Eigengrau

Lots of fun and unique gimmicks, and very accessible even if you're not good at shmups since you can progress by playing individual stages. Would recommend.

A shockingly unique take on the standard SHMUP formula. Eigengrau takes a maximallist approach to gimmicks; every single wave of enemies in the game does something you've never seen before and will never see again. Incredible creativity on display from start to finish. Very forgiving checkpoints as well if you're worried about the difficulty usually associated with this genre.

An extremely fun and creative game where I was constantly surprised and impressed at just how many unique combat encounters there are, both with standard enemies and the bosses that end up mixing it all up. Lets you play the full game in arcade, but also gives you the opportunity to play each stage's pieces from a menu, going for improvement or just the head-scratching objectives it asks of you. Works great on the Steam Deck, had a blast playing it, and look forward to trying to figure out the remaining goals I have.