Tastrion

Pure and brutal bullet-hell experience with boring stages and passable enemies.
If you’re looking for a pure, unfiltered arcade shooter experience without any unnecessary baggage—no convoluted mechanics, no deep narrative—then this game is right up your alley. You’re given a simple premise: you’re the pilot of a special fighter, sent to a hostile planet to eradicate a deadly virus. That’s all the setup you get before you’re thrust into the action.
The game consists of six grueling stages, and you have a limited number of lives with only one continue to fall back on. Once you’re out, it’s game over, and you’ll have to start from the beginning. There are two difficulty settings, but let’s be honest—both are unforgiving. This is a bullet-hell shooter in the truest sense, where survival means weaving through intricate patterns. Fortunately, for those who prefer to jump straight into the chaos, a stage select option is available.
Despite its straightforward design, the game arms you with a decent selection of weapons. There’s the ion spread that fires multiple shots in a wide arc, ideal for dealing with enemies that approach from all angles; a high-powered rail gun that gets stronger when charged; your basic gun, and bombs that are limited in supply, but capable of wiping out everything on-screen.
Power-ups play a significant role in progression. Certain destructible objects drop upgrades that enhance all three weapons simultaneously. The ion spread covers a wider area, the main gun gets additional projectiles and homing missiles, and other useful items like extra lives and shields can turn the tide of battle.
As expected from a game of this genre, enemies flood the screen with bullets. While most are bright and easy to track, some have erratic movement patterns that can catch you off guard—such as homing shots that suddenly change trajectory. The best strategy is to eliminate threats before they overwhelm you.
However, while enemy variety is decent, stage design leaves much to be desired. Levels feel uninspired, offering little in the way of environmental interaction aside from occasional roadblocks and narrow passages. Worse still, some stages feature backgrounds that don’t obstruct enemy fire, making cover useless. Adding to the frustration, a notable bug allows you to pass through walls when respawning after death, only to trap you inside if your invincibility wears off at the wrong time.
Each stage features two bosses—one at the midpoint and one as the final obstacle. These encounters crank the bullet-hell madness up several notches, with bosses boasting multiple health bars and shifting attack patterns as their health depletes. Unlike regular enemies, some of their bullets can be destroyed.
Unlike traditional bullet-hell games where one mistake spells doom, this game offers a bit of leeway. Collecting energy power-ups increases your health bar, though it caps at five. Additionally, death doesn’t strip you of all your weapon upgrades—only one level is lost, making recovery far less punishing than in other games of its kind.

Love the modern take of the games of the 90's
Soundtrack is ace!

This is pretty good. Reminds me of Darius. I like how you get multiple weapons at the same time.
I'm not so fond of how it becomes overly bullet-hell like later on. When I got to Stage 3 it felt unfair.
That said, I completed the game on the second proper attempt so it's not that bad.
I have not tried hard mode...

Great Visuals, fantastic music to match the action, fun bosses, been playing the demo before the game was released and was not disappointed with the final product, I still need to play MORE when time allows it but couldn't let this gem get away.