If there’s one type of game I’ll never tire of, it’s a breezy Metroidvania. The best ones find the perfect balance between satisfying gameplay loops and combat, but never reach the point where it’s overwhelming.
The Adventures of Minishot (the apostrophe remains in the name) the two-person SoulGame Studio promises to be just like that. You take on the role of a charming ship traveling through a radiant world taken over by the nefarious Unchosen, saving your friends along the way.
This is a good introduction to a top-down inspired bullet hell/metroidvania hybrid The Legend of Zelda titles, and the game will live up to them. Adventure mini shooters the story is minimal, but it more than makes up for it by being an incredibly charming title that wears its influences on its sleeve. It also delivers some of the smoothest dual-stick shooting I’ve played in ages. Fierce exploration, engaging side activities, and charming visuals add to the amazing ride.
Soaring towards adventure
The greatest compliment I can give The Adventures of Minishot is how laser-focused it is on being a fun adventure. A lot of this comes down to how amazing the shooting is. It’s a bit obvious that a twin-stick shooter would focus on good controls, but I was surprised by how responsive the ship was.
Focusing on Adventure mini shooters The “game experience” may seem strange in the first place, but it is truly amazing to the point that it elevates the game from fun to fantastic. Part of this is due to how stalwart it should run on a computer manufactured in this decade, but mostly it’s due to its tight controls.
The ship floats through the environment but never feels slippery or weightless. The movement has a clear active, but always remains sturdy. The bullet’s trajectory has the least curvature towards enemies that move and shoot smoothly. This is subtle enough that it doesn’t detract from the challenge, but only improves the pace of the fight. Anyone who wants more automated shooting has the option in the game’s difficulty settings, which is a nice touch.
Gunplay remains a challenge when traversing dungeons, with bosses being the main attraction at the end of the main areas. While normal enemies and mini-bosses are fine The Adventures of Minishotlength, the bosses let the hellish side of the ball shine. None achieves absurdity in titles like Ikaruga or similar bullet-hell/Metroidvania hybrids such as YOUbut that’s not the point here.
The Adventures of Minishot stands out for being a more casual experience while still being challenging. I died a few times on standard difficulty, but I never felt stuck, either during standard or boss encounters.
One thing I appreciated starting the second game on the hardest difficulty was this Mini shooterfocuses on changing bullet speeds and patterns as a difficulty modifier. Rather than buffing damage, these changes make the experience worth revisiting if you want to squeeze more game time out of the overall package.
Quite a chill for a ball of hell
I’ve found that as quickly as the fight goes on The Adventures of Minishot incredibly relaxing. The normal difficulty level is always manageable, and the graphics combined with the tender electronic score make it a spine-chilling experience. Secret areas are full of noteworthy information, and the game’s compact length means you’re sure to find something chilly every few minutes.
Flat upgrades like increasing your ship’s damage and speed are done through a basic upgrade menu with skill points earned by killing enemies. I wasn’t sure what to think of this at first, but it made the gaps between major upgrades less noticeable because even killing enemies is getting somewhere.
It’s exploration and dungeon design The Adventures of Minishot‘ Zelda inspirations are the purest. There are also lightweight platform elements, using ramps and lines to overcome bottomless abysses. They are basic but rewarding and can be completed without much thought.
Most of the main areas also feature some significant movement or weapon upgrades needed to progress, and they’re all basic and wonderful. The ability to glide over water or destroy boulders in your path changed the game in a way that the best Metroidvanias capture. The compact length of the game means that this satisfaction comes extremely often.
One thing I would have liked to see more of was more puzzles in the dungeons themselves. While fighting enemies and clearing environmental hazards was great, I found myself damaging myself relatively easily in the mid-game. There are some instant kill hazards and timed objective rooms, and more of these would be great sooner The Adventures of Minishot‘ second half.
This was more of a tease on my part and I didn’t think anything of it until I started collecting my overall feelings. As it stands, the overall package is great and does little to disrupt the pace of combat and exploration.
The sweetest apocalypse around
The Adventures of Minishot is one of the cutest games I’ve played lately, thanks to its adorable graphics. His world is tender and radiant, even after it was ravaged by sinister forces many years earlier.
It’s also truly handsome, with vivid hues bringing beautifully illustrated 2D environments and objects to life. My favorite area is the forest south of the starting area. The way the more subdued blue-green grass and trees are drawn makes it feel cozy rather than eerie to live in. Another forest in the northeast is lovely, full of vivid fall oranges, but the tender blue-green and calming color of the southern forest gives it an atmosphere in which I could imagine myself taking a nice nap.
This is complemented by handsome sound design. Subtle touches, such as how each hit creates a satisfying impact, enhance the already great combat. The sounds also explain why I grew somewhat attached to the title character and the playable ship, the Minishoot. Even though the design is miniature and cute, its cheerful sounds are adorable and I wanted the little boy to find his friends.
It does not mean The Adventures of Minishot it has a complicated or emotional story beyond the premise, but the solid design and sound add quite a bit to the attachment factor. The world is wonderful and worth saving while there is still so much life in it
The actual narrative, however, is gaunt. There’s nothing beyond the basic concept of defeating the Chosen and helping your friends. Despite maintaining this simplicity throughout the plot, one development surprised me with how bittersweet it was.
I won’t spoil what it was about, but it helped put into perspective how much I enjoyed this little playable ship and made me think about what its story was trying to say. It wasn’t a huge deal, but I appreciated the bold direction of the story, even if the overall experience remained basic and cute.
Get the most out of well-used parts
Not many o The Adventures of Minishot it sounds noteworthy when you say it, but it’s one of those games where everything works fine while you’re playing it. All the pieces fit together so well that even though it’s nothing fresh, it’s polished to the point that I fell into a cozy rhythm of exploring my venerable home and fighting bad guys. It’s a title that proudly wears its inspirations on its sleeves and is dedicated to bringing out the best in them, and I admire that.
The Adventures of Minishot it’s 2D Zelda a game that captures the feeling of exploring a handsome and perilous world, a hell of a ball that is as satisfying to move and shoot as some of the best CAVE games. It’s not exactly the same as either of them, and it uses elements of both to create its own experience, but it’s not perfect.
Apart from the lack of really perilous threats and puzzles, I have one more significant problem The Adventures of Minishot these are some minor errors. This mainly happens during collision detection, as the ship sometimes fell under the passages, but this was uncommon. Another strange thing I noticed was an area where performance dropped below 60 FPS, while elsewhere it remained at 144 FPS.
Other than that, it’s a very polished experience, and these flaws didn’t have a major impact on my time. Developers also constantly releasing patches this solves problems I haven’t encountered, so hopefully everything I noticed will no longer be present soon.
The Adventures of Minishot it may be basic, but it’s great. The story is gaunt and there are occasional bugs that make the game arduous at certain points, but overall the experience remained amazing. This is mainly due to its fast-paced gameplay, featuring some of the best shooting and exploration I’ve played in a long time. It’s pure fun and honestly, I can’t ask for anything more from a game.
