Bartlow's Dread Machine Reviews

This game blows me away. I love a good twin stick shooter, and Bartlow's Dread Machine combines great shoot 'em up action with a thoroughly unique gameplay mechanic, and an amazing aesthetic, hearkening back to turn-of-the-twentieth-century gear and slot driven arcade machines. There are other "on rail" shooters, but in this one, you are LITERALLY on rails. Slide your mechanical hero through brilliant, gorgeous, retro-themed levels to rescue Teddy Roosevelt from the clutches of the "anarcho-Satanists". Graphics and music are absolutely fantastic. Remember how much we all loved the style of Cuphead? Bartlow's Dread Machine borrows from roughly the same time period and aesthetic of Bioshock Infinite in American history. The piano driven score is especially good, and the visual design is just breathtaking. Some minor complaints - aiming can be difficult, and the difficulty can be extremely daunting at all but the very lowest levels. An aiming system to show what you're trying to hit would be welcome, even as a gear upgrade. Food for thought for the dev team, who - amazingly! - have been updating this regularly to incorporate user feedback. What a labor of love this game is. And if gamers want to encourage more creativity among software companies, try (and support!) games like this. I got it on sale for a song ($5!) which is the steal of a lifetime in a world of $60 AAA titles loaded with ads and microtransactions. Even at full price, it's a steal. Check this game out.

Great game that deserves more recognition. It's a twin-stick shooter but you're locked into a path so you can only move certain ways. There's various upgrades, guns and characters you can unlock with coins. Great Americana art style of an old mechanical game, kinda reminds me of Black Knight Sword. I'd recommend it at the full price, doubly so at the sale price.

Bartlow's Dread Machine is visually beautiful bullet-hell shooter but has a few short-comings within it that are worth taking notice. 1. In-game items cost too much/ player don't get enough money during playthrough To be honest, I could not afford of buying new clothes to my character because I had to save so much money on secondary weapons which have more ammunition and boy do they cost a lot. 2. Inaccurate weapon descriptions Towards end of the campaign I wanted to buy a weapon with as big magazine as possible. Two side-weapons had vague description in style of "this should installed into a ship". I just had to assume the latter one would be with a bigger magazine since it was the most expansive gun to be able purchase but instead it was 20 round magazine. [h1]Verdict:[/h1] If you are into bullet-hell shooters Bartlow's Dread Machine is a game I recommend to grab on sale. And also worth pointing out that game supports two (2) player co-op and I could imagine this being more fun with a friend.

Well done twin-stick shooter. It is unique in this landscape of games for its art direction, but the most interesting aspect is the way the movement was done here. Not allowing for full analog movement across the level made for an interesting gamestyle. Thanks to making the playing field always rectangular and movement only four directional, it allowed for the perspective to not hinder the player while he is shooting enemies. It takes a moment to get used to it, but the point is to line the shots on the railing you are on, and then intuitively calculate the angles to shot at, very pleasing to do. Enemy variety is good as well as the difficulty overall is well balanced. It could only use some better effects when hitting bosses to understand that you are doing damage. For the interesting approach to this genre of games and very approachable base price it is an easy recommendation.

I'm generally not a fan of Early Access, so this was the first time I'd ever bought a game early. From the second I saw a trailer, I knew I had to have it. Months ago, I enjoyed the first few worlds. Today, there's some good and bad within the full product. There are a few difficulty spikes in the later half of the game, and the unfavorable lives system causes some frustration. And sometimes the environments are a bit too dark to really get a good grip on things. But outside of those few gripes, this is a twin stick shooter unlike any other I've ever played. The one hundred year old style is really cool, reminding me a lot of pinball. The way the levels shift, the way everything is attached to metal rods, and the way the characters automate are all really delightful. Going all-in on that presentation reminds me a lot of Puppeteer (PS3) which I find is extremely underrated. There's a lot of love that went into fully realizing what a turn-of-the-20th-century game would look, sound, and feel like. I wasn't initially sure how the traversal would feel, but moving around the slotted tracks as you blast the various types of foes is both satisfying and fun. Fans of serviceable gameplay, who really love games with rich, unique atmospheres should find plenty to enjoy.

The art style is nice, but the gameplay and the music are repetitive and tiresome. The menus and screen transitions are too slow, the frame rate is low and i couldn't care to continue playing.

A unique game, but I feel it would be more enjoyable in co-op. Single player wise, balancing is all over the place. Some levels are super easy, others are downright unfair and cheap.

Definitely a hidden gem, the music is amazing some of the best in years composed by the same guy who made the song in beep's previous game Voodoo Vince. The aiming in this game can be a bit dodgy at times and I would like to see some sort of laser upgrade or something to show where you are actually shooting. Sometimes you'll aim directly at an enemy but you'll shoot a bit to far to the left or right. You can only shoot in a 2D plane when the game is in 3D but apart from that the game is great. Highly recommend

If this game looks at all interesting to you, give it a try. If you enjoy twin-stick shooters and/or classic arcade games definitely give it a try. Even in Early Access they have totally crushed this unique style to deliver a one-of-a-kind inspired game (cripes, that really sounds douche-y, but it's the truth, so whatever).

A unique addition to any twin-stick shooter fan's library, the art style is gorgeous and there's a surprising amount of variety involved. There seems to be a constant 30 FPS lock (since there's no v-sync options in game, only resolution change) and while that's not great, it doesn't seem like a dealbreaker for once, simply due to what this game is. Seems a bit low on reviews overall so I wanted to do my part but there's a good time to be had here for sure. I don't think I own nearly enough games where anarcho-Satanists kidnap Roosevelt. edit: just noticed it's the same devs as Voodoo Vince, and everyone knows that game is great so give this one a shot too. edit 2: so for some reason I needed almost another 3 years to finish the game after starting it, but that's more of a comment on my obscene backlog than it is on the quality of this title. The 30 fps lock seems to have been patched out long ago and that's good since 60 is almost necessary for this somewhat bullet hell / on rails (of sorts) twin stick shooter. The game has an odd difficulty spike in the middle I thought but it was fun to work through. Would love to see more from these devs one day.