twin-stick / shmup take on Void Bastards. great bones here with a bit of heist planning and strategy around routing, a variety of weapons with oomph, and fun flavor and aesthetics. unfortunately there are many systems that discourage experimentation, risk-taking, and exploration. i wanted to get into this, but found it too easy to lose in unfair circumstances.

the balance of numbers suggests you shouldn't be taking hits, yet the mission objectives invariably trigger uncontrollable chaos. it's hard to get through unscathed against the erratic enemy AI, the volume + speed of projectiles, and the random level layouts where it's easy to get cornered. limited and expensive ammo makes it preferable to avoid combat, but many levels are swarming with enemies and even create more as the mission goes on. healing is expensive, health pools are low, and iframes are short. the rewards and item costs need tuning; the bounties for optional objectives are often less cash than the raw value of the ammunition required to complete the objectives. there's not enough incentive to grind it out and master the bullet hell when failing the campaign means losing all the upgrades and options in the arsenal.

i'd love to see this tuned in one direction or another - towards a stealthier, fragile action that occasionally breaks out into chaos when alarms are tripped, or a more endurance-based run-and-gun to outlast pursuing swarms of enemies. as is, this sits at an unsatisfying middle ground.