This is the first time a shump ever gave me the "just one more" itch after failing a level. The ships are all mechanically interesting and the enemy variety and design helps keep each level feeling engaging. Jamestown is also one of the first times I've ever gone back to previous levels to play them again on a higher difficult just because I wanted to see what they were like. I wish I was better so I could see it through to the end! The final level is a steep jump in difficulty and has to be played on at least the second highest level of difficulty (of the initial 4 difficulty modifiers) so after a few dozen attempts I threw in the towel. The thin narrative veneer wasn't interesting enough for me to want to bash my head against the wall until I finally broke through the other side.

(I do think this would be a lot of fun in co-op just didn't have the opportunity to play it that way.)

This game is balanced around co-op. Attempting to beat it on the highest difficulties while solo will most often result upon frustration and death. Only two ships are helpful while attempting this: Gunner and Treason. The latter being DLC-exclusive, and also the singlehandedly most OP ship the game has.
This is the only ship you will be able to use to beat the game's infamous achievements that are definitely untested.

Play Jamestown+ instead. It doesn't solve everything but it's the most polished version, and it does have Treason.

The thumbnail on this video is my reaction upon earning the final achievement.

There are some nice things about this game: the art, music and setting are VERY unique, it has a fun little mini-challenge mode that I think more modern shmups could adopt for broader appeal, and it has a solid difficulty structure to it that, I would guess, is great for pulling in people new to the genre. And I've heard 4-player co-op is a good time!

HOWEVER. 16x9 vertizontal is utter pain, and it is agony when you pair it with slow-ass ships. Give me a fast ship option and you've got yourself an extra star here.

It's an accessible shmup that would do well for newbies to the genre. It even has a lot of extra content to extend replayability. It also gets a lot of mileage out of its cute setting, which coupled with it's score and story it felt nice to see a lot of care and attention put into it. There's a lot of charm here, which lessened some of the games issues.

For one, while the game feels very solid, it's a little too easy. There's little challenge here even in higher difficulty levels. Speaking of difficulty, the game requires you replay old levels mulitple times to unlock further levels and these stages are really only good for a couple goes. The only really fun level was the final stage with The Conquistador. It kept me on my feet and took multiple tries to take him down. It made me wish the entirety of the game had that effort in challenge. I also found that only two of the ships were really useful. I know there's probably a play style factor with that, but still... I tried multiple different combinations to shake things up and some felt like it didn't go anywhere.

With all that said, this is a good entry level shmup for people looking to get into the genre. For genre veterans it's still worth checking out since so few shmups release nowadays. It'll be a fun diversion, but more of a lite snack and not a full course meal.