a somewhat "chill" and meditative experience thanks to its quirky writing and design. A great game by a single developer that really deserves more attention!

an awesome bullet hell rpg combo. this game is just great, the soundtrack rocks, the bosses are good, the gameplay is fun, the puzzles are good (but for my monkey brain too hard), my only problem is, that at least for me, its to short, i mean its not a short game i played 8 hours. but i want more. i would love a sequel. i heavily recommend.

Really cool game, blending together different genres pretty well! Make sure you grab the OST with the game. Bangers.

Pretty fun game overall, it's a combination of a shmup and a puzzle game essentially, with some funny writing. My only real complaint is you never get items to increase your overall HP, you'll have no choice but to learn every boss fight by only taking two hits before depleting their health bar. New items acquired are not upgrades, just alternate ways to deal damage, so that's a bit frustrating in a sense. If you like challenging games with a sense of humor, I don't think you can go wrong with Vacant Kingdom.