It's neat. Take Gauntlet and put it in a shmup environment, that's what you get here. It's a bit on the basic side but it's fairly difficult so that makes up for it. You definitely have to grind a lot to get good enough to 1CC it. The random actual shmup stage that is stage 7 sticks out so awkwardly though, it's a lot closer to an over-the-head run 'n gun so when it throws at you the type of game you expect it to be at the tail end of it it almost feels like the game is pranking you. It's not bad by any means, I just don't find the overall level design particularly engaging. It has good ideas, the graphics and music are serviceable but it feels like the start of something rather than a one and done deal. Much like how Thunder Force immensely improves with every entry, this had a lot of room to grow.