izigame.me

My first run of this game I thought the devs were out of their minds. There were too many bullets, my gun did no damage, the upgrades didn't help, and the upgraded guns ran of ammo instantly. My second run I thought the devs were onto something but just didn't quite know how to make games, the guns broke too fast but the enemies were interesting and I could avoid their shots. On run 20 I thought the devs might know what they're doing after all and then I realized I'd been playing all night and it occurred to me that this was, it turned out, a really really fun game.

Star of Providence is hard. There are bullets everywhere and you don't a regenerating health bar or a bunch of iframes to deal with them. You get 10 health that can very occasionally be restored by a heart or two, you get a couple bombs that recharge every 3 rooms that will erase projectiles, and you get a dash that will not make you invincible to most things while you're dashing. But you can increase your total health, get more bombs, make your dash a teleport, or better yet get a gun so big everything in the room is dead before it can shoot a million bullets at you. It's technically a roguelike, you can buy upgrades to find in runs but you can't start with anything more than the basic gear it gives you. And even as a roguelike it's not one where you can assemble Exodia and walk to the end. You get more powerful but you have to execute well with every tool you're give to get any use from it.

Above all it's insanely addicting. I never felt frustrated even when my weapons broke or some enemy took 3 of my hearts in a go. I just wanted to keep going. Every room is a new challenge and the bosses feel like bosses. It's a very well designed experience that tests how well you can master its mechanics.

It's not the most satisfying roguelike. In fact if you're playing because you really love roguelikes and want an experience like slay the spire or tiny rogues you're probably going to be disappointed. It's a shmup first and a roguelike second, but the experience is fun regardless of what you like. At 15 bucks (I got my copy for 12 on sale) it's really a no-brainer to recommend, the gameplay loop is challenging and rewarding.

And that donkey wasn't lying the Fish will mess you up.