Shikhondo: Blue Pieta

[後半に日本語レビューあり] [h1]Harvest Souls from the Bullet Rain: A Horizontal Youkai-Hunt Shmup[/h1] The second entry in the series makes a bold pivot from vertical to horizontal scrolling. Set across modern city streets, amusement parks, subway stations, and more, the game weaves Eastern youkai mythology together with a Western Gothic aesthetic. The two protagonists — a college student moving between ordinary life and the extraordinary as a Death's emissary trainee, and a vampire hunter whose time has literally frozen as the price of her inherited magic — are each brought to life by a skilled voice cast, and both characters register a strong presence. At the heart of the gameplay is the "Soul Collect" system. Rather than simply evading enemy fire, players graze bullets at the tightest margins to build the Soul Gauge, then unleash it all for power-ups and score bonuses. This design transforms the basic evasion instinct of bullet-hell into direct, aggressive play — arguably the title's key selling point. The explosive burst when the Soul Gauge maxes out is something special, and the rhythm created by the tension of diving into bullet streams and the elation of gauge release carries the whole…

[h3]Enjoyment: 7/10[/h3] This is a creepy bullet hell and I really like the boss designs, the ones that twist into those unsettling horror abominations for the second phase. I'm not well-versed enough in shmups to tell you how it holds up against others in the genre but what I played was pretty fun. The game rewards risky plays where sticking close to enemy bullets will fill your Soul Gauge. Once it's full, you can wipe the screen and turn all on-screen bullets into score items. I only played on the Steam Deck and found the difficulty fairly manageable. I sucked at first but got better (or at least I think I did) relatively quickly. It was satisfying to see myself survive longer than I expected, though I only managed to finish Arcade and Boss Rush modes since they have unlimited revives. Even so, there wasn't much incentive for me to continue playing. I'm nowhere near good enough for Hardcore mode where 1 death means game over and there's no incremental progression, so the primary replay value is practicing to get better at the game itself. It was a fun few hours but I'm not invested enough in the genre to play any more than I already have. [quote][i]For more recommendations, f…

It's alright, not as good as the first one and feels overall lower quality but still a good game. Get it when it's on sale.

game itself plays fine, thumbs down comes from AI/voice narration used in the tutorial segment (without stating on the store page where AI was used), as well as only having Japanese voice available for a character who spoke Korean in the first game; it broke the character and the immersion as a whole.

Full breakdown 📺 https://youtu.be/VybdT2WuDwY This starts off feeling like a pretty standard arcade shooter until you realize the game really wants you doing things that sound like terrible ideas. Somehow turning risky play into something rewarding works way better than I expected. I finished it mostly wishing the game just kept going.

Shikhondo Blue Pieta is a horror shoot em up and a sequel to Shikhondo: Youkai Rampage. The grazing system boosts a gauge that allows you to clear bullets from the screen for lot's of points using the soul collect system. This game is both gorgeous and horrifying to behold. Great boss designs and artwork accentuate intense and memorable boss fights. It may lack a little bit of punch to really sell the fun but the Soundtrack is amazing and there are plenty of different modes for different play styles. This is deliberately paced and structured but it's a true game deserving of the "Bullet Hell genre. It really feels like the old Cave Shmups, encouraging you to wait for the right time to clear the screen and maximize score. The bullet hordes are cleaver forcing you into some crazy situations and work great with the scoring system. There is a lot of hidden depth for those willing to try. This is a very challenging game but rewarding when you get it right. Even easy mode is a challenge and rewarding to play. I have a single credit run of easy mode here and it's no joke. https://youtu.be/Go2pJ-Gd5Wk