Occasionally, I encounter an exciting game that I purchase without a second thought and stay up playing it despite losing sleep. This time around, that game is Minishoot’ Adventures. For those who’ve never heard of it, and I can’t say I blame you as I didn’t see any advertisement for it, it is a combination of top-down RPGs, similar to the old-school Legend of Zelda and Zelda: Link to the Past and a Bullet Hell shooter. It’s a blending of two genres that I don’t think I’ve ever imagined, and yet, the execution works so well that it makes you wonder why no one else ever thought of it.
But I’m glad someone did.
What is Minishoot’ Adventures
Minishoot’ Adventures was developed by just two people who make up the gaming studio, SoulGame Studio, who also produced another favorite of mine, Swords and Souls Neverseen. This gaming studio seems to have a flair for making games that don’t take themselves that seriously yet are so enjoyable that you can’t put them down and are short enough to enjoy them in smaller sessions. It’s something that the gaming industry has been lacking as of recently.
I’m not here to review the game since I only recently started playing it, but I wanted to spread the word about it. But let’s paint the scene.
As I mentioned, this is very similar to a top-down old-school RPG, similar to the Legend of Zelda title, except instead of controlling Link, you take control of a lone and cutesy spaceship. Its role is to defeat some darkness that has now descended onto its world. But it’s the gameplay that makes this game so damned fun. As a top-down adventure, you’ll venture through map after map, searching for clues, secrets, and power-ups as you play through Bullet Hell battles.
The game starts simple, easing you into it, but after a while, you’ll see how this game seamlessly blends Bullet Hell gameplay. This is perfect for me, as I haven’t been able to get enough of Bullet Hell games—I grew up with them. I never expected to play a game quite like this. It’s unexpected, yet it works well. I haven’t even mentioned how amazing the sound effects and musical score are.
The game can be played via most controllers or keyboard and mouse – though I felt using a controller was best, as this is a twin-stick shooter.
This is the sort of game for which words aren’t enough to convey how well it all works. Only by getting your hands on it does it start to make sense. A lengthy game demo can also be downloaded on the Minishoot Adventures Steam Page, so you can try the game before purchasing the game. Heck, you can buy it to support the developers.
Everyone can play
Let’s be honest; there are some games that not everyone can play for one reason or another. This is where my respect for Soulgame Studio goes up a notch, as they added the ability for people with different skill levels to play the game. Adding the ability to be invincible slows down the game’s speed or infinite energy, enabling others to play through the game. There is a downside: enabling these options removes some achievements, but if you don’t care about those, this is great.
Damn, this is fun
Thus far, I’ve found Minishoot’ Adventures to be a fun, challenging, and worse (this is a good thing) of all, addicting game that I can play on my PC or my Steam Deck and Asus ROG Ally when I’m chilling in my living room, or my bed when I’m supposed to be sleeping, while the noise and lights are keeping my wife up. Ah, the joy of handheld gaming.
Part of me is like this didn’t come from a 2-man development team. Yet, I’ve seen some fantastic indie games released in the past few years with the same number or fewer people who have been released that are just as amazing. If you like top-down RPGs and enjoy Bullet Hell games, you’d be doing yourself a massive disservice by not checking out Minishoot’s Adventures.
SoulGame Studio, you’ve done it again.
