Divine Orders

Very nice

great mix of genres, the dev knows a thing or two about shmups. wish there were more shmups-rpgs with proper scoring system tied into grinding and the rest of fundamentals done right, that seem like a nice way to combine these genres. the rpg parts and plot seem to be engaging, and characters seem fun to interact with, guld quests and resource management are nicely tied into shmup gameplay with extra enemies and growing difficulty for the same maps. you'll need to engage in RPG stuff to make the game work like a shmup. on the downside: aside from a couple of bugs (the inn did not want to take my money when I had barely enough, ui was locked on inn half a sec more then needed etc) horizontal movent seem non-normalized unlike proper vertizontal shmups, the hit situation is poorly communicated to player, everything is too small and theres too many things on the screen, and there's obstacles on maps (that feels very irritating). despite these flaws game feels very good edit from recent play: slow movement speed is too slow even for normal tate shmup, for vertizontal this is just torture, you cant micrododge with this since you're and you cant change it (that was with light feather t…

Sorely underappreciated both in the STG and indie communities. Obviously made by someone who knows what they're doing, very nice customization enabled by the RPG mechanics (never feels like it should be either a shmup or an RPG, things are intertwined very well), here's your homing shot type, here's a horizontal shot type influenced by vertical movement straight from Subterranean Animism, here's a strong single shot, here's a bullet eraser, here's a fireball to quickly delete a single enemy, here's a map-wiping blast... It's just so well-done it's a pleasure to just play, and that's the strongest part of the game. Even the story, basic as it is, is done competently enough to make you feel things anyway. My only complaints would probably be the three AI-generated backgrounds for the shop, the town and the guild, but at some point you get too immersed in the game to notice it. The preparations, the planning, which material is to stay so you can get a new sword the next day, whether you should spend your resources to get a +damage taken but +loot rune or a new spell, it's like the parts of a JRPG you thoroughly enjoy and the parts of STGs you really like and they're all together here.…

Bought this on release but only now got around to playing through and finishing it. It was awesome and I loved everything about it... ...except the 4 spheres boss. [spoiler]The fight itself was fun but 4 colored balls just don't look very imposing especially considering how far they are into the game; maybe if the background had been scrolling at high speeds the fight would've looked more impressive.[/spoiler] Anyways that's an insanely minor nitpick in the grand scheme of things - the game is bug free; plays, looks and sounds great - so I have no problem wholeheartedly recommending this game to even casual shmup enjoyers.

I won't leave a negative review due to not wanting to prejudice the all positive reviews so far, but the game certainly is not for me. As a side note, game asked me to grab a controller. Its nice and all but, since I'm on a PC, I expect to be able to play and have the best gaming experience using keyboard and mouse.

I've played some other shmups with RPG-like elements, but none that have leaned in as hard as this. Progression involves gaining levels as well as collecting materials to upgrade your equipment. Materials are gained by completing stages and quests as well as "mining" for them while playing the stages. There are a lot of interesting, overlapping systems in this game. Taking on bounties offers rewards, but they spawn new enemy formations in the stages. Each time you complete a stage, you unlock a harder version of the stage with better rewards. Divine Orders is full of experimentation, but it's also a fun game that plays smoothly.