The best way to summarize the Mitsurugi experience is that if you play the game using a controller, you can't set its volume to 15%, as it bounces between 14% and 16%.

The reason for this to be happening, is that instead of having volume be a global variable in which you set its value on a given menu, they made one variable for each possible volume. There's the var BGM_1, BGM_2, BGM_3, BGM_4, etc... and you cycle between them. Except, they forgot to make BGM_15.

Not even YandereDev fucked up like this.

I've never watched any Hololive content so I have no idea about any of these characters or the "references". Still, I found this game to be a enjoyable beat 'em up experience. I have played "HoloCure - Save The Fans" earlier and that game has both quality and quantity in terms of gameplay variety. Compared to that, Holo x Break is rather disappointing at the moment.

cons
- No online multi-player option. Only Remote Play with max. 2 players. Up to 4 players local with online in an upcoming update
- No saves. If you exit the game, you're going to have to play it from the beginning. It is a short game - with only 5 levels - which takes around 2hrs to complete if you're playing solo.
- Combat is repetitive with no jump or combos to execute. Ability cooldowns are long and the charged attacks (which takes a while to do) need to performed while not moving.

pros
+ It is a FREE game.
+ It is fun to play with friends (I don't have any but I can imagine).
+ 9 playable characters that feel different to play (only 4 are available until you beat the game)
+ Characters and their animations are CUTE and the levels are UNIQUE and enemies variety is decent.
+ Music is pleasant and the consumable items, equipments and friendly NPCs are viable and fun.
+ Boss battles are challenging (at least while playing solo).

Another fan game clearly made with passion, but unlike Holocure, the gameplay loop isn't nearly as satisfying. The presentation alone doesn't make up for what is ultimately walking through five corridors consecutively while enemies spawn on both sides. The problem is that the combat is slow and unsatisfying, and rather than items being something cool to experiment and find synergies with, they're kind of just there to be spammed as soon as you get them.

So while the game is free and I can appreciate the material it references, you could just play something like Phantom Breaker: Battle Grounds if you want a side scrolling beat 'em up for weebs.

The pause menu does go hard though, I'll give them that.

Aint feeling this one and this isnt so much a review as it is a complaint list.

No ability to save so the whole game needs to be beaten in a single run and everything you got from levels to items is reset as well.
You can't even fucking jump or grab and the dodge can't be used to cancel animations.
Cooldowns in a beat em up, you're better off spamming items than your actual abilities and single combo string.
Very much not balanced for single player with how much abuse normal enemies take, especially on the last stage, and those ai followers you find are too stupid to be useful. If multiplayer was the intended use then the release should have been delayed to when the online was functional.
Good lucking luck getting any charge reliant ability out if an enemy is within 50 feet of you, you will be hit out of it cuz you can't move while charging it.
Death is loss of all coins, followers and being sent back to the "checkpoint", so the boss is midway through the 5th part of the stage you go back to stage 3. However since you're starting from the midway you miss out on getting coins and followers from the first 2 parts of the stage
Enhance is too expensive to just be a "chance" of it to work.
Too much RNG with the gear.

I have now beaten a run and my earlier complaints remain except I said upgrade when I meant enhance initially. The beat em up parts still need a lot of work

My final 1cc score https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1156847812378628116/1208187784972607588/image.png

I was very up and down with this game tbh but I can safely say the best ship in the game is the R-Type ship since it lets you save a lot of mental energy from dodging. Using it immensely improved my enjoyment of the game, along with finding some jank ass hiding spots for bullets.

I don't have a huge amount to say about this game ig. I wish there were extends, but it took me under 10 hours which is smol potatoes for an arcade shmup. The pre-rendered aesthetic was really cool and showcased the power of the Neo Geo, but I was creeped out by the Angelfire/Geocities era baby dancing gif that was the final boss lmao.

Also my favourite detail was how the stage 6 boss was visible in the very first screen of the game! I love when games do this.
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1156847687476457492/1208188110412849223/image.png
https://youtu.be/8f8i3QfQu_0?t=576

The main problem is how unbalanced the game is. Some ships are just straightup better than others, and the first 5 stages are extremely easy while the last 2 take a LOT of practice and esoteric strategies. It's really weird how the objective best way to beat the game for survival is to avoid as many items as possible and how there are invisible bullets at a high enough rank, it really feels like an unpolished gem. A diamond in the rough game for sure. In a more tightly designed game, there would be extends so that the player would be encouraged to hit a nice risk and reward spot between getting a lot of points for extra lives but not too many points so the enemies were too hard.

Oh and for the love of god please use this romhack and don't play the game on Fightcade or GOG lol
https://www.arcade-projects.com/threads/blazing-star-special-hack-no-bonus-sound.19817/