Risk System Reviews

Really enjoying it, though ti's a bit hard. I like how the respawn system works, and I'm sure with practice I'll get better! The Linux build does NOT work, but I was able to use the Windows build using Proton. I would love if the Linux build is fixed so I can play this game on the Steam deck :)

This looks like a normal shmup, but has very unique gameplay. You need to master all of the abilities in order to progress. I'm a bit annoyed that the last stage/good ending seems to be locked behind a skill level that I don't think I'll ever achieve. Edit: Nevermind, I just needed to spend more time with the game and the good ending feels fully in reach.

Great designs, great art, great animation, interesting story, your offensive power is built around a graze mechanic. Would love to see Keep in mind that dodging up and down are separate buttons, and their inertia can be counter-acted by your regular movement in the opposite direction. Even when you're aware of this though it can take conscious inputs to consistently hit up+dodge up and down+dodge down, or not hit a direction and dodge if you want to graze a supercharged enemy shot.

A cool shmup with a system that's very similar to Psyvariar, but instead of the Buzz/Risk mechanic allowing for survivability, it increases firepower and the actions available. Because of this, the game is more about taking risks and improvisation, rather than just finding the right spot on the screen to shave bullets. The barrel roll compliments the Risk Shot mechanic by letting you shave a bullet to build meter, then cut through the entire screen like a sword because of massive damage multiplier on Risk Shots. Stages seem to be speedrun friendly, as enemy waves aren't tied strictly to a set spawn time. Some waves will spawn early if certain enemies are defeated quick, such as the huge frigates in the background on stage one. The secret(ish) score mechanic in the game revolves around not picking up energy refills and leaving them on screen as long as possible whilst you still shoot enemies. This keeps the multiplier increasing steadily until you want to 'cash out', but doing so means barrel rolling up and down the screen to avoid it colliding with your ship. Easier said than done but an interesting part of the game. Will be good to see how much stages can be milked from this. Pixel-art is great, and art direction in general is very good and does a good job of feeling like a Japanese-made anime shump. I'm not keen on the typeface used in the menus but it is in-keeping with the aesthetic and is at least a pixel-art font so that it ties it all together with the rest of the art. I was disappointed at it not having the anime opening. Maybe just as the second attract mode piece? I dunno. Would have been a nice touch. Shooting feels really good because of the effects in combination with the sound. Good soundtrack too. The controls do a good job of making you feel like you're piloting a ship and not a cursor on the screen due to the inertia of the ship. This is a blessing and a curse as making sharp movements becomes harder to do than in, say, a game like Gradius where the ship responds instantly to the input made, which can initially lead to a lot of hits taken. I do think this is a very conscious design choice though, as it means that moving is always a commitment and ties in with the game's theme. There are a few input glitches in the menus when using a DualShock4. The game cursor only moves on negative edge but I imagine this will be fixed soon. All in all, it's a great concept and a very polished, well-executed package. I don't think it's a new concept, but the game/dev clearly understands the genre and the lessons learnt from years of classic shumps to distil the ideas well enough into something that feels unique and fresh. It gets two Bamshews out of two.

Risk System is one of those hyperfocused labors of love that come out, don't sell much but eventually become someone's "hidden gem", the kind they'll always bring up when discussing underrated games. Admittedly, this one veers on the "style" side of the eternal "style vs substance" argument, and its visuals and presentation sre polished well beyond what you'd expect from a 2-man project. Still, despite the core systems being well executed, there's details (like the player ship having a bit of inertia to it, a *big* no-no in this genre) the make the overall gameplay a bit..divisive. If you're a purist, chances are you won't like this as much as i did. If you're new to shmups, this is your entryway.

I'm not really into shmups but I was really intrigued by this one. Risk System is one of the little gems I discovered this year. Short (about 6 hours to beat the game twice with A rank) but challenging with a unique and pleasant risk-reward mechanic, great pixel art and a nice little story. The more you play, the more you learn how to overcome the (almost) unforgivable level design. You may even do it with style. Loved it!

Risk System is an extremely unique shmup game that rewards the player for grazing bullets by drastically improving shot damage and charging your super meter. The entire game is designed around this mechanic and honestly, it's incredibly satisfying. The game is brilliant and has something for every player: new and experienced.

This game is a dream to look at, with some of the most beautiful pixel art I've seen in years. Solid voice acting and nice music add onto that to make a quality game overall. The anime intro is a nice touch that makes it feel like you're really playing a Japanese game from the glory days of the 90s. It plays similar to classic games like R-Type, but with a twist: you can power yourself up by hovering near enemy projectiles (without hitting them!). Hence the name of the game: you're rewarded for taking on some level of risk. Cool concept that makes for a fun game. Difficulty-wise, it's just right, at least from what I've played so far. I was never good at bullet hell games at all, and while it's very challenging and levels take a few tries, it's easy enough to be doable. Highly recommended. Games like this are what make indie gaming great.

Disclaimer: My scores/reviews are almost always based on having bought the game at close to the "lowest historical price" on steam at time of purchase. Quick score: 4/5 Pretty good shmup. Solid gameplay and great visuals, with 1 major caveat. The fucking flashing is WAY TOO MUCH. Like holy hell dude, you probably don't even need to be epileptic for this game to give you a seizure. The bloom effect and the flashing on every single enemy bullet shot, enemy hit, enemy explosion, special ability....literally every visual effect in this game is cranked up way to damn high for no reason. Even just watching the trailer is kind of painful to look at and almost stopped me from trying the game at all lmao. Otherwise a very good game. But I think this game could legitimately cause eye damage from playing it long term and I'm not joking. The game has settings for screenshake, it should really have a setting to reduce the flashing. A casual playthrough would only take about 90 minutes, instead if you want to reach the true ending and final boss (all A rank requirement), that would make take 3 hours. And then for me personally all mission S ranks including Trophaeum took about 12 hours, though your mileage will vary on that one. I choked for several hours in a row on a couple levels. If I had 1 more minor complaint it's that the bullet patterns and enemy pattern variety is pretty low and and tend to repeat a lot.

Last update broke the game on lean glibc/linux distros. I test it again once fixed. ---- This is a small shmup which kind of offset from the usual: tons of inertia, and with this huge amount of inertia you need to manage to charge your super weapon, the Breaker, flying super near enemy energy bullets. "Normal" fire is near useless, and you will need to spend your runs figuring out the best Breaker charging route to maximize your rank. For gnu/linux\steamos gamers out there, unfortunately, the game engine, yoyo's gamemaker is not that friendly with distros which are _not_ the usual huge mainstream ones: you may encounter some issues, but you should be able to work around them till you run the game into the steam runtime. Don't forget to check the game steam community forums.