DRAINUS (Team Ladybug, Steam) - Out now
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DRAINUS (Team Ladybug, Steam) - Out now
Team Ladybug, the Japanese indie developers behind awesome "metroidvania" games like Pharaoh Rebirth+, Touhou Luna Nights, and Record of Lodoss War-Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth-, just announced a new game a few minutes ago during the INDIE Live Expo 2022 Day 2 stream, a shmup, and... it's out now on Steam!
It looks awesome!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVTmHZ8acIc
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1975360/DRAINUS/
It looks awesome!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVTmHZ8acIc
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1975360/DRAINUS/
Re: DRAINUS (Team Ladybug, Steam) - Out now
Wow... finally a new indie shmup that LOOKS good.
A cohesive and well-executed aesthetic... amazing!
Wish I had a PC to play it on.
Make me jealous, everyone.
A cohesive and well-executed aesthetic... amazing!
Wish I had a PC to play it on.
Make me jealous, everyone.
Re: DRAINUS (Team Ladybug, Steam) - Out now
Daaamn! Thanks for bringing it up. If it plays how it looks this might end up being my shmup of the year
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Re: DRAINUS (Team Ladybug, Steam) - Out now
Judging from past releases, I'm sure Team Ladybug will release it on consoles as well.kid aphex wrote:Wow... finally a new indie shmup that LOOKS good.
A cohesive and well-executed aesthetic... amazing!
Wish I had a PC to play it on.
Make me jealous, everyone.
You'll be able to play it sooner or later.
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mamboFoxtrot
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Re: DRAINUS (Team Ladybug, Steam) - Out now
If they're still using the same game engine then it's probably fairly toaster-friendly?
Damn this looks pretty good, though. Team Ladybug the legit bros
but god damn could they have run that title by a few gaijin before putting it out!
Damn this looks pretty good, though. Team Ladybug the legit bros
but god damn could they have run that title by a few gaijin before putting it out!
Re: DRAINUS (Team Ladybug, Steam) - Out now
Thank you for the heads up on this one!
Re: DRAINUS (Team Ladybug, Steam) - Out now
Well, when this game gets a console port, give me a call, please.
Re: DRAINUS (Team Ladybug, Steam) - Out now
Really. Sounds like they were trying to go with something loosely based on Darius and accidentally ended up with a vaguely pornographic name. At least they didn't go with Diranus.mamboFoxtrot wrote:but god damn could they have run that title by a few gaijin before putting it out!
I'm sure it's a matter of time before weebs will be saying uh no actually it's pronounced drye-noos-uh
Liking the look of this so far tho. Anyone check out Deedlit? It's been on my list fot a while due to the excellent looking artwork, but I just never did pull the trigger.
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BulletMagnet
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Re: DRAINUS (Team Ladybug, Steam) - Out now
Gave this a try, and it does indeed look great throughout, though prospective buyers should be warned that, at least on Normal difficulty, it's quite easy: not only do you eventually get a recharging bullet-absorbing barrier, recharging bullet-cancelling bombs, and a passive shield, but on top of generous multiple lives this uses a variation of Axelay's weapon/life system, where getting hit knocks out one of your (up to five, all equipped simultaneously) weapons, and taking a hit when reduced to your pea shooter properly kills you. Unlike Axelay, however, power-up items to restore said weapons mid-stage are plentiful; the only real threat is dying at a boss or other spot where said powerups aren't present, where you can chain-die easily while powered down. On my first try I got to the final boss, of stage 12 before getting flattened, so I'm sure others are capable of clearing the whole thing on their first go.
It is an entertaining ride, there are plenty of requisite callbacks/tributes to the shmups of old, and I haven't tried Hard difficulty yet, but if you're looking for a challenge you probably won't find it here.
EDIT: 1CCed Hard without much trouble, once you have a better idea of which upgrades to opt for things become a good deal easier. Doing this unlocked two new harder modes, though, so a decent challenge may still await...
Spoiler
actually, stage 6 of loop 2, pretty much
It is an entertaining ride, there are plenty of requisite callbacks/tributes to the shmups of old, and I haven't tried Hard difficulty yet, but if you're looking for a challenge you probably won't find it here.
EDIT: 1CCed Hard without much trouble, once you have a better idea of which upgrades to opt for things become a good deal easier. Doing this unlocked two new harder modes, though, so a decent challenge may still await...
Much like this game, looks very nice and plays fine, but quite easy.Anyone check out Deedlit? It's been on my list fot a while due to the excellent looking artwork, but I just never did pull the trigger.
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Augemitbutter
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Re: DRAINUS (Team Ladybug, Steam) - Out now
Deedlit is okay but somewhat plain. I enjoyed the boss rush. They need to put more meat into their levels if they ever make a 2nd one.
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Re: DRAINUS (Team Ladybug, Steam) - Out now
Out of nowhere! It's too bad reading all this about the difficulty level, though.
