DRAINUS (Team Ladybug, Steam) - Out now

[sunnshiner]

Hmm. I just got this to give it a go and while it looks ace I find the whole weapon & upgrade system far too complicated and it interrupts the flow of gameplay too much (or maybe I'm just being super thick, I don't know). Anyway, it's not for me.

edit- health bars on popcorn FFS

[Sanguis]

The graphics are very good. But the music seems to be very bad. It seems that they included music, just for the sake of including it.

[FunktionJCB]

I wish there were visibility options to tone down screen shake

The developers have released an update that adds an option to turn screen shake on/off.

[sunnshiner]

I wish there were visibility options to tone down screen shake

The developers have released an update that adds an option to turn screen shake on/off.

That's good. Now if they can patch it so the proper mode (arcade) is available straight away that'd be smashing.

[Necronom]

I had a bit of a rough ride getting into it but once it clicked the game flows really well and feels great.
@sunnshiner: Imo health bars are there because a lot of enemies are meant to be destroyed by normal shot+charge shot. Charge wherever you can, ideally in short bursts.
It's impressive how simple yet deep this mechanic can become.
One thing I kinda dislike is that once you lost all of your weapon modules in the middle of a really tough spot it can be extremely difficult to power up again. Probably a nod to Gradius...

[BurlyHeart]

Picked this up tonight and had a lot of fun. It looks great with some memorable boss fights.

Bargain at $13 or so.

[To Far Away Times]

[BareKnuckleRoo]

I like how the name on the dog's tag is edited out in one picture, but not the other.

[ChurchOfSolipsism]

that's the kind of effort that we need in this place

[OldSkoolShmuper]

Eurogamer just posted a review.

https://www.eurogamer.net/drainus-revie ... -gradius-5

Drainus review - the most spectacular side-scrolling shooter since Gradius 5

Old school shooters have always been where you'll find video games at their most direct, and the genre's side-scrolling subset is where you go to see them at their most stately and spectacular. Konami's Scramble kickstarted the form in 1982 before it evolved into the atmospheric masterpiece Gradius, while Taito brought to the genre a cinematic scope with the three-screen spectacle of Darius. With complex scoring mechanics not so much of a concern there's a joyful simplicity to the action, matched by pure-hearted sci-fi panoramas that make these games spaced out thrill rides. It's why I love them so dearly, anyway.

It's always lovely to come across fellow enthusiasts, and developer Team Ladybug's passion for the genre shines clearly throughout the somewhat unfortunately named Drainus - the moniker a nod to the grand dames of the side-scrolling shooter genre that provide the big inspiration that would be adorable if it didn't also sound like a synonym for taking a dump. Still, silly names have never stopped shooting games in the past and they certainly don’t dent what’s a fine effort here.

Indeed, so lush is the spectacle of Drainus that it puts a fine argument forward for being the best of its sort since Treasure’s Gradius 5 - there’s that same inventiveness to Drainus, the same spark in its environmental puzzles that occasionally throw little physics-based mechanisms for you to unlock and the same wit in its multi-staged screen-filling bosses.

[Zaarock]

New update released today; added normal, hard and extended difficulties to Arcade mode. Arcade hard seems similar to ridiculous loop1? (maybe it's just hard loop2 though..)

Most midbosses and boss parts now have a timer on them from first hit signifying a score time limit. If this goes to 0 they basically lose all value on kill. So a countermeasure to milking. Some enemies like the 1st midbosses are worth so little that the shield milk is worth I'd imagine. You definitely want a powerful bomb type to be able to kill things on time. Selecting your upgrades is more interesting on arcade hard as you cant afford a full upgrade set & might want to settle for a lower level shot upgrade or shield.

Very nice update but I'd still like to see the Ridiculous mode patterns & enemy speed on arcade. Arcade hard only has few red (unshieldable) bullets. Red suicide bullets forcing you to actually dodge is a fun part of Ridiculous mode. An arcade mode equivalent would be much better with the scoring system & timeouts

[EmperorIng]

Glad to see there are updates, I haven't been able to play this yet but fixing some of the timer woes and making difficulty selectable are too good steps. Looking forward to giving this a shot.

[Rastan78]

Nintendo Life has a review out that says:

If there's one big failing with Drainus, it's the fact that it's over quite quickly

Proof that reviewers will say every shmup is too short no matter how long it is. C'mon guys it's 2022. We need a 100+ hour long shmup where dying has no consequence, and learning and memorization have no importance.

Guys I'm 65 hours into my first run of the new DDP, and I haven't even started NG+ yet. Loving it so far.

[Bassa-Bassa]

New update released today; added normal, hard and extended difficulties to Arcade mode.

LIKE THIS, DEVS, THANKS!

[TransatlanticFoe]

Nintendo Life has a review out that says:

If there's one big failing with Drainus, it's the fact that it's over quite quickly

Proof that reviewers will say every shmup is too short no matter how long it is. C'mon guys it's 2022. We need a 100+ hour long shmup where dying has no consequence, and learning and memorization have no importance.

Guys I'm 65 hours into my first run of the new DDP, and I haven't even started NG+ yet. Loving it so far.

