ZOE Begone!

Although I like this game, I can see how it wouldn't be for everybody. The challenge level is very high and the controls are a bit complicated for being a shmup. In the air, you can only shoot left to right but if you are on the ground, you can shoot in 5 different directions (left, right, both diagonals, and up). You can also dash and ground-pound... both of them having multiple uses as well which keeps things interesting. The hardest part of the game for me is getting to character to float in the air, which you do by holding down the jump button. I personally think that tapping the button twice might feel better and I wish there was a feature to do that, but that is my only complaint about the movement. As I mentioned before, this game is hard and the bosses are especially tricky. Don't expect to get through it in one attempt! There are leaderboards for each difficulty setting and if you use a continue, your score will be cut in half. If you want the highest scores, you will need to do the whole game in one go. The visual clarity could be better, especially when you are in the 3rd reel (right before the boss). All in all, this is a fun arcade style shmup game for tho…

https://youtu.be/QaCKtVFJKXM What could have been a colorful well themed twin stick shooter is instead overly burdened with control complexity and visual noise that muddies the base experience.

Alright I've seen enough. I can already tell this game is going to be something I'll be playing for years. I feel like I learn something new every run. I can just see the amount of depth there is here to explore trying to maximize your score. The visuals and audios are very charming. I love that normal mode is challenging, I love that it throws so much at you to learn each reel and pushes you to get just a little bit better each time. It also offers Easy/Hard modes to get more practice and familiarity in or push yourself further. I still need to explore the other modes it offers like Time Trial but just based on Arcade I FULLY recommend this. Give yourself a little grace to learn the controls and you'll eventually see yourself zooming and pounding around. Excellent game.

ZOE Begone! is a great shooter with lots of interesting and fresh features. Don't let the cartoony graphics fool you, it's a real challenge! Fast-paced, non-stop action & the boss fights are gnarly. Want to know more? Check out my bite-sized review here: https://www.cshpicone.com/gaming/bite-sized-game-reviews/bsr-zoe-begone For more niche curation, follow me at: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/27440015-CSH-Picone/ Want more honest niche & indie reviews? Check out: https://www.cshpicone.com/gaming

Bullet hell madness, in a good way!

ZOE Begone! is a high-energy arcade shooter developed by Retchy Games and published by PM Studios, Inc., built around the chaotic charm of classic bullet-hell design and infused with a striking hand-drawn aesthetic inspired by early animation techniques. At its heart, the game is a fast-paced twin-stick shooter that emphasizes constant motion, tight reflexes, and mastery of patterns. It wastes no time establishing its identity: you step into the role of Zoe, a small but determined protagonist caught in a relentless storm of artistic chaos orchestrated by a towering creator figure known as the Animator. What begins as a simple premise quickly evolves into a frenetic dance of bullets, dashes, and survival. The gameplay loop revolves around rapid arena-based combat where enemies spawn in waves, attacking from multiple directions with increasingly complex projectile patterns. Zoe’s primary tools are responsive shooting mechanics and a fluid dash ability that allows players to weave through dense curtains of bullets. Movement is everything in ZOE Begone! Success depends on maintaining spatial awareness, reading enemy telegraphs, and reacting instantly to shifting threats. The arenas of…