CICADAMATA"

Very good game, relatively short but the visual and audio aesthetic is worth every penny, and while I'd like to say the score chasing adds replay value... for me it just doesn't quite get there mostly because of its scoring system. If you want a high score in this game you are incentivized to shoot everything once or twice and then dash into it, before picking out the next target and repeating. There is an emphasis on trying to extract as many points from each enemy as possible and for me trying to do a high-score run of the game is completely ruined by the (relatively) slow pace that this requires. To an extent, this maybe separates it from other movement shooters, and for some this will be a much more manageable speed which maybe makes the game more attractive to them. For me though, I really enjoy the rush of adrenaline at having a perfectly planned route and blitzing through it like a ten ton lightning bolt, obliterating 'threats' within milliseconds of them entering my periphery, to me this feels much more like 'tearing flesh from bone.' Fortunately for me, the game absolutely still allows that feeling, it just doesn't reward it in nearly the same way as something like Neon White, or Blood Thief. Despite my misgivings with the scoring system, if you saw the trailer and thought 'oh this looks cool as hell' absolutely snap this up, I still had an amazing time with it.