Playing A Game Minishoot' Adventures PC

Minishoot' Adventures is kinda like a top-down alternative to Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet. (From what I can remember of 2011, anyway.)

That is, it's a metroidvania schmup: you're a little spaceship cruising through an interconnected map with progressively-unblocked obstacles. And it has RPG elements! Shoot enemies and environment elements (like bushes and ... clay pots?) to earn experience, level-up to upgrade shot damage and range and movement speed, delve into dungeons and defeat bosses to unlock new abilities, use those abilities to open new areas and do it all over again.

Its soothing color palette and cozy-feeling starting area belie how bullet-hell-ey some encounters can get, and they're a little more hell than I'd like, even on the easy "Explorer" mode. Especially in the early game, when you're low on max health and ability upgrades, fights with screen-filling bullets can feel unfair. But those frustrations do fade as the game goes on, and you become better able to handle (or avoid) getting hit.

And the open-ish world is a lot of fun to fly around in, full of slightly-hidden secrets to find and power-ups to accumulate. It's a great fix for a map-exploration addict like myself.

Better than: Forma.8, Hob
Not as good as: Iconoclasts
Unfair comparison, but also not as good as: character-action 'vanias like Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night and Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow

Progress: 100% map completion, beat "the final boss" and also "the true last boss" in Explorer mode.

Rating: Good