While I typically don't like Shmups, The Guardian Legend is one of my favorite games. The concept of "what if we took the top-down camera and exploration of Zelda but turned dungeons into Shmup stages" is incredible, but it goes the extra mile by making all your items shmup powers, like lasers and bombs.
While far more linear than Zelda, there's still a lot to explore and it's fun to do so. Every enemy feels unique, too, which I always love. It rewards me for learning their patterns since I can better avoid them, but also makes me more invested in the world since I'm always wondering what the next enemy is going to do. And, naturally, the music is great!
The only negative thing I can say about it is there is some jank you have to get used, the biggest example of which being that there are no invincibility frames. Normally this isn't an issue because the game is designed around this, but some enemies are an utter nightmare to deal with specifically because of this (any one who has fought the seaweed monster knows what I'm talking about).
The Guardian Legend is an absolute gem. It's a unique game with a unique premise that is rough around the edges but overall a solid game. channels Red from OSP So, yeah.
While far more linear than Zelda, there's still a lot to explore and it's fun to do so. Every enemy feels unique, too, which I always love. It rewards me for learning their patterns since I can better avoid them, but also makes me more invested in the world since I'm always wondering what the next enemy is going to do. And, naturally, the music is great!
The only negative thing I can say about it is there is some jank you have to get used, the biggest example of which being that there are no invincibility frames. Normally this isn't an issue because the game is designed around this, but some enemies are an utter nightmare to deal with specifically because of this (any one who has fought the seaweed monster knows what I'm talking about).
The Guardian Legend is an absolute gem. It's a unique game with a unique premise that is rough around the edges but overall a solid game. channels Red from OSP So, yeah.