Shmadow was another game I picked up really cheap using a discount coupon from Card/Badge crafting on Steam. It's one of those titles I would of simply ignored otherwise. From what I've read it is the dev's first game, and not a bad first effort.

Another Twin-Stick Bullet-Hell shooter. In the first 40 minutes I played I was able to grab all the achievements and come close to the current leaderboard top scores. Difficult is said to be high on this one, but I found it on the easier side.

There's no story. You are a white circle with a light radius falloff representing how strong you are. You have to shoot black blobs that continually flow in from the right side of the screen.

They mostly come in apparent random patterns, with the occasional clumped up wall or chunk of higher enemy density. The black blobs don't shoot back but as you can only see in your light falloff, and the light from the bullets, you are likely to eventually just move into them and lose health.

Most blobs can be killed with one hit from your primary gun, but may take a two or three if your power level has dropped.

Along with the primary gun, you have a special weapon that slowly charges as you shoot. This can be selected when you start the game and different types are unlocked as you play. Playing on 'Normal' should have you unlock most of them in about 30 minutes of playtime.

It is worth experimenting with them to find the one that will work best depending on your play style.

Every minute or so a randomly selected boss will spawn. These can and do shoot, along with damaging you on contact. However there's no intelligence to their shooting and bullet patterns are quickly learned.

Bosses are brightly coloured orange, red, or purple and stand out from the swarm of minor enemies. Minor enemies also continue to swarm in while the boss is present, increasing the challenge.

When a boss is defeated, it drops a powerup or single use special weapon. Some of these are best saved for the next boss allowing you to take it out easily, while others just feel somewhat pointless.

additional note: There is one boss special weapon that can be shot multiple times. I never found out if it was limited other than using your current secondary weapon charge, as I picked up a different weapon soon after using it

Ultimately there's a nice concept here. I like the idea of using light and shadow in the bullet-hell genre.

There's just not a lot to do. Other than trying to get a spot on the leaderboards, or teaming up for a cop-op game, you can do all there is to do within 40 minutes or so.

Listing price is only $2USD, but unless you're interested in the concept or like the appeal of leaderboard challenges, it is hard to recommend this one.

Game Acquisition: Purchased with coupon
Platform Used: Steam
Tweet Thread: 1 - 26 February 2016
PC Used: Scorptec Venom 2009

OS: XP+
Processor: 2.0 Ghz
Memory: 2 GB RAM
Graphics: Nvidia Geforce 7600 GT/ATI Radeon X1600 or better
DirectX: Version 9.0
Storage: 150 MB available space

Additional Notes: I was experiencing an issue where this game ramped my CPU temp up into the low 70s while playing. Load temp ranges are normally mid 50s to low 60s. I was not able to resolve this.