Indie PC shoot'em'up game by RebRank that was originally released in 2011. Second game in the Samidare series.
RefRain is not a game about dodging bullets. Your character has a lot of special abilities and ways to cancel enemy projectiles. Beating the game on any difficulty is more about shooting aggressively, learning to use your special attacks and timing bullet cancels rather than dodging or reactions.
The game has superb presentation. Menus, interface and all the 2D art look super slick. Great trance soundtrack that often syncs to gameplay and stage progression. 3D can look dated but gets the job done. Easily one of the coolest/cleanest shmup presentations out there.
The main gimmick in RefRain is a special attack system called 'MEFA2' which gives each ship four different special attacks. The fourth level of attack gives you invulnerability and temporarily stuns large enemies and bosses. You also have a bullet cancelling bomb which helps with recharging the MEFA2 based on how many bullets you cancel.
Most bosses can be chained between stun state and bullet cancel for about half of the fight which is weird but gives a satisfying rhythm to combat.
Point blanking and aggressive movement is rewarded with a lot of the ships/attacks which can be fun and awarding. You are given one shield hit per life that gets recharged between stages. Getting hit once or twice will not have a big cost.
Scoring system seems pretty well thought out: involves shooting enemies up close for high value items, timing bullet cancels/MEFA2 perfectly and speedkilling enemies for time bonuses and more waves. On bosses and larger enemies you can activate a big multiplier by dealing hits on them as they are stunned, and finishing off with MEFA2 attacks. This requires precise timing and gauge management. There's an overall multiplier called Prism Count that goes up based on various factors and tanks whenever you get hit. Not sure from my limited experience if scoring play remains exciting/risk=reward at a high level.
RefRain puts a lot of emphasis on the overarching story & theme of being set inside a computer. You get bits of story via unlocked mail messages as you play. The ingame music player even tells you a bit about the development of the game and has art for each song.
There are some obvious nods to older shoot'em'ups such as Ikaruga and Hellsinker. As a warning though: if you're a shmup fan looking for a difficult arcade-level challenge or precise dodging this may not be your thing. Beating the game on the highest difficulty will not be challenging for veterans of the genre. But deathless clear and scoring are there.
For most people I highly recommend this game, at least if you like 2D action games. This can be a great entry point into shoot'em'ups if you haven't really played them before. The game has excellent presentation and you're given a powerful & versatile player ship.
Shooters of this kind that that try different types of gameplay with a ton of effort put into them by small teams are out there. Most of them never got released outside japan, but Degica and some other publishers have been changing that which is awesome.
RefRain is not a game about dodging bullets. Your character has a lot of special abilities and ways to cancel enemy projectiles. Beating the game on any difficulty is more about shooting aggressively, learning to use your special attacks and timing bullet cancels rather than dodging or reactions.
The game has superb presentation. Menus, interface and all the 2D art look super slick. Great trance soundtrack that often syncs to gameplay and stage progression. 3D can look dated but gets the job done. Easily one of the coolest/cleanest shmup presentations out there.
The main gimmick in RefRain is a special attack system called 'MEFA2' which gives each ship four different special attacks. The fourth level of attack gives you invulnerability and temporarily stuns large enemies and bosses. You also have a bullet cancelling bomb which helps with recharging the MEFA2 based on how many bullets you cancel.
Most bosses can be chained between stun state and bullet cancel for about half of the fight which is weird but gives a satisfying rhythm to combat.
Point blanking and aggressive movement is rewarded with a lot of the ships/attacks which can be fun and awarding. You are given one shield hit per life that gets recharged between stages. Getting hit once or twice will not have a big cost.
Scoring system seems pretty well thought out: involves shooting enemies up close for high value items, timing bullet cancels/MEFA2 perfectly and speedkilling enemies for time bonuses and more waves. On bosses and larger enemies you can activate a big multiplier by dealing hits on them as they are stunned, and finishing off with MEFA2 attacks. This requires precise timing and gauge management. There's an overall multiplier called Prism Count that goes up based on various factors and tanks whenever you get hit. Not sure from my limited experience if scoring play remains exciting/risk=reward at a high level.
RefRain puts a lot of emphasis on the overarching story & theme of being set inside a computer. You get bits of story via unlocked mail messages as you play. The ingame music player even tells you a bit about the development of the game and has art for each song.
There are some obvious nods to older shoot'em'ups such as Ikaruga and Hellsinker. As a warning though: if you're a shmup fan looking for a difficult arcade-level challenge or precise dodging this may not be your thing. Beating the game on the highest difficulty will not be challenging for veterans of the genre. But deathless clear and scoring are there.
For most people I highly recommend this game, at least if you like 2D action games. This can be a great entry point into shoot'em'ups if you haven't really played them before. The game has excellent presentation and you're given a powerful & versatile player ship.
Shooters of this kind that that try different types of gameplay with a ton of effort put into them by small teams are out there. Most of them never got released outside japan, but Degica and some other publishers have been changing that which is awesome.