You really need to play Battle Traverse

[trap15]

That's the saddest reason I've heard in my life.

[chum]

Anyone who thinks the game has boring/unremarkable patterns should try Extreme.

that looks extremely slow, easy and unremarkable and unattractive to me. also the music is some of the worst i've ever heard.

[Shepardus]

Steam is also full of H-games, just locked behind a decensor patch. But yeah, most PC gamers probably aren't going to bother looking past Steam for their games, so it's hard to get noticed if your game isn't on Steam. It's already hard enough even if the game is on Steam. DLsite is pretty hassle-free though, you technically don't even need to create an account to make purchases, though that only gives you temporary access to the download.

I wish there were lighter versions of some of the Extreme patterns in other modes. Maybe with more than one bullet color to spice things up.

[shoryusatsu999]

Simple. It's not on Steam, but on DLsite, which is a hard pass for most gamers due to it being full of H-games and not being Steam compatible.

2018, the year when people won't buy a game because they can't lock it into their DRM system.

Most people don't see it as a DRM system, or even know that it is DRM. They see it as the place to get games on PC and play most multiplayer games with their friends. It's the only game in town that doesn't have a specific niche, isn't a key seller and is backed by 99% of the major game developers (and thus has 99% of the games most people want to play). GOG does old DRM-free games, Origin does EA games, uPlay does Ubisoft games, and DLsite does doujin games (mostly VNs and H-games), but Steam does a little bit of everything those do and way more. Simply put, if it's not available on Steam, unless you're super hardcore about the thing you're looking for, you're not likely going to give it the time of day.

That goes double for shmups, which already aren't given the time of day due to all the good ones being near identical to casual players every run and most of the ones that are visibly different often being decried as bad (though usually for other reasons, I think).

[EmperorIng]

I did actually pick it up, finally, thanks to that sale that Shepardus brought up. Is Extreme unlocked by beating the game on any difficulty? I only messed around and credit fed on normal as I tried to get my controller working properly and stop the game from auto-selecting 2P simultaneous play. The game couldn't detect my Xbone dpad, so I had to switch to my Hori Fighting Commander, but I still am not sure if it is reading the inputs of Gamepad 1 or 2... Whatever, those don't make or break the experience.

Even on Normal the game has lived up to some of my expectations... very reminiscent of Progear and Ketsui. I really like the boss patterns; on Normal they are pretty forgiving but I imagine they will be very tense on Hard.

[Sumez]

Most people don't see it as a DRM system, or even know that it is DRM. They see it as the place to get games on PC and play most multiplayer games with their friends. It's the only game in town that doesn't have a specific niche, isn't a key seller and is backed by 99% of the major game developers (and thus has 99% of the games most people want to play). GOG does old DRM-free games, Origin does EA games, uPlay does Ubisoft games, and DLsite does doujin games (mostly VNs and H-games), but Steam does a little bit of everything those do and way more. Simply put, if it's not available on Steam, unless you're super hardcore about the thing you're looking for, you're not likely going to give it the time of day.

I know all of this, I just don't get it.

[Zaarock]

Anyone who thinks the game has boring/unremarkable patterns should try Extreme.

that looks extremely slow, easy and unremarkable and unattractive to me. also the music is some of the worst i've ever heard.

Fair enough. I still find it impressive they gave all enemies/bosses completely new patterns for a side mode very few people will get their hands on. It's too gimmicky though.

IIRC extreme unlocks by credit feeding through very hard. Going through extreme unlocks an extra option to disable bullet cancelling.

[Bananamatic]

what are "boring" patterns
drawing flowers with bullets when they explode into a random mess is a waste of dev time when you can make the boss vomit a random mess straight away

[Shepardus]

I accidentally unlocked Extreme by editing the config file, which in addition to the game settings also manages unlocks.

[Aquas]

This game rules. Digging Very Hard - it will challenge you.