Kikura
releases on TBD
The second installment of the KIK series! "Utsushiyochigai" is a world that exists parallel to the present world in which we live, a world inhabited by gods and Yokai. This story is a new generation Urashima Taro, in which two girls confront yokai in order to solve the cursed beach incident!
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Mum: We have Guwange at home
Guwange at home:
Comiket 100's non-Touhou STG of real note, Kikura's big issue is that it should have been C101's. Even by the standards of doujin shooters where having arcane boot menus that need your system language changing to work, Kikura is rough. It works my PC harder than Guilty Gear strive, it's 5gb for some reason, has barely functional menus and gameplay balance that is all over the place, as well just a bunch of design elements that feel outright unfinished.
Kikura is probably best described as the intersection of Pocky and Rocky with Touhou, but the influence from Guwange is so obvious and the game is at it's best when it's cribbing Cave's notes. The grounded shooting, whilst dealing with the constantly shifting scrolling directions and enemy formations coming from loads of angles is great stuff, and also something that has gone underexplored by basically anyone in a bullet hell since 1999. And the pretty ridiculous bullet count of Kikura makes that especially interersting and engaging, and with it's very low pricetag of £3 - it's worth checking out just for that.
But it could be so much better. The playfield being bafflingly defined by red wireframe boxes is probably the first thing that'll stick out to people. It's just fucking weird, i don't know how else to put it, its as if the stage graphics were just incomplete and they scrambled to make the stage border better defined, I legitimately couldn't come up with a reasonable explanation for doing such a thing.
Sound design is also bad. Don't get me wrong, the music is good, no complaints there, but enemies are weirdly quiet doing almost anything, which gives this real element of having to double take and visually verify for enemy deaths in a game where due to the changing playfield. This may be being too charitable, but i don't think it's bad, I just think it's legitimately unfinished. Graphics are in a similar state, with the type B shottype having some effects which look very "placeholder".
I don't get it. Kikura has the bones of a good succsessor to Guwange, and the devs here clearly have the talent to put the bits together, but it just doesnt feel done. Not in the "damn the giant's archstone got canned :(" sort of way but in that it feels like a proof of concept version that has somehow made it to wide release.
It's £3 so I can't complain too much, but i'd still encourage caution on trying it out, as it does seem the devs are continuing to fix things, and there's enough evidence in the stuff that works that this game could become good, maybe great. But fuck me, releasing in this state might be it's deathnell. It is a rare STG who's reputation survives an "early access" release like this... if thats even what it is.
Guwange at home:
Comiket 100's non-Touhou STG of real note, Kikura's big issue is that it should have been C101's. Even by the standards of doujin shooters where having arcane boot menus that need your system language changing to work, Kikura is rough. It works my PC harder than Guilty Gear strive, it's 5gb for some reason, has barely functional menus and gameplay balance that is all over the place, as well just a bunch of design elements that feel outright unfinished.
Kikura is probably best described as the intersection of Pocky and Rocky with Touhou, but the influence from Guwange is so obvious and the game is at it's best when it's cribbing Cave's notes. The grounded shooting, whilst dealing with the constantly shifting scrolling directions and enemy formations coming from loads of angles is great stuff, and also something that has gone underexplored by basically anyone in a bullet hell since 1999. And the pretty ridiculous bullet count of Kikura makes that especially interersting and engaging, and with it's very low pricetag of £3 - it's worth checking out just for that.
But it could be so much better. The playfield being bafflingly defined by red wireframe boxes is probably the first thing that'll stick out to people. It's just fucking weird, i don't know how else to put it, its as if the stage graphics were just incomplete and they scrambled to make the stage border better defined, I legitimately couldn't come up with a reasonable explanation for doing such a thing.
Sound design is also bad. Don't get me wrong, the music is good, no complaints there, but enemies are weirdly quiet doing almost anything, which gives this real element of having to double take and visually verify for enemy deaths in a game where due to the changing playfield. This may be being too charitable, but i don't think it's bad, I just think it's legitimately unfinished. Graphics are in a similar state, with the type B shottype having some effects which look very "placeholder".
I don't get it. Kikura has the bones of a good succsessor to Guwange, and the devs here clearly have the talent to put the bits together, but it just doesnt feel done. Not in the "damn the giant's archstone got canned :(" sort of way but in that it feels like a proof of concept version that has somehow made it to wide release.
It's £3 so I can't complain too much, but i'd still encourage caution on trying it out, as it does seem the devs are continuing to fix things, and there's enough evidence in the stuff that works that this game could become good, maybe great. But fuck me, releasing in this state might be it's deathnell. It is a rare STG who's reputation survives an "early access" release like this... if thats even what it is.