Super Star Path

plays like a flash game. decent progression for first 15 minutes, then gets very frustrating and unforgiving. no auto-fire, dead ends in mazes. not being able to shoot diagonally feels terrible. you MUST [spoiler]collect ALL emeralds[/spoiler] to clear the game.

This was DYA's first game and while it's very interesting, this mashup of puzzle and shmup works... UP TO A POINT! Since the puzzle are generated randomly you can be just unlucky and not be able to beat that level, but it gets WORSE. The levels get more complicated and you get shot at, ok no big deal, but then you get obstacles that can TRIGGER PUZZLE PIECES! Sure, I can dodge flames... Oh, that flame triggered a block and the level in incompletable AGAIN! I hate that I can't give this a mixed review, but it doesn't deserve a bad one. The upgrade system is useless when it's the obstacles triggering the blocks, I can have max HP, max everything, if a flame triggers a block and ruins my path, I'm dead.

Very cute little retro pixel art style game perfect for the Steam Deck. There are 6 stages total and they are split up between puzzle section and boss section. During the puzzle section, you have to blast aliens to clear a path. The boss sections play out as your typical bullet hell shooter and can be quite the challenge. You should get a good few hours of fun out of this cute little game. Worth noting however, if you plan on getting all achievements, they seem to only be properly tracked and unlocked on Windows. I beat the game and did everything including boss rush on the Steam Deck, but nothing unlocked. So, I installed it on my Windows desktop, then used steam input to configure turbo mode on the shoot button. This helped me beat the whole game again and get all achievements in less than an hour.

Great genre mashup with standout artwork. ♥♥♥♥'s adorable.

A cool little budget mini shooter with some puzzle elements. There is a logical progression that's simple but fun to figure out, as you are progressing through each stage while collecting crystals and powerups to buy and upgrade ships. The only distinguishing factor between this and a bajillion other games is the "puzzle" element. Basically, when you shoot an alien the outside aliens freeze and basically become immovable blocks you must navigate around. Obviously, you want to target bigger block clusters because this will create more clear open spaces. It gets harder as you progress because the game introduces other obstacles like mines, spikes, flying enemies, etc. The boss fights are drastically different, as these are more skill-based with fast moving projectiles. Your weapon even auto shoots bullets whereas previously you had to calculate single shots to make sure you don't get trapped. There are only six stages. The collectibles took me about fifteen minutes and then there is a "Boss rush" mode that's a joke and can be completed in a couple minutes if you know what to do. I went ahead and did bosh rush mode on "hard" just for the heck of it and the only difference the proj…

I've been doing a run through some of my Steam backlog, and DYA games have been such a pleasant surprise (even though I already played some of them). I'm a huge retro-gamer, so DYA games are right up my alley. Glorious sharp pixelart and fun music, all packaged in a simple fun package. I finished Bot Vice just yesterday and had a blast, SSP today, and hopefuly Strikey Sister comes next (I don't own the others, so can't comment, but would love to tackle them sometime). Super Star Path is a pretty unique concept, it's sort of a blend between a classical vertical scroller shmup and Mr. Driller. Yes. It's that weird, but it works. The gameplay itself is divided in two-parts, the stage itself is the mix that I just mentioned, were you can find permanent powerups for your ships, and you are mostly just trying to find your way without getting stuck, while dodging a bullet here and there, most of it, is just trying to find an opening to go through. You see, enemies are divided by colour and grouped, so when you kill one, they chain react and die as long as they are grouped, however, a different colour enemy that gets caught up in the explosion turns solid, and you can't shoot it anymore,…