0xPRIMEgs

Apparently a kinda-lewd shmup.

I'm going to be up front and say I was blindsided and offended by the sperm bullets. It wasn't a problem in Deathsmiles 1 because I turned off suicide bullets, but they were all over Deathsmiles 2, and it was a big cringe on my playthrough of it. I'll be reviewing both games at the same time by the way.

So, why do the sperm bullets actually kinda ruin Deathsmiles? It's not because it's offenseive, but actually because there are simply better options for anything Deathsmiles does in the realm of kinda-lewd shmups. Want better gameplay? play Caladrius Blaze. Want better art/style? Play Angel at Dusk. Want actual lewd shmup content? play eather of those? What about horizontal bi-directional shmup-age? Darius series, or Diadra Empty do it better. Or if you can skip the bi-directional gameplay Akai Katana does it much better.

See, because of the kinda-lewdness it has to compete with 2 amazing Shmups that frankly do everything better. If it wasn't for those damned bullets I could put this down as a horizontal Mushihimesama and go about my day, but now I have to whine about sperm bullets and then tell y'all not to buy a Cave shmup like some kinda crazy person.

But let's talk about the bullets. First off, the sperm bullets are suicide bullets, and suicide bullets suck. Next is that most of the boss patterns aren't very interesting - the dragon was good, and jitterbug was cute, but outside of that and Satanclaw's snow pattern nothing really sticks out. The stage design is really where the games shine, and that includes the boss designs - they are really good. The forest, the ballroom, the haunted mantion, the Christmas city - there was really something there in Deathsmiles, even if the gameplay couldn't live up to the stage designs(?). The game is simple, and that isn't bad. Mushihimesama is simple, but it's also $30 on sale, has sperm bullets, and isn't Mushihimesama.

I feel like I'm being too hard on this Shmup for the most part, but I just don't get it I guess. I'd rather play Caladrius Blaze for my kinda-lewd shmup, and any of the non-lewds listed for my horizontal shmup fix. If I'm stupid and missed something let me know, because I still feel like I'm giving this game a bad take. Maybe it's the $30 on-sale pricetag.