Reviews

• gamedeal user

  Jun 23, 2022

  I'm very happy I stumbled upon this gem. I'm not really sure there is a downside to it yet, though I've only played 2.4 hours so far. My favourite part of the game is the soundtrack. It is absolutely incredible, executing exactly the point of soundtrack in games: to elevate the experience and immerse you. It fits perfectly in line with the aesthetic. The song for the final boss hits all the right notes and legitimately solidifies that battle as the final boss. This is the game 80's arcade shooter developers envisioned back then. End to end, truly a fantastic piece of gaming and I highly recommend it. If you're familiar with Galaga or Gradius, this is basically version 2.0 of them. Edit: Seriously, Moonshot is one of the most incredible video game songs I've ever heard. I pause the game just to listen to it a couple times every time I get to stage 5.
• gamedeal user

  Jul 2, 2022

  Broodstar is an utterly addictive rogue-lite shoot 'em up that manages to capture the spirit of old school shooters while having a strong identity of it's own. Proper aiming and swift executions are of the essence as the game features a good mix of passing and persistant formations that will put on the pressure if not dealt with. Veterans of Galaga and Space Invaders are certainly at an advantage in the early stages. The game features a good amount of fun modules to pick up and modify the ship with and with a little luck and proper combos, players are capable of building quite the deathstars. However, the game is still challenging enough and god-runs aren't all that frequent. Players who prefer a more purist approach can disable the permanent progress and there is even the aptly named New Game Minus achievement that is awarded for beating Hard mode with base stats. Graphics are a bit basic but very workable still, while the Soundtrack is great throughout the game with a couple of standout moments. The only negative I encountered was the early stages of hardmode with bad luck in terms of upgrade-drops. Low damage combined with very nimble bosses that have small hitboxes can lead to some sluggish battles and I found myself quitting out of a couple runs. Overall I very much recommend this game to people looking for old-school shmups rather than bullet hell style games. Hardcore players might find the overall difficulty a bit too easy but in my view, this is a very enjoyable title for players of all skill levels and experience with the genre. Great replay value and score chasing makes for a game that you can return to for a run or two for a long time.
• gamedeal user

  Jul 12, 2022

  Broodstar is a difficult game to review. As a SCHMUP, it is almost perfect--it has some of the best plain attack and boss design I've seen in a while, with Monolith probably being the only notable standout above it in terms of encounter and attack design. It feels good to shoot, it feels good to move, and it feels really good to dodge, which you'll be doing a lot if you want a max score. As a roguelike, however, this game is not successful, and you will run out of new content after probably 10 hours of play. There will be nothing for you to spend your points on, no meta progression of any kind, and your runs will cease to be anything other than repeated slot machine pulls hoping for a seed that grants you a chance at a high score. I also feel like the devs have probably the most ready response of hand-waves or dismissal that I've encountered before. I have a top score on both the medium and hard leaderboards, and as such am privy to the balance at that level that might affect another player's enjoyment if they're playing for a similar reason. Every issue I have brought up to the dev directly was responded to with what basically amounted to "that sounds good but it's too much work". The devs have made it very clear this is the game you're getting: they're not changing or updating it in any major ways, and if you have a problem with that, tough luck. This wouldn't be a huge problem overall for most players, but for people like me, who are butting against the limits of the balance, and can theoretically provide a test case for other players with similar interests, this game does not hold up. It is probably worth around 15 hours of enjoyment, which is a lot, given the price, but it is not a true 'rogue-like' because of how low its replayability is. For this reason, if you like schmups, go for it, but if you want a new rogue-ish to sink infinite time into, this isn't it. Soft recommend but not if you're doing it for the rogue features or high score chasing.
• gamedeal user

  Nov 7, 2022

  Extremely mediocre....Levels and enemies are bland weapons are meh... Really hard to see wtf is going on. Usually when you get 18 achievements in 20 minutes of playing a game that's a good indicator of what it's about....Nothing.
• gamedeal user

  Nov 13, 2022

  this is the good shit. absolutely worth the buy. killer music in the later levels.
• gamedeal user

  Nov 23, 2022

  A good fun roguelike shmup. Upgrade tree in terms of meta-progression feels short. Game length seems pretty reasonable, I didn't get that deep into it in my runs as the game is fairly difficult. Would wait for a sale though, for what it is the asking price is pretty steep in a world where you are seeing these sort of games with ample content for £2-3.
• gamedeal user

  Dec 18, 2022

  I feel like this game would have been better as a regular shmup. The research tree is incredibly bland (full of 1 and 2% increases to random things). Multiple games I found zero upgrades to my primary weapon so the runs just felt boring
• warlock2019

  Dec 27, 2022

  If you enjoy games like Tyrian 2000 or The Guardian Legend (TGL mode) then definitely give this game a chance. It is a very well done vertical shooter.
• gamedeal user

  Mar 5, 2023

  Fantastic SHMUP. Haven't had my fix served like this since good ol' Tyrian 2k
• Fallensting

  Apr 19, 2023

  Prob one of my fav shmups now. Gameplay is solid, power ups seem pretty balanced, nothing too crazy but they are fun. Music is godlike, a couple of the later stage's songs reminds me of Animals as Leaders heavy technical jazzy tunes. Only wish the power ups were crazier personally but I understand why they aren't.