A lot of the reviews for this game focus mostly in the visuals, and while that's understandable given that they are both incredibly unique and give amazing feedback I'd hate to see the combat not get the praise it deserves.

Not only is the playable character's kit fluid but it also has very distinct functions for each attack, which make every action feel useful while keeping the controls from feeling bloated. A lot of 2D action games inspired by 3D character action end up struggling with this aspect and the movement, which made me really happy to see TraumaCore excel at both.

The shotgun did end up feeling excessively useful thanks to the short recharge time though, but I feel like this would be a far more relevant flaw if there were more bosses in the game, since mowing down the basic enemies with the weapon feels like part of the intended design of a game so focused in score attacking and speedrunning.

The sound design is also really underrated, even when the screen is completely covered in bullshit you can get a clear idea of what's going on because of the sound effects picked.

This is how you make a 2D hack n' slash game. I hope to see lots of devs get inspired by it.