PEBGJRE: HellStar Squadron, DERE EVIL .EXE and Curse of the Crescent Isle DX
Byte-sized fun, and page 11 done.
HellStar Squadron is a bullet-hell extravaganza made by Cosmic Crystal Games, an indie dev out of Australia with a knack for retro pixelated titles. This title involves players joining the aforementioned titled HellStar Squadron as they attempt to stop these demonic rebels from overthrowing the galactic government known as Paradise. Which means there are going to be a lot of space bullets. A lot.
In case the moniker of ‘bullet-hell’ wasn’t descriptive, HellStar Squadron has players selecting a fighter from three coloured options with their own unique guns, lasers and special mines in order to fight off 8 levels of enemies. These levels start with some dialogue with the boss before, and then have the player scrolling through space while dozens show up to destroy them, causing bullets to cover the screen. All players have to do is fire whatever gun they wish (except for the explosives, those have a limited quantity to instantly clear the screen) of the two they have and clear the board as they go. After all, the more enemies on screen means the more bullets that can be created, and the harder it gets to dodge. After making one’s way through the legions of minions, the boss themselves reappears to quip about how the player shouldn’t have trifled with them, and then the true bullet hell experience roars back into existence. There are some breathers that players can use, such as the explosives previously mentioned to clear the screen if things get hairy. There are also silver token drops that can either give health back or provide a shield to protect from one instance of damage. Knowing when to grab them and when to let them go for fear of taking damage to grab them is key to survival.
Bullet-hells aren’t really my style of game, but the aesthetic given is definitely something I can get behind. The pixel art is fantastic, and the option modes to bring more ‘retro’ feeling such as CRT shaders and TATE mode really helps the feeling of playing an old arcade game. The soundtrack goes well with the infinite looping style that can be created, and with other modes and difficulties to play on this is definitely a solid installment for those that are looking for a bullet hell to enjoy right. If that sounds like you, grab this one and try it out.
DERE EVIL .EXE is an unsettling platformer made by AppSir, Inc. which boasts an interconnected universe of games by the solo dev Darius Immanuel Guerrero in the Philippines. This is a sequel of sorts (but is a standalone so it’s fine) following the player as they become the avatar of a knight known only as ‘Knightly’. As Knightly, players will traverse a pixelated world guided by the DEV and the assistant AIDE to find the portals out of each level.
Players jump into this 16bit world to join the ranks of the platformers, as Knightly only has the ability to input 3 different commands: run in either direction, and jump. As with the platformers before it, simplicity isn’t a bad thing but a way to allow for the levels themselves to invoke the challenge, and ho boy does it bring that hard and fast.
Mild aside, this is the first title that actively stated that the platforming would be difficult in a PSA starting the game, along with warnings about the unsettling themes, possible scares, and absolute frustration some may experience. As one of those easily frustrated platformer players, I was torn between thanking this card for warning me and annoyed that I would need a warning. The latter feeling disappeared after I realized how right it was.
The levels start out relatively simple, with AIDE giving instructions on what to do as the first level is completed with relative ease. However, before the first level even finishes, I’m killed by my greed for coins as it turns out, those are deadly. It’s a different feeling from dying to the hundreds of spike traps in the map, one that punishes players for grabbing something instictive. There’s even a slight delay for players to realize their mistake before they explode. The platforming puzzles become even more difficult as the introduction of jump-based rotation, platform movement and even jump-based guns adds for some bizarre experiences. And that’s not even the most abstract part.
As advertised, this is also a ‘creepypasta’ title, meaning that it incorporates many themes including AI-to-player direct interaction, the destruction of the world state as the game progresses, possible computer fiddling by the game and a few terrifying moments of a lack of control mixed with jumpscares. There’s been a few titles to incorporate this genre into their titles throughout the bundle, but I found this one to be a tad different than the previous iterations. For starters, it actively changes the game at times in ‘bonus games’, like the time I suddenly was playing brick breaker. These seem more like a hostile takeover from the entity within, as there isn’t an obvious way out back to the original platformer. The other, more obvious, fact is that one of the ‘creepypasta’ elements includes the dev? I’ve interacted with many characters in a creepypasta, but I can’t say that the developer was ever a character within — they are usually an abstract entity, mentioned but not seen. Blamed for the entity’s current state to which their rage or confusion is taken out on the player. It’s a bizarre yet intriguing development to incorporate the dev as both the assistant with AIDE and as the driving force of the plot, and one that works fantastically as one learns of the true objectives of the title.
As it is with creepy pasta titles, I can’t go into more detail about the plot as it usually destroys the atmosphere attempting to be built. What I can say is that the soundtrack is phenomenal, the platforming gets wickedly weird hard, and the creepiest of atmospheres will keep you going throughout the entire 4 levels that are available. If you are looking for a smaller platformer that takes a couple hours at most (I’m slow, so probably make it more like 1–2 hours) then this is one to try out. You might want to try out the free installments that give more context if you so wish, which can be found on itch.io as well. Oh and it can be played on mobile, if you want creepypastas on your phone.
Curse of the Crescent Isle DX is a 2D pixelated platforming adventure made by Adam Mowery, featuring Temmi Change for the cover art, Daniel Davis for the music, Steve Lakawicz as the arranger and Michael Labert for the graphics. Incidentally, this is actually a remake/update from the original indie game Curse of the Crescent Isle that was first launched on the Xbox 360. Updating much of the assets, this title has players follow the adventures of the prince and princess of the kingdom after a warlock cursed all of the people into monsters — thankfully, into quite useful ones. With no one else remaining, only they can return the kingdom back to the way it was before.
Reminiscent of many older adventure titles, Curse of the Crescent Isle DX has players adventuring forth in their 2D world, avoiding dangers such as water pits and monsters while finding different people to help free from their confinement. Much of the exploration revolves around acquiring the power to utilize the monsters picked up by their heads to traverse the more dangerous aspects of the game. These powers can vary greatly depending on what is grabbed, such as the drill monster for breaking through half-broken stone or these bizarre skulls that can run around on any surface. Levels are designed to be manipulated in this way, so carefully grabbing which monster is needed to venture forth is necessary. They can be thrown if one grabs the wrong character, but do be warned that while they may not die, they may become inaccessible if players throw them into places that cannot be reached. I had a few instances where I would put down an item on a platform that rendered that area inaccessible because I could no longer jump up to that singular platform, forcing me to find another to throw at it, or restart the area. Speaking of restarting, in traditional fashion the door that the protagonists enter from is their checkpoint, so be careful to not die lest one wishes to traverse the entire level again.
Like the others that invoke this retro style, I’m not as able to capture the essence of retro as well as many others may be able to thanks to my lack of history with consoles and games that came out during that era. I can, however, appreciate the beautiful artwork in its many forms in this title, as well as rock out to the tunes while jumping around on a drill. There’s definitely a sense of older 80s/90s adventure titles in here, even if I have no first hand experience. If you do have experience with these titles and are looking for some more old-fashioned adventures, this might be the title to give a whirl sometime.
Uh, hold up, am I done page 11? Damn. Software will come later I guess? Seriously where did the time go.
