This is probably my own fault, honestly, that I'm not particularly invested in the idea of being drip fed onion games/love de lic's titular bits and pieces through a shmup gamification. Not to say it isn't aware of its genre framework at all, it clearly encourages that destruction by locking those chapters behind score and your increasing finesse. And to be sure it makes interesting choices that all mellowly bleed off the screen, with such nicely matching music and enemies spawning to the swells of the music! But it's just so not for me, a limitation of my taste I suppose. I shrill up and detest most concepts of having to go through art that repeats on itself, so when I first started true mode and finished the first level again that was just the Same But Harder in a typical over-evolving shmup fashion without me being so particularly invested in the aesthetic beyond a subliminal note, I just kind of said no and closed the game. Sounds a bit hypocritical of me though when I think about it and I can't personally place the reason why, yet, but in examples like say ZeroRanger which literally loops i'm fine if not ecstatic over it! I think it has to do with a change in energy, or maybe I'm getting too old for picture book lighthearted destruction, or that well, I didn't think it getting Much Harder was even particularly that hard at all.

Maybe something that'll appreciate in time but I get the feeling that this is just a comfort food's rendition of what people like about love de lic style, and that I'll forget about it by the end of next week. That's probably too harsh and critical of me, and god this game really doesn't ask to be considered much so I feel like an asshole just saying it, but I'm just,,,, really not interested in this kind of direction!!! Arguably considerably sound to drip feed the appeal for its structure but it pains me that I can't think of anything other than "maybe black bird should've actually showed a more bold first step forward than ask me to play again to really play the true thing".