Hazelnut Hex

Alright, a perfect little shmup, what else can I say? It's easy to beat, but takes some effort to learn to score nicely. Just a perfect little game with great horizontal shooter design with a tinge of bullet hell and adorable aesthetics. Quality art, quality music, and above all, top notch game design. Bravo!

A short, sweet game that can be done under a lunch break. Overall good music, vibe, and actually a very good introduction to doing One credit clear 1cc.

The best shmup starring a cereal mascot. Personally struggle with the visibility on default settings, but you can just raise the background dim in the settings to fix that.

It hasn't taken long to work out that Hazelnut Hex is absolutely worth my time and I know I'm going to sink a lot of hours into this one. Hazelnut Hex is the type of horizontal shmup that you dream of finding. It's art style is pleasing and internally consistent, the audio design reinforces the world and has some excellent sfx and BGM tracks, the game-play is smooth and immediately engaging, the decision space during game-play isn't overwhelming and the game is fair, with a difficulty curve that doesn't simply kick your backside for fun when you hit that level 3/level 4 wall that some shmups like to throw at you, while maintaining enough difficulty to challenge more experienced players. This game teaches you through play and makes you feel great while you're doing it. It is a masterclass on ensuring your storytelling, animation, palette choice and music design all pull in the same direction to give the player the experience you want them to have. It looks like, and feels like, playing a Saturday morning cartoon while your parents are still in bed. Fun freedom and part of a nutritious breakfast! I heartily recommend Hazelnut Hex to both hardened shmup fans and those curious about trying their first STG game. This game respects your time and does it's damnest to give you fun through every moment of it's game-play. It's a very stark reminder that some of the best gaming experiences come from places other than the AAA publishers. Bravo and encore, Chunderfins - we want more of this sort of stuff please! Hazelnut Hex will be the next shmup I teach my wife and joins my list of favourite STGs. I'm glad this one was recommended to me. ===EDIT 15/10/25=== Since writing my initial review I've had a chance to play a lot more of this one and I have to say, it gets better and better. I've 1 credit cleared it on both difficulties and with all shot types......and that's only the START of the journey! Playing this game for SCORE is where the real meat-and-drink of the title really lies, as the simple, yet effective, multiplier system adds an extra dimension and witchy spice to the mix. Veteren players may look at HH as perhaps a touch simplistic on first glance but make no mistake, friends: Playing for score is when this game really transforms and becomes and addiction. Just get it. Really, it's fun, it's easy to get into, there's an extra layer to it. Just get it.

O jogo é tão legal que eu fico triste por ter sido curto! Espero que um dia a gente possa ter uma continuação... Nao sei Só sei que o estilo de arte e a trilha sonora é impecavel, super estiloso, da pra você ver o amor que os criadores colocaram, e nao só isso, mas o esforço também pq deve ter sido mo trabahão. O jogo é de navinha, é simples e muito facil, e eu acho isso bem bom até. Depois que ce joga muitos jogos complicados (principalmente sendo ruim como eu) pegar um jogo que nao te pune por errar e deixa você só seguir o fluxo é revitalizador. Quero jogar mais desse jogo!

You can tell that every single frame of animation, every line of code, was made with love and passion. There is so much effort that was put in this game it is unbelievable. The game itself is SUPER addicting, even when you fail to dodge a bullet you still feel the urge to play again because of it. Overall, this is eight dollars of pure fun.