One Shell Straight to Hell Reviews

https://youtu.be/vlv9rpZbto4 Neat idea, neat game. Link above shows the initial tutorial and what to expect when you dive into this game. It's part noir detective, part Luigi's mansion, part defend the tower. You explore throughout the mansion in an effort to assist the inflicted family, but all the while you have to be conscious of the front portion of the location which is routinely attacked by waves of enemies. Gameplay is simple but fun, main character is a funny guy, and it's easy to pick up and play for a little here and there and then be able to dive back in. Be forewarned; if you let the mansion get overrun, you have to start a new game. Protecting it is of the highest priority. Thumbs up, recommend!

There are some serious control bugs. Tutorial works fine but then it becomes impossible to shoot, change weapons, place traps, exit trap mode, I even had the map refusing to stay on the screen. I have found a thread and a review with the same issue. No fix and no words from the dev. The game is unplayable at this point. Other than that the game looks cheap and controls badly even without bugs. Price tag should be 10£ max, not the current 20£. And considering the "doggo" line and the name of the publisher "Shotgun with Glitters" I won't regret refunding it TL;DR: Reddit tier game

There is a MAJOR issue with this game in that it doesn't save your progress properly at all. I played through the first level and died when reaching the boss. The game then kicked me to the main menu where starting a new game was the only option. So, I tried again and got past the boss and started the next level. I died there too to see what would happen and it did the same thing, kicked me back to the main menu where starting a new game was the only option. Then I tried again and made it a little further to the next level. This time, the main menu showed "continue" but when clicking to continue it placed me in a section that I had already completed to do it all over again. The save system is obviously seriously messed up with this game. I had to request a refund.

Needs some sort of Save function, unless you need to start a new game from the title screen all the time.

Update: 02/12/21 I have an In-Progress Let's Play of One Shell Straight To Hell here, and I will be playing Much More of this Good Game. Take a look if you prefer a more visual format. https://youtu.be/s2Siwq4XCek I like One Shell Straight To Hell. Imagine combining a twin stick RogueLite shooter with Procedural Generation, add a Tower Defense component, and spice the whole thing with heavy influences from the Exorcist. Only this time, with alot of guns! I like. Normally, I don't like Tower Defense games, I find their movement patterns often too slow and predictable, their hive-like beeline towards my kill points tiresome and predictable. That is not the case here. The Monstrous Mimics will swarm in any way they can, attacking multiple points as they smash down doors and tear your building to shreds, all in an attempt to regain and repossess the girl you rescued in the tutorial. They shall Not have her! Suspiciously, I believe the girl is mute. What holds her tongue I wonder ? Concerning.... Anyway, You defend rooms in the outbuilding of the Haunted, Hellish Mansion, setting up traps like crossbow bolters and bear traps to help to withstand the Hordes of Hell that come surging out of the portal on the property, possessing creatures and objects to give material form to their hellish intent. I believe that is why they wish to regain the girl... I also must find and rescue the other members of the family. So I delve into the Grand Dungeon, collecting coins, character upgrades, guns, and crafting recipes, as I scour the mansion for the wayward flock, seeking to free them from their torments within the manor. I build Faith as I send the unwelcome visitors back to hell, sent packing via a load of shells, and I use my Faith to heal my body, and keep my Righteous Wrath Flowing! Fun! One issue I did find was that I was unable to use "tab" to bring up the weapon wheel to swap weapons while playing with mouse and keyboard, though it did work in the tutorial. The game did just launch today, so I'm sure it will be fixed soon (solved below). Anyway, I will update this review with more findings as I continue my recorded playthrough of this game. Thanks for watching/reading. Update: 02/12/21 I remapped the weapon wheel to left shift, and it works now. The other weapons are fun. All hail the ball lightning launcher! 💪⚡️ As a few suggestions: Being able to see past the doors the moment you open them, and not until you enter the room, would really speed up gameplay, as both the timer on exploring the manor, and getting back to help defend your base, both depend upon moving through the manor quickly, and having to either waste time and fire into a dark room all the time, or just dashing in and face tanking the damage, does not Feel great. So, Please let Padre's Cross light the way before his feet do. 👍 Please add Weapon Reloads. It would be cool if you had to Reload your Weapons; it would add even more depth to the gameplay. After all, a lot of the fun with a wheelgun is reloading under pressure! Maybe handle reloads like Synthetic does, as it Feels Very Satisfying in that game. Also, this would present another way to balance the weapons, as the Ball Lighting Launcher is really strong, but I imagine it is somewhat heavy, and cumbersome to reload. Diddo for reloading the Flamer; can't imagine reloading that giant Extremely Flammable Tank of Liquid fuel being a fast thing to do! Though, maybe you could spec into faster reloads on specific weapons, as the quick thumbs and fingers necessary for reloading the revolver might not help so much when quickly changing hoses on the flamer and reloading the tank, or correctly recalibrating the plasma launcher or Lightning gun. Padre's a smart guy, just gotta make him Your kind of Smart Guy. This would allow the player to specialize towards their preferred loadout, and make Padre, Their Padre. 😎 Still liking the game, and eager to see it improve over the months to come. 👍

