I booted Ikaruga up for the first time and was sort of like damn this opening comment about Ikaruga fighting for no reason is sort of Nier-y. Then one of my friends commented that the polarity system reminded him of XIV’s Nier raids. Then I got to chapter 2 with the obstacles and I was like damn this kind of reminds me of Nier’s bullet hell sections. So I looked up Ikaruga Nier on Google and sure enough it’s Yoko Taro’s favorite shmup.
I’m by no means a shmup junkie and I don’t think I’ll ever clear Ikaruga but this is a fun and very challenging game. The slow ship speed and emphasis on polarity and obstacles makes it feel more puzzle-y than the other shmups I’ve played (not many) so I think this is a shmup to try if you like puzzles because your ship isn’t careening all over the place. And if you like Nier, maybe like me you’ll want to psychologically torture yourself into trying to finish it so you can fully understand why Yoko Taro finds it so great.
I’m by no means a shmup junkie and I don’t think I’ll ever clear Ikaruga but this is a fun and very challenging game. The slow ship speed and emphasis on polarity and obstacles makes it feel more puzzle-y than the other shmups I’ve played (not many) so I think this is a shmup to try if you like puzzles because your ship isn’t careening all over the place. And if you like Nier, maybe like me you’ll want to psychologically torture yourself into trying to finish it so you can fully understand why Yoko Taro finds it so great.