Maiden and Spell

legit one of the more inventive games I've seen in a bit. versus bullet hells have been a thing since like 2004 or something but they've also been wildly fast paced, more like a fighting game with bullet hell mechanics mixed in
nah, that's not what this is. this is pure bullet hell, just against an actual person. oh and there's single player stuff too with a lot of wild bosses, not a lot but it's worth a playthrough
I cannot tell you how much I love this game. the stages are simple but so damn nice to look at, and the soundtrack is absolutely insane (same composer as one step from eden, if anyone's played that)
i think i've spilled out all my words please just play the game it's sick

Touhou 09 (PoFV) but good ((no carpian tunnel))

Review
scroll to bottom for summary
Maiden & Spell is a great game for starting out in the bullet hell genre, or just taking a break from its harder games.
Maiden & Spell is fun, easy to pick up and relaxing to play and has a good amount of replay value. The system requirements are pretty low so most people can play this game and the game difficulty options can be pretty accommodating.
It's relatively short compared to most other games, but the gameplay is simple and fun, which makes you wanting more. The art is cute, OST is amazing and the music and art galleries are a nice addition. The story isn't too complex but each character feels unique in their playstyle and most of the maguses are fair and give a feeling of accomplishment for beating. The final bosses truly feel like a final, climactic challenge and the endings do wrap-up the story nicely. The dev is also one of the most interactive and responsive devs, and the community seems nice.
The game also has a multiplayer, but I haven't tried it yet since there are very few players online. I honestly haven't seen any multiplayer rooms. I can't really give a review on the multiplayer, but it does seem like people have had fun playing it.
I really think the price is great for this game and it really is underappreciated. Go check it out and good luck adventuring in The Kingdom of Stars!
Summary
> Maiden & Spell is a fun, easy to pick up game with much replayability. It has a short but nice story, cute art and a great OST.
> The gameplay can be challenging or easy, depending on the difficulty you choose and it is generally rewarding.
> The game is a hidden steam gem, great for getting into the bullet hell genre and I really recommend trying it out.

Challenging bullet hell with unique combat. Really nice music and art. Some boss phases seem a little busted compared to others, and the starting green girl is absolutely useless. Easy to get into and not too long. Highly recommend.

I have this game almost exclusively to wind down after a rough day. The atmosphere really just sets the mood for a chill gaming session. And then I immediately regret opening this up to chill because it becomes a hectic fight for survival against Hero's Steelfall dps check. Next thing I know it's 3am and I need to go to bed for another sleepy day at work.
Also, I love stylin on my friends in couch coop because they aint cool enough to beat my thunderbeast lol (not that I'm any good either haha).

A very welcoming magical girl bullet hell shooter that also has plenty to offer to ones seeking a challenge
I should begin with addressing the elephant in the room.
While a few other reviews focus only on the online fighting aspect, of two characters of similar power levels trying to get a hit in to score first.
This game plays completely different on the Story mode, where it is a more traditional bullet hell power balance where most of the time the player takes a life lost on any hit, but the bosses have a proper health bar of thousands of HP, where you have to be attacking for a while while dodging attacks in a standard bullet hell fashion.
Unlike Acceleration of Suguri which is the same gameplay in both story mode or online PvP skill differences aside, Maiden and Spell essentially has 2 games in it.
It is an interesting bullet hell that's fun to just pick up an play.
All of the difficulties feature a health system similar to the one in Furi, where the odd hit you take doesn't matter much in the long run, so long as you push the boss past a few attacks without taking too many more yourself, upon which the health you lost gets reset and the boss moves on to the next stage.
But if you run out of lives, the boss gets its HP reset and you lose a card which is like your secondary HP bar.
There's no secondary resource management economy, it isn't frustrating as you don't have to reset just because you got hit by something random early on. It just a fun to play experience regardless of your skill level, as all of the difficulties except Very Hard even give you some cards you lost back before the trickier parts.
And unlike your traditional shoot em' up, you can quit your run midway and return to the stage you were on, very nifty if you struggle on the higher difficulties.
Endearing love letter to magical girl media while keeping to the standard of bullet hell shooter storytelling
It has a cutesy art style that looks neat and a pretty interesting story, although the first 2/3 of it are told in the fighting game format where you follow your character and their perspective, only getting a very loose idea of what's going on, with the last third of the story moving on to elaborate and expand on the story proper. The writing in terms of quality goes toe to toe with the STG greats, but same goes for quantity, as given the stage nature, there isn't a lot of it.
But the amount of visual and stylistic references to magical girl shows like the transformation sequences and the general spell themes will strike gold for fans of that stuff
A bullet hell duel game that is more approachable for not aiming for super high speed combat
Gameplay wise it appears to present itself like the Acceleration of Suguri/Senko no Ronde styled bullet hell/fighting game, but Maiden and Spell doesn't go to ludicrous speeds those games have.
Maiden and spell plays at the game speed the touhou games do. The story part of the game would feel a lot more like touhou with a free arena movement over a vertical scroll, plus slightly reworked attack controls.
The way the controls are bound are very sleek and approachable, movement aside, you only have 5 buttons, a focus button to slow down your movement for precise dodging, 2 types of basic attacks, and 2 specials with a slight cooldown.
The inputs are very reliable, and the gameplay loop on your day to day magnus attacks that don't pose a special threat is finding a good rotation of your cooldowns like a MMO.
Only nitpick I have is the Royal Arcanist having a cast status spell bound to the same button as the defensive special, but it being much harder to panic cast the defensive special as you have to hold it.
One of the best combat UIs I have seen.
While you have the standard HP bars for you and your opponent up top, as well as a MMO styled hotbar listing your cooldowns on the bottom, the best part is that all of that info is mirrored in a streamlined fashion on your spell circle, a compass arrow points to the location of your adversary, it displays enemy HP in a % amount, you have your hurtbox display at all times, as well as have a clear readout on which of your specials are ready on the circle border.
With the circle turning red when on cooldown, as well as have a popup with an audio cue for when you get your spells back. That is not to mention a readout on any status conditions you are inflicted by, as well as alerts for an enemy preparing for a big attack or similar.
Minor Nitpicks
-As mentioned earlier, some vestigial remnants of the vastly different old game concept that doesn't fit perfectly with the existing control layout.
Namely Royal Arcanist, who was originally supposed to be a complex character based around status effects turned into one that can inflict one random status, but at the cost of an awkward input share with her defensive special.
-Inspite of the many ways made to have a pleasant experience without frustration at forced replays like your usual bullet hell, it does lack a clearly defined "practice that one spell attack" mode, or a quick load into a particular stage.
It has easy access to the difficult and optional true magnus spells, but even if there's a high score system based on time for all the regular spells, there isn't a way to easily practice anything in particular.
The way the lives system works suffices enough, but it gets particularly tricky for Very Hard that doesn't refund your cards.
Overall, highly recommended just for the story alone, though many do swear the quality of the online too due to rollback netcode.

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