[b] Target Audience: [/b] [I] None [/i] [b] Summary: [/b] Sometimes a game gets under your skin in the worst of ways. I'm not talking about being creepy, or being offputting, but being a game that just seems to poke all the wrong buttons at every turn. For me, it's usually a game that comes from a studio that seems to have a reasonable series of games under their belt, and then they produce one where all the design decisions make you wonder what was actually going on behind the scenes. Make no mistake, One Shell Straight to Hell frustrated me in bad ways from the get go: from repetitive gameplay that not only felt clunky but unrefined to boot, to enemy interactions in presentation that make you wonder if your system is glitching out, or you somehow stumbled into a beta. To say that One Shell doesn't feel good to play is an understatement, as even basic attacking feels like it's missing key sounds and animations just don't seem to do the actual fighting justice for what's happening on screen. And while the voxelated style is a bit different and actually leads to some interesting elements with flat clothing and interesting enemy types, the game never really takes advantage of it with bland environments that don't really change in interesting ways despite what the game is trying to do. Story elements feel tacked on with one liners that feel fished out of the “reject” lines for a Duke Nukem clone. Hell, the game has trouble even telling you what you're looking for at times as “family” apparently consists of one person that you never knew the name of until you rescued him. There's just a severe lack of polish all over the place here, as the currency system feels extremely unbalanced, and enemy AI can easily be taken advantage of. There's just too many wave like top down roguelites out there that do way more then why One Shell is trying to do here, and the twenty dollars the game is asking for is way to high considering its competition and the level of quality here. Avoid. [b]Gameplay Footage: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/909205954 [/b] [u] Lists: [/u] [b]Positives:[/b] [list] [*] Some cool enemies of bathtubs and rugs in the voxel style do make a good impression on first go. [*] The prayer heal mechanic does play to the themes of the game and is a good animation and interesting in terms of battle usage. [*] Game does have a reasonable enemy selection. [/list] [b]Negatives:[/b] [list] [*] A lack of challenge plus brain dead AI in the wrong ways ends up just feeling like a shooting gallery without the gallery fighting back. [*] Lack of balance of certain weaponry plus a currency system that seems to fight the actual purpose of the trap placement of the game ends up frustrating the player in missed opportunities. [*] Level Design does not adjust to house placement and feels very disconnected from the house description most of the time. Feels way too generic. [*] Combat lacks oompf with missing animations/reactions/sounds, put on top of guns that may be powerful, but don't feel great to use. [*] Certain environment/presentation elements conflict with the gameplay making it hard to see things, and drags down the gameplay. [*] The attempt at one-liners and dialogue fall majorly flat and almost to the point where you're just wanting to shut off the game. [*] Repetition is not fun and the game falls into the trap of throwing more at you rather then challenging you. [*] Bosses are.....yeah bosses are a joke. [*] The skill system feels broken compared to the challenge and doesn't add a whole lot to the experience. [*] Just a lack of polish in general. [/list] [b] If you want more reviews/information regarding games I've reviewed, visit my curator. [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/6861768/]Dragnix Curator [/url][/b]