Looked around - they want it to be taken as an English word, pronounced like /drain us/: ドレイナスRastan78 wrote: I'm sure it's a matter of time before weebs will be saying uh no actually it's pronounced drye-noos-uh
Re: DRAINUS (Team Ladybug, Steam) - Out now
Nintendo Life just did an article mistakenly calling it "Dranius." Author must've subconsciously been like I'm not typing Drainus.
https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2022/ ... -to-switch
https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2022/ ... -to-switch
Re: DRAINUS (Team Ladybug, Steam) - Out now
Don't regret my purchase. I just hope there's a way harder difficulty. But it is very creative and takes some surprising liberties. You can definitely tell these people made search action games. It's interesting to see some of that design bleed through into an STG. I think it works.
And I seriously love this game's visuals and audio.
And I seriously love this game's visuals and audio.
Re: DRAINUS (Team Ladybug, Steam) - Out now
Here. This is the only to the point review I think covers it well enough.Rastan78 wrote:Liking the look of this so far tho. Anyone check out Deedlit? It's been on my list fot a while due to the excellent looking artwork, but I just never did pull the trigger.
https://youtu.be/E9Hx3w9myHQ
Re: DRAINUS (Team Ladybug, Steam) - Out now
Great game but only challenging on the Ridiculous difficulty which unfortunately has no Arcade mode equivalent (Arcade is the same as Hard). I wish there were visibility options to tone down screen shake and player shot brightness (kinda too many shots sprites at max power).
DRAINUS on the other hand doesnt feel uninspired to me at all, whoever worked on this seemed to be really into shmups. Just the difficulty balancing is a bit all over the place, player shots/missiles/bits are too busy on the screen, some powerup combinations are broken and many enemies/bosses seem to not have timeouts or have bizarre safepoints. The scoring system is a little too bare bones with boss fights getting down to absorb as many beams as you can instead of firing (probably exploits on multiple bosses to only hit zakos with the reflect laser and continue this forever). Would love to see future updates or some more polished arcade version of the game down the line. This feels like a location test from that perspective but 10/10 on the visuals.
I don't recommend this game, the level design is the most bland I've ever seen in a metroidvania. Many corridors just filled with enemies and non memorable locations moving from color keyed door to the next. Some cool boss concepts but.. those actually work better in the pure shmup format here. The visuals are still great and control solid but there are tons of similar games out there that do more than this.Rastan78 wrote:Liking the look of this so far tho. Anyone check out Deedlit? It's been on my list fot a while due to the excellent looking artwork, but I just never did pull the trigger.
DRAINUS on the other hand doesnt feel uninspired to me at all, whoever worked on this seemed to be really into shmups. Just the difficulty balancing is a bit all over the place, player shots/missiles/bits are too busy on the screen, some powerup combinations are broken and many enemies/bosses seem to not have timeouts or have bizarre safepoints. The scoring system is a little too bare bones with boss fights getting down to absorb as many beams as you can instead of firing (probably exploits on multiple bosses to only hit zakos with the reflect laser and continue this forever). Would love to see future updates or some more polished arcade version of the game down the line. This feels like a location test from that perspective but 10/10 on the visuals.
Re: DRAINUS (Team Ladybug, Steam) - Out now
I just watched an uncut play through of the first stage and … wow.
Even the awesome trailer doesn’t do this game justice.
Set-pieces, amazing boss design, incredible attention to detail…
We need more shmups like this.
Even the awesome trailer doesn’t do this game justice.
Set-pieces, amazing boss design, incredible attention to detail…
We need more shmups like this.
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To Far Away Times
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Re: DRAINUS (Team Ladybug, Steam) - Out now
That barrell roll in the beginning is perfection.
Is this too easy though? Kinda afraid I'll blow through it on a first or second attempt and never touch it again.
Is this too easy though? Kinda afraid I'll blow through it on a first or second attempt and never touch it again.
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BulletMagnet
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Re: DRAINUS (Team Ladybug, Steam) - Out now
As Zaarock mentions, "Ridiculous" difficulty, which both ups the enemy bullet count and institutes one-hit deaths, will probably keep you busy for a bit, though you need to unlock it first. "Arcade" mode, which is unlocked alongside it, isn't as intense but does only allow you to visit the upgrade screen once per stage and boots you out if you take too long, so that might also be of interest.
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Re: DRAINUS (Team Ladybug, Steam) - Out now
Read, devs - THIS IS RETARDED AND HAS NO USE. STOP DOING THIS, PLEASE.BulletMagnet wrote:you need to unlock it first.
Re: DRAINUS (Team Ladybug, Steam) - Out now
.Bassa-Bassa wrote:Read, devs - THIS IS RETARDED AND HAS NO USE. STOP DOING THIS, PLEASE.BulletMagnet wrote:you need to unlock it first.
I wouldn't go that far... Some people enjoy unlocking stuff (modes, credits, ships, ...) and actually dislike the opposite.
And given the low difficulty of the "main" game I don't see the problem. It won't be a grind.
