Compared to other survivor games this one is slow, and the controls are not great. You can only control with either your mouse, or your keyboard, and both are clunky at best. There is no independent aiming with a mouse which is kind of deal breaker for me compared to other games.

I play a ton of survivors style games, and this one is pretty good! I would NOT recommend it for people who have limited time for casual play due to the amount of challenging unlocks, but it's a GREAT game for grinding if you make sure you try different challenges when one feels like it's a wall you can't pass. The challenges are varied and require trying various things, but aren't SO controlling that you have no freedom like some games. The gameplay keeps throwing more things at me and it feels good.

I would strongly recommend using your gold to purchase more gold income and pickup range, a couple banishes and rerolls once you get them unlocked, sprinkle a handful of cheap other upgrades elsewhere, and save up for one more projectile (once unlocked) and stuff. You can put your money somewhere else and refund it from individual things at will, so don't be afraid to try new stuff too while you're saving up for a big purchase. Focus on getting yellow stars first! The Shrine level is VERY hard, but you can get your stars elsewhere if you're struggling with it. There's more than enough for all the feature unlocks, so you don't have to get every single one from the hardest levels to unlock features. Features are the biggest help to unlock early on.

Some of the characters are pallet swaps of others, BUT they still contain different starting weapons (sometimes they are how you unlock a new cool weapon too), different actives, different passives, and thus different playstyles. For instance, I hate Tisha because she's slow and her active is way too precise, but she's a pallet swap of Ker, who is extremely powerful and satisfying to play, and who has an easily controlled barrage active. This has left each character unlock feeling satisfying still, as they really do each play their own way.

The infusion system is GREAT for evolutions, too. In most survivors games, you need a really specific passive item to cause an evolution, but in this one, you just need passive items with the right elements. Each of the six elements has many items, which means there's a lot of freedom here, and it gives you a neat build challenge. And once you have favorites, banishes, and rerolls, you can usually get at least something you'll like.

Definitely recommended for people who want something to sink their teeth into.

I love the artstyle. Gameplay is great. Classic bullet hell. Many skills, abilities, powerups and all that. 10/10