Akashicverse: Malicious Wake Endless Shirafu 2012

This is the final completion to ∀woken Cardinal Sin (2010) and ∀lternative ∀rguments (2011), a neo-techno vertically scrolling shooter. It features unusual gameplay mechanics along with a unique and innovative weapons system. The character has four attacks: a normal shot (spray of bullets) which can be focus-fired when player pressing the slow motion button, melee energy sword, laser missiles and force bomb. Unlike in most other shooter, the special weapon fired depends on the button combination. First, player must pressing and hold command button to enable a bullet slowing aura, and then followed by entering certain directional commands. These methods give player various offensive options, each with different properties and powers. However,special attack requires a different amount of gauge and recovered very slow by grazing enemy bullets. Heavily inspired by doujin legends like Hellsinker and Radio Zonde, as well as CAVE's classic themes (bees, bees, bees!), the ∀kashicverse is a sensory overload of the awesome variety. The game features a mysterious fusion of the spiritual world mixed with digital and extremely high-tech machinery, all accompanied by a background of absolute madness that’s closer to an LSD trip than what you would expect from a bullet hell shooter. The great soundtrack isn't just background music either. It amplifies this mood and becomes an active part of the experience: plenty of enemy formations, stage events and bullet patterns will react to the crazy beats or certain parts of a song, creating an excellent sensation of synchrony. The character has one basic shot function, a spread cannon that can be focus-fired when pressing the slow button. It's a pretty standard, but multi-purpose weapon that is effective in a lot of situations. However, the meat of the mechanics is present in the Method System. The Methods are special attacks, ranging from melee energy scissors to guided laser missiles and bombs. They can be deployed using the Method gauge, which has 8 levels and is activated by using special fighting game-like directional commands. Upon pressing the command input button you'll enable a bullet-slowing aura. After that you need to input certain directional commands and press the fire button to enable the desired Method. Sounds very tricky, and more akin to a fighting game than a shmup but once you get used to it, Methods come out naturally! Each attack costs a different amount of gauge levels so you could, for example, release a couple of low gauge attacks to keep strong bullet waves away or trigger some of the most powerful Methods to wipe out everything on screen. Certain Methods actually have multiple attacks at the cost of extra gauge levels. Moreover, some enemies can only be dealt with Methods as they’ll reflect your main spread cannon. This system presents a very strategic and "choose-your-own-fighting-style" approach. Will you bomb the hell out of everything? Are you going to deliver surgical strikes? Will you trick the enemy AI to attack a ghostly replica of you? Will you get up close and personal and melee things? Or would you rather dodge bullets to build up the gauge to the max and launch the Eliminator? You just have to lose the fear to the insane bullet spawns and speed as the slowing aura will help you deal with that. Clever use of this system is what will get you out alive of the most dangerous situations. There's a completely different version of the game called Akashicverse Alternative Arguments, which is effectively a standalone ultra-hard version with only 3 levels, a completely different soundtrack, and about 5 additional special moves. An English Steam release came in Dec/2020.
Videos
Full Demo 267MB (uploaded by scaryfun)
Screenshots


    News   Legends World Forum     FAQ