"There are three possible endings: the good one, the bad one and death" - Locomalito, Super Hydorah
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BareKnuckleRoo
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Re: DRAINUS (Team Ladybug, Steam) - Out now
I was kind of disappointed when I saw there was a fair bit of screen shake going on and wondered about this. There's some games I've played that have so much screen shake without any option to disable that they've turned me off from playing them seriously (Downwell).I wish there were visibility options to tone down screen shake
Yeah, if they don't want new players to stumble into the hardest mode right at the start it's nice when they implement an unlock code (Vanquish's God Hard difficulty for instance) but if the unlock requirement isn't particularly difficult or grindy then it's not the end of the world.And given the low difficulty of the "main" game I don't see the problem. It won't be a grind.
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Re: DRAINUS (Team Ladybug, Steam) - Out now
This may sound like alien language, but there're people who just don't want any spoilers, which is the only thing these perfectly unchallenging modes serve for.
It's indeed a natural thing to enjoy unlocking stuff with progress, but stuff like new stages and with actual effort. Extra difficulty modes by completing dumb-easy tasks just doesn't belong to this genre.
It's indeed a natural thing to enjoy unlocking stuff with progress, but stuff like new stages and with actual effort. Extra difficulty modes by completing dumb-easy tasks just doesn't belong to this genre.
I wonder what could be a reason for that.if they don't want new players to stumble into the hardest mode right at the start
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BareKnuckleRoo
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Re: DRAINUS (Team Ladybug, Steam) - Out now
Is this sarcasm? I can't tell if it is or not.Bassa-Bassa wrote:I wonder what could be a reason for that.
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Re: DRAINUS (Team Ladybug, Steam) - Out now
Honest question, I promise.
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BareKnuckleRoo
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Re: DRAINUS (Team Ladybug, Steam) - Out now
They probably want to broaden mass appeal and avoid the problem that sometimes happens where someone claims "this shmup is too short and too easy because I can credit feed the hardest difficulty in 30 minutes". Or complain because they're the sort that says they (stubbornly) only play games at the highest difficulty, then complain when it's too hard for them. As strange as it sounds, it is a thing some people who aren't into shmups have genuinely complained about.
From a design standpoint I'd say it's not as annoying or baffling as the recent Pocky & Rocky remake where multiplayer is literally locked away from the start despite having no real reason not to offer a multiplayer option for the story mode.
From a design standpoint I'd say it's not as annoying or baffling as the recent Pocky & Rocky remake where multiplayer is literally locked away from the start despite having no real reason not to offer a multiplayer option for the story mode.
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Re: DRAINUS (Team Ladybug, Steam) - Out now
Then don't let them credit feed in that mode? Otherwise, it's like they're doing two wrongs in order to make a right, and that never works.BareKnuckleRoo wrote:They probably want to broaden mass appeal and avoid the problem that sometimes happens where someone claims "this shmup is too short and too easy because I can credit feed the hardest difficulty in 30 minutes".
These latter cases are beyond any help, I'm afraid. Hopefully they're just a few.BareKnuckleRoo wrote:Or complain because they're the sort that says they (stubbornly) only play games at the highest difficulty, then complain when it's too hard for them. As strange as it sounds, it is a thing some people who aren't into shmups have genuinely complained about.
I indeed remember myself being the first complaining about that (and more) in its own thread here as well.BareKnuckleRoo wrote:From a design standpoint I'd say it's not as annoying or baffling as the recent Pocky & Rocky remake where multiplayer is literally locked away from the start despite having no real reason not to offer a multiplayer option for the story mode.
Re: DRAINUS (Team Ladybug, Steam) - Out now
Talking and testing the game with Jaimers, seems like a lot of bosses don't timeout on modes outside of Arcade so you can milk them for infinite powerups and score.
Very weird design choice & this kind of ruins Ridiculous mode since the scoring system is shield milking but you can't know what the time limit on fights is supposed to be.
Very weird design choice & this kind of ruins Ridiculous mode since the scoring system is shield milking but you can't know what the time limit on fights is supposed to be.
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ChurchOfSolipsism
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Re: DRAINUS (Team Ladybug, Steam) - Out now
Sounds like the brand name of a drain cleaner. Looks impressive, though...
n0rtygames wrote:[The wife] once asked me "whats a shoryuken?" so I gave her a real life demonstration. Except she was too close on the spin. So I actually SRK'd her. With full vocalisation too...
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To Far Away Times
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Re: DRAINUS (Team Ladybug, Steam) - Out now
Watched a few minutes of it in motion. Insta-buy.
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BurlyHeart
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Re: DRAINUS (Team Ladybug, Steam) - Out now
This looks so good, and I love that it just dropped out of nowhere. Decent price too.
Also, I don't mind the unlock difficulty mode. However, I can understand why better players would find it pointless.
Also, I don't mind the unlock difficulty mode. However, I can understand why better players would find it pointless.
Now known as old man|Burly
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Shmup Difficulty Lists:
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Shmup Difficulty Lists:
Japan Arcade - To Far Away Times - Perikles