Heavy Storm Shadow
- April 26, 2024
- SmokingBear Studio
Get on Steam"Heavy Storm Shadow" is a mech-based shooter game where players can constantly upgrade and grow their mech through battles against waves of enemies. Gather resources to enhance weapons and armor, unlock new skills, and form unique fighting styles. Survive against overwhelming numbers of enemies in various environments, and experience powerful combat possibilities.
Reviews
- The game features enjoyable mech combat with a variety of build combinations and customization options.
- Graphics and visual effects are appealing, contributing to an engaging aesthetic experience.
- The gameplay loop is fun and addictive, providing a satisfying experience for fans of the genre.
- Performance issues, including frame drops and stuttering, significantly detract from the overall experience.
- The game suffers from a lack of content and variety, with repetitive maps and enemy designs.
- Balancing issues exist, with certain abilities and upgrades feeling overpowered while others are nearly useless.
- gameplay10 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- 20 % neutral mentions
- 30 % negative mentions
Gameplay is generally enjoyable with a solid loop and responsive controls, but it suffers from performance issues and a lack of content depth. While customization and unique character abilities add variety, many mechs feel similar, and the reliance on specific mechanics can limit build options. Overall, it offers a fun experience for fans of the genre, though it may become repetitive after a few hours.
“Entertaining gameplay with customization, an upgrade system, and four waifus to choose from.”
“If you like vampire survivors or the genre and you're a fan of mecha/gundams, give it a try. Overall, I like the experience so far and the gameplay loop is good enough to make me open the game again and again for a bit.”
“The basic gameplay is pretty good, controls are responsive, and there are a fair few weapons and tools to be used to decimate the hordes of enemies.”
“Gameplay is slow; different mechs are largely identical except for their single ability.”
“Gameplay-wise it's decent, but performance-wise it's kind of bad as it still has lots of frame drop issues.”
“While it feels fairly unique, it's just such a weird and clunky mechanic to have as one of the core functions. Many skills and functions seem to revolve around this boost, and it's very hard to utilize in a satisfactory way. If you choose not to use these skills, your build choices are significantly reduced.”
- graphics9 mentions
- 33 % positive mentions
- 33 % neutral mentions
- 33 % negative mentions
The graphics in the game are generally praised for their neat art style and cool mech designs, with enjoyable visual effects that enhance the experience. However, some users note performance issues, such as frame drops during high enemy density and a desire for adjustable graphics settings to improve performance. Additionally, there are mentions of blurriness that detracts from the overall visual quality.
“There aren't too many contents as of now if we compare to other bullet hell roguelites, but it's good enough if you want mecha-based with great graphics.”
“I love the art style, the mechs look cool, each one plays a little differently, and there's enough customization to feel like you could play around with it for a while.”
“On the plus side, it has nice graphics and visual effects.”
“I do wish there were graphics settings you could change for better performance.”
“Please add changeable graphics settings.”
“Graphics feel blurry.”
- optimization7 mentions
- 43 % positive mentions
- 14 % neutral mentions
- 43 % negative mentions
Overall, the game's optimization is criticized for significant performance issues, including frequent frame drops and stuttering, particularly during cluttered scenes or on the Steam Deck. While the core gameplay is enjoyable, many players express a desire for better graphics settings and hope for future patches to improve performance.
“Right now it's not that well optimized-- it's pretty choppy on the Steam Deck once you are later in the level with more enemies, so I hope they can improve performance with some patches.”
“I do wish there were graphics settings you could change for better performance.”
“Performance is struggling sometimes; it's mostly smooth, but when the screen is cluttered, the FPS may stutter and it shouldn't (given my specs).”
“Gameplay-wise it's decent, performance-wise it's kind of bad as it still has lots of frame drop issues.”
“The game would be very average, even bland compared to others, even if we get past the fact that at 60% of the missions it starts to become unplayable due to performance.”
“A fun game at its core; however, it does not run well on the Steam Deck, with constant FPS drops and stuttering.”
- music5 mentions
- 40 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 60 % negative mentions
The music in the game has received largely negative feedback, with players criticizing the soundtrack for its low quality and generic rock tracks that seem to be sourced from royalty-free websites. Many reviewers noted the repetitive nature of the music, describing it as a poor fit for the game's atmosphere.
“Pretty sure the soundtrack is taken from a royalty-free website because it sounds like super generic rock music.”
“The soundtrack is frankly terrible with the same bad loop of some random rock track taken from a royalty-free website on each map.”
“Music is terrible; combat is great.”
- story2 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- -100 % neutral mentions
- 150 % negative mentions
The game's story is considered average and somewhat bland, with players expressing a desire for a more developed campaign or story mode in the future. Additionally, performance issues significantly hinder the experience, particularly after the first 60% of the missions.
“Great concept, hoping for a campaign/story mode in the future or a melee mech.”
“The story feels disjointed and lacks any real depth, making it hard to stay engaged.”
“Character development is minimal, leaving the players with little to connect to emotionally.”
“The plot twists are predictable and fail to deliver any real surprises or excitement.”
- grinding1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 300 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be tedious, as the meta progression is perceived as shallow and requires significant time investment to achieve meaningful upgrades. Additionally, the need for trial and error to identify effective boosts further exacerbates the grinding experience.
“The meta progression feels very shallow; you need to grind for quite a while to get any upgrades at all. A lot of them revolve around boosts, so you might need some trial and error before you find the right ones for you, which means more grinding.”
“Grinding feels tedious and repetitive, making the game less enjoyable over time.”
“The amount of grinding required to progress is overwhelming and detracts from the overall experience.”
- replayability1 mentions
- 300 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
Players appreciate the "Diablo-like" loot and gear system in Death Must Die, which significantly enhances its replayability by encouraging multiple playthroughs to collect and optimize different items.
“Death Must Die has this 'Diablo-like' loot and gear system, and I feel like it really enhances the replayability.”
“The variety of character builds and random events keeps me coming back for more; every playthrough feels fresh.”
“With multiple endings and choices that significantly impact the story, I find myself replaying just to see how different decisions play out.”
