Gunvein demo playthrough
0NGDEV has already made a name for themselves across a handful of console titles (including Gunlord X, which I need to play someday). This shmup surfaced as their first Steam release over the weekend, and included a demo, so I was naturally curious to check it out.
This shmup definitely looks polished in several respects. It supports multiple game modes and offers 3 characters with different stats and, at least in one case, a rather different playstyle. The modes are also surprisingly varied - the standard mode includes a shop system (unfortunately not visible in the demo), and there is a roguelike mode that adds leveling with perks and Crimzon-Clover-esque choose-one-of-three midboss drops. There are also missions, including 2 tutorials to introduce you to the game's mechanics and some shmup basics, plus assorted challenges.
Where I have a little trouble is in the visual clarity department. The game includes a reasonable array of visual options; one you will almost definitely want to turn off is the bullet glow effect, which otherwise causes bullets to glow exactly the same color as bomb fragments (you want to run into one of these things; the other, not so much). Unfortunately, even with all of the settings turned down, I find the game sometimes a bit visually overwhelming - especially when playing as Riko (Type A), whose attacks are red, which can sort of blend in with enemies' purple bullets. It'd be great to see an option added for customizing your own bullet color irrespective of which character you play as.
Also, one of the most unfortunate annoyances is the fact that EVERY time you start the demo, you need to wait a solid minute for the game to preload. I don't know whether this is a thing in the full release or not, but I sure hope not, 'cause it doesn't seem terribly reasonable to force people to wait that long just to play your game after they open it, every single time.