Regardless, I had a lot more fun than I thought I would. That it remains engaging throughout speaks to its solid foundation and mechanics, but it still feels like there could have been something more to it. Aside from the gradual introduction of new enemies and slight changes to environments, the experience really doesn’t evolve much from start to finish.
![dying light only explosion challenge problem dying light only explosion challenge problem](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/q_tTGXMrFmE/hqdefault.jpg)
More serious players might, however, take some issue with the overall simplicity of design. These are the sorts of things genre devotees can master and brag about and hold over the heads of we lesser shmuppers. By the end I was scoring a D on pretty much every set of levels, with low marks for style, time, hits taken, and lives used. The prestige they crave can be had via leaderboards.
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Will the lack of punishing difficulty turn away the genre’s more hard-core fans? I doubt it. There’s still a good challenge here (at least for someone like me), but it feels fair and – dare I use this word for a shmup? – even forgiving. You can run right up and along the roof or ground safely while trying to avoid enemies without penalty.
DYING LIGHT ONLY EXPLOSION CHALLENGE PROBLEM PLUS
It helps that we have three lives for each set of phases, plus a life bar that lets us take three hits before dying (as well as the ability to replenish said bar by collecting floating green diamonds when they appear).Īnd Vertex Pop hasn’t done anything so cruel as to, say, make bumping against the environment a damage factor. But Graceful Explosion Machine ‘s quick little levels – which are broken into phases – never felt too intimidating, even when I was failing. My biggest issue with shmups is that I’m not particularly good at them. I constantly found myself balancing use of the main laser gun – which has its own (quickly depleting) energy supply – with deployment of other weapons, making split-second decisions about whether I ought dare race to grab energy left behind by vanquished foes when more were rushing in to take their place, and working out which nearby enemies to prioritize, all while attempting to deftly outmaneuver them as they forever closed in upon my tiny ship. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
![dying light only explosion challenge problem dying light only explosion challenge problem](https://guides.gamepressure.com/dyinglight/gfx/word/93672391.jpg)
Especially since the latter three draw from energy collected from defeated foes – energy that quickly disappears if you don’t move close enough to harvest it. We start with just four static weapons – a repeating blaster, a powerful sniper beam, bouncy missiles, and a sword-like energy swipe that sort of doubles as a brief shield – but they each have their place and purpose, and must be deployed wisely. More than that, its combat provides a basic set of risks and rewards that results in play that is satisfying and sometimes verging on sublime. And its relaxing yet dynamic and slowly crescendo-ing electronic score gradually transforms into something more powerful without ever becoming a source of auditory stress. Its minimalist visual design – which employs a repeating diamond motif, used for explosions, smoke, and even the energy we need to power our weapons – is artsy without pretension. Article content Vertex Popīut Graceful Explosion Machine also feels subtly modern.