Cryptark

Title says it, I'm giving this 5 stars and I don't like bullethell games. I got this when it first hit early access on Steam, been through lots of changes including invisible pistons blocking critical areas of maps forcing restarts, rotary cannon being rebalanced (along with lots of other guns), the Rook suit losing it's starting shotgun since a double-shotgun with the infini-shield was a pretty potent starter, I seen it all. Tweaks, new suits, balancing, fixes. The dev listened to the community and was actively communicating with us during the development. About the game: You control a zero-g combat suit raiding derelict alien ships. Atrophied legs that look like they perform no function other than to protect your own legs kinda give a sense how this game goes, you fly around freely inside the alien ships. You are the equivalent of a space treasure hunter paid by a corporation to go through the massive alien fleet finding anything of value. The story begins to suck you in as you get clues as to why the ancient derelict alien fleet is the way it is, and why it's so hostile. AI that seems organic controlling the ships, various alien species that have been captured and turned into killer cyborgs, the fleet AI even adapted saw blade cyborgs to recycle other broken down ships. The story unfolds in a neat way, doing special objectives like not using explosives or HP packs on certain levels. Difficulty is fairly high, don't expect to do special objectives at first. You pay for ammo and weapons each time you go out, and can pick from various ships at each stage of your run that pay differently with differing difficulties. Some have better tech and weapon unlocks, others pay extra cash. I suggest you get a bit extra ammo and just try surviving through each wreck at first before trying to min-max your loadouts for efficiency. Lots of guns, each suit plays very different from each other like teleporting or shielding. Great game, great atmosphere, random levels. 5-stars.

Bear in mind: my rating is from my perspective. I don't deny that for people more suited to this type of experience, Cyptark is probably an excellent game. However, I feel that the store page could have done a better job of communicating just how thick the barrier to entry is. If you aren't already great at bullet hell and strategic resource management, STAY AWAY. The combat is punishingly difficult. There has yet to be a single encounter that I feel like I've come out on top. Running away helps, but the enemies and objectives that need to be faced still feel like I'm in an rpg taking on enemies twenty levels above me. It doesn't help that the screen grows chaotic with more than a couple enemies, making it hard to keep track of everything. I've been playing for hours and have made no meaningful progress whatsoever. Each mission is a frustrating grind and the strategic elements only serve to make me feel stupid. I keep feeling like there must be some kind of secret to make the game playable, but reading forums and the like have provided no such key. I only feel more like a noob and just out of my element. In short: if you're already an expert at this kind of thing, you'll probably be satisfied. If not, stay away.

It surpassed my expectations. I ignored development and didn't read up on it. I bought this game because I loved Apotheon and Capsized. It is even better than the aforementioned. + Great art direction, great art execution; + Sound is great: Great voice acting, Solid soundtrack, fits with the visuals; + Handles great with keyboard and mouse (I haven't tried a controller); - None yet. It really does feel like they've taken everything they know from the two other games, and mixed up a great successor with loads more of replayability and complexity. P.S. The portrait animations for the characters are perfect.

Cryptark has me reviewing my first game on GOG for good reason. Total Bisket on YouTube peeked my interest with this game, and I'm very happy to say that I took his advice. Cryptark does a fantastic job mixing rogue like elements, strategy, and a basic story line over the basic architecture of shooter/shoot 'em up gameplay. One thing that really makes this game stand apart from most other shooters is that it forces you to make good choices. What exactly does that mean? Well, take your average AAA game lately where you have infinite amounts of check points and save states to help you through situations where if you make a mistake you can always load back to that point. That is not the case in this game. Once you make a decision you must stick to it. If you fail you can either keep trudging on or start the game all over again. For some this will be a deterent. For me, it was a welcome challenge. It's not normally an acceptable element to a game, but for this game it does work because all in all you could theoretically beat the game in a matter of hours. So starting over isn't necessarily a horrific thing, but it does present another element to the challenge. Planning your route into each level is also a very welcome fresh take on this genre. Plus, the rogue like nature has these levels never be the same. So if you start all over, then you are starting with fresh levels. Even the graphic style of the game is intriguing to me with the hybrid 16/32 bit asthetic. If I had any complaints it would be with the control scheme. I think a twin stick style of gameplay would work here, but instead you are forced to use either a keyboard and mouse system similar to a first person shooter layout, or via control pad where the control scheme feels something generated out of the 90s. I highly recommend this game to anyone who is a fan of the shooter genre that wants something unique sprinkled in. This game does it phenomenally, and should provide significant value for your money.