Hopeless Sea

Alright. After clearing hard mode, I have to make some critiques. Before I dive in, the game is fun. It has a cool aesthetic which I really enjoy. The nautical theme is fun. I overall like the game, but the game has some big problems. All of them involving the game's difficulty. First, the AI of the enemies needs to be tweaked. All enemies come from the top of the screen and travel downwards. You can easily camp the top of the screen after just a few upgrades and stop many enemies from spawning. This is even an issue in hard mode. Even just having enemies that spawn from different points of the screen and travel up or across would help a lot. Elite enemies should probably have more of a presence, maybe firing sooner than they do so that you can't delete them before they fire. Basically, if you are anything above a noob at shmups, you will be able to manipulate the AI too easily even on the hardest difficulty. The game is way too easy. Second, the characters need to have fixed weapons and undergo some balance changes. No more choosing your own weapons. The characters are laughably unbalanced as they are. The pirate lady I unlocked first is INSANELY overpowered with her bullet cancelling. Restricting each character to weapons that balance their strengths with weaknesses would go very far to making this a more challenging game. Third, balancing the levelups. I don't even have a good suggestion here. It feels slightly too easy to snowball in this game. Although, with the other problems fixed, this probably wouldn't be an issue. This may not need to be changed if the other changes are effective enough. Still leaving this here for something to think about. Fourth, a suggestion I think the devs may enjoy. If you (the devs) disagree with some of my critiques and have a vision for the game that more aligns with how it already is, introduce further game modes with some of my changes. That way you can have your original vision of the easier game without alienating hardcore shmup fans. Honestly, it may be possible to fix the game by just updating the hardest difficulty to be more in line with my vision. My suggestion, personally, would be to keep your original 3 difficulties as a Novice game mode and create a new game mode with the changes I've suggested. This is based on Cave's approach to difficulty settings, specifically Mushihimesama which is considered a classic in the genre. Truly, it's the best of both worlds. Everyone wins. Lastly, sorry for creating work for you (the devs). I appreciate the cool game you've created and I don't mean to sound entitled to your labor. These are just suggestions. The game is fine as is if you want a very easy game. I just can't recommend the game as is. I'd prefer to mark this review as informational, like curation pages, but that is not an option for standard reviews. Good luck! Your game has much potential.