Very fortunate that GoufyGoggs posted this review yesterday, eloquently saving me the trouble of having to write a bunch of thoughts about what it means to embark on the noble endeavour of trying to beat a shmup. Treasure's are particularly difficult beasts to grapple with, because they lure you in with flawless aesthetics and ideals and high-concepts that make you really, truly want to dedicate weeks of your life to learning and surviving a single bullet-beautifhell stage. Try as you might to master one of these things, there's only so many times us mere mortals can scrape past our white whales with x00 ships remaining, breathing in a sigh of relief and then discovering we were floating in the kiddie pool when we're pounded into pixellated dust by the first enemy on the next level. The only other option is to continue plugging fake coins into virtual slots, and that hurts so much more than the indignity of bowing out from Ikaruga at the start of the third stage.

Which is why the inclusion of a Story Mode in Radiant Silvergun is so welcome. There is no fuckin' chance I'm ever beating a shmup that's four times the length of Ikaruga with any legitimacy in this lifetime, so a mode that compromises for casuals by allowing me to play with a 1cc mindset but the gradually-building resources of a veteran is a great way to let me see every sleek sprite, bastard boss and pretentiously awe-inspiring cutscene that Peak Treasure had to offer the world. You almost tricked me into thinking I earned this glory, you mad masochistic masters!

Shoutouts to Microsoft and Treasure for giving this away for free on the first day of the year - a humbling experience that we all needed, a reminder that 1st January 2022 is just another Stage 01 after we all ran out of quarters on the last level last year, crashing and burning out of 2021’s wicked game. Let's get back to it, then... Maybe this run will be different...