BIRDCAGE

Such a beautiful game with a stellar soundtrack. This game definitely ramps up in how fun the stages get and the addition of new mechanics kept me playing through the latter stages. I think the actual sword mechanic where you can eat blue bullets is a tad underutilized, but overall BIRDCAGE is an incredibly fun bullet hell with a fun sword gimmick and a good difficulty curve. I seriously think this game is overlooked. It even comes with a PS1 style manual which is perfect for sickos like me. So the game's visuals are stellar but the first few stages are very similar looking, and more enemy variety would really help make the stages feel less samey. I am still very impressed with this game, especially since it's made by two people. Even if I want a bit more variety at times, it's still an incredibly solid game that more people need to play. I promise it only gets better after the demo.

if you told me this was made in 2005 instead of 2025 i'd believe you. this game slaps and is one of those rare "retro-style" games that actually gets it. worth the full price of admission.

great music, cool art, anime maximalism the sword weapon feels really good to swing & fire and i adore a shmup where i'm always adjusting what weapon to use in which situation... deffo wanna play more