"and isn't that hard"

C'mon, don't take the important part out of the quote. The brevity isn't what the writer has issue with, it's brevity + low difficulty. It praises replay value in spite of that, literally calls it a masterpiece and warrants coverage despite a Switch port seeming wishful thinking at this stage. I don't think it's fair to twist it as "reviewers don't understand shmups".

[Rastan78]

I'm hearing that the game is 2 hours long with both loops, which is why it surprised me that anyone with knowledge of the genre would criticize it for ending too quickly. Especially in an otherwise fair and positive writeup. Kinda feels like some things will never change.

Really looking forward to it though I'm gonna have to wait for a console release to get ahold of it.

[BurlyHeart]

lmao I've been putting all shot types into my options, so each shot type would just switch when the option changes

I didn't realise the different types of weapons stack (shot, missile, rear, formation). There's even a warning about it

[NuclearPotato]

Yeah, I finally did my playthrough today on stream, and it came in at just a little over two hours for a full playthrough. So compared to most shmups, you're getting a lot out of your theoretical credit/real $15, even before you dive into the other difficulties/arcade mode.

Definitely quite easy on Normal, though I don't see that as a bad thing. Didn't actually have to restart a stage until well into the second loop. Basically:

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Got to play Drainus at a game meet yesterday. It blew me away with how cool it was. Spent a credit getting a handle on the controls (was playing on a Saturn pad) and the sheer innovation was exceptional. Devs: this is how you do speed controls in a shmup. You have a responsive, instant alt speed button, but you have a customizable speed selector for your "base" speed and the alt speed button you can set on the fly. Want to move faster when you press the alternate button? Yeah you can do that. It was really, really, really damn cool. This is how I want all my shmups to feel.

The game's really fun. Played Normal Arcade, difficulty felt just right for the "default" difficulty to be approachable to all levels of challenge (especially since there's harder modes above it). I no-missed Normal Arcade on my first full run. It's going to be way too easy for an arcade veteran, but that's not because the patterns are super sparse or anything, you simply can unlock a lot of life units on the meter (each powerup you have is a life unit basically). It's good for the default difficulty to err on the side of being easier for people who aren't hardcore into shmups, and the harder modes feel like they're suited for people wanting an arcade-difficult shmup.

The weapons were neat and I had fun experimenting with them. I went with double reflect laser, formation bits, the super powerful homing missiles, and later on the gigantic hurricane bomb (you really have to be at the far left of the screen to hit with this or it goes too far, it's not all that good I think?).

Graphics are exceptional. I can't tell if it's all clever spritework or if there's some "sprites that are actually cleverly rendered 3D" tricks going on, but it's the same level of quality as their previous releases and comparable to other amazing doujin shmups like Battle Traverse.

Music is decent/good. The absorption sound's quite loud and dominant, I might have to play it with the audio levels tweaked to better appreciate the music.

Length felt just right. It's a long enough game without overstaying its welcome, and it's got a 2 loop mode if you want a longer game (apparently the story mode has 2 loops as well and it ties into the plot).

My only two complaints:

1) The absorption meter should change shape or colour when it's filled out. It's too difficult to tell when the absorption meter is nearly but not quite full vs actually filled. It's possible for it to be filled but missing a tiny sliver, and then you release it too early, missing out on the invulnerability you get for firing it when maxed out.

2) The name is deeply unfortunate and reminds me of Drano. Others at the meet thought it sounded too much like "anus", but then we decided "Doctor Anus" was obviously the canon name of the game and called it nothing else for the rest of the night.

10/10, Doctor Anus is a cool dude.

[BulletMagnet]

10/10, Doctor Anus is a cool dude.

If your name is Anus and you've still got it together enough to earn a doctorate you are by definition a pretty cool dude. Bonus points if said doctorate is in something other than proctology.

[BrianC]

I'm loving this game, but I agree this is one of the most unfortunately named shmups since Wolflame.

[guigui]

Name : on the all-time classic album Nevermind by Nirvana, eighth track was named "Drain You"
Maybe hearing Drainus as a "Drain Us" and putting Cobain's voice over it may relieve the pain a little ?

[miwa]

Apparently Drainus will be released on Nintendo Switch this Winter:

https://www.gematsu.com/2022/09/drainus ... his-winter

[Ghegs]

Not really surprising, but greatly appreciated nonetheless.

[kid aphex]

Rad. I’ve been waiting for this one.
A physical announcement would be awesome.

[To Far Away Times]

Experience the greatnus that is Drainus

[TrevorMcFurr]

It's 20% off on Steam sale for a couple more days. A really fun shooter that's not too difficult, especially for old folks like myself who have reaction times slower that a brick.

Sent from my SM-A505FN using Tapatalk

[Leandro]

how it compares with Satazius?

[Bear78]

Looks like SLG is putting out a physical release for this with orders opening this weekend.

https://twitter.com/RealStrictlyLTD/sta ... fabgHaabtQ

[kid aphex]

Wow… Strictly Limited. Again. How awful.
Hopefully there’s a physical Japanese release due…?