ZOE Begone! (Demo)

Playtime: 31 minutes

This is a weird af bullet hell shoot ’em up with a wrap-around map design, similar to the classic 1981 title Defender (and more recently the delectable Resogun in 2013). The hand-drawn style and old-time piano jazz music are really cool – and I believe unique among 2D side-scroller shoot ’em ups – although the colour palette is very garish, you have to run backwards and forwards grabbing fruit and energy pellets so you can keep blasting and invincibility-dashing through enemies and keep that crucial score multiplier combo going, as these games are, at their heart, score battles. This is all really similar to Resogun – but whereas that game is a 10, ZOE Begone! is more of a 6. It does everything right and plays well, but I’m missing any kind of hook that gives me the impulse to keep playing. I didn’t really feel satisfied when I completed a level. Perhaps when the full game releases with a campaign, that problem will be solved.

6/10