Game:

ProtoCorgi (2021)

Duration: 36:00

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Known as a "Bark-em-Up", "ProtoCorgi" is a great Arcade-style Cute-em-Up Shmup developed by the Chilean Indie studio, Kemono Games, and published by Ravenscourt in 2023 (For Switch and PC through Steam & Epic). Inspired by 80s/90s shooters (R-Type, Air Buster / Aero Blasters, etc.) and a faux-anime story (presented with a fun opening and some Japanese lines here and there), the player takes on the role of Bullet, a C³ class (Cute Cyber Corgi) robot dog in his quest to save his owner, Nixie, from an evil alien invasion. The game takes place over five decent-sized stages and runs about 30-60 minutes depending on the different conditions the player meets (fairly average runtime of a typical Arcade Shmup not factoring replayability). ProtoCorgi uses the open-source engine, Godot.

Besides great visuals, an awesome soundtrack and highly variable gameplay, the title is very cheap and offers a lot of features for an Indie Shmup such as the ability to create levels, customize your "Bark" (which has a secret or two in and of itself), reviewable training sessions, several secrets hidden throughout the levels, and multiple endings. There are also many unlockable difficulties to cater to casual Shmup fans up to some of the most hardcore aficionados (nine in total). Bullet has access to four main weapon types: Main Shots, Missiles, Options and Bombs. Each of these weapon categories have three sub-weapons each with bombs being discarded after a single use and, in typical shooter fashion, each weapon has situational utility (you can use whichever weapons however you want, but some are better in certain situations than others). One unique ability is Bullet's "Bark", which is stronger than level 1 weapons but also serves as a valuable scoring mechanic that unearths hidden treasures and can get powered-up by coming in contact with scoring items and treasure boxes, creating the powerful HYPER BARK. The player can also chain-destroy enemies to create combos and get some serious bonus points.

The default difficulties aren't too difficult but, like most Cute-em-Ups, the game can be deceptively challenging on higher difficulties. If there were any main things to consider, I would note that the game is single-player only and has no cross-platform features in terms of online content and leaderboards. This is also, ironically, not the first Arcade-style Corgi-based shmup on Steam (You can play "HORGIHUGH" with a husky-corgi mix) but arguably the better of the two. Getting all the achievements can take a little while too, at least 5-10 hours depending on your skill level. While there are many of competitively priced shooters on Steam, the game goes of sale from time the time for 75% off or more, costing a paltry sum below 2$, making it pretty much impossible not to recommend.

This is a video of the game in action. We periodically lose lives to not show off the entire game, but there are full playthroughs for the game in the web. Also included is a basic tutorial and the game credits. While it is not shown in this video, you CAN PET THE DOG (using the mouse). The opening theme is titled "I AM PROTOCORGI" (私は プロトコーギー) by Francisco Cerda. You can get the game at:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1039280/ProtoCorgi/

Enjoy.

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