This is my favorite game ever made, and after 99 hours, I've finally gotten all the ingame challenges I want to do completed, with a fully completed gallery.
The main game itself is just two separate gamemodes (with a third hard mode in development), and a full playthrough of the main mode should realistically take only 40 minutes without using a continue, but my first playthrough of the game was 8 hours with countless continues and stage restarts. I've only recently been able to consistently beat the game without using a continue.
The game does a wonderful job of presenting itself, the limited color palette might be off-putting at first to some, but I've grown to love it. Bullet visibility was never an issue for me, and you can even change the colors of your own ship's bullets if you have trouble. Every enemy explodes into bits and pieces, the bosses are these huge spectacles that you take down all on your own, and there are so many little minor details that add so much charm; like a tiny little house in the background of a massive city.
The OST is one of if not the best soundtrack in a game I've ever heard, I've been listening to it for a year now, and it never gets old to me. Everything in the stages are synced up near perfectly to the music, and it makes every little moment feel that much more important, that I sometimes think of the exact sounds that would be playing in certain portions of songs.
The story is very hard to talk about because the game doesn't really give it to you, you have to fight a boss in a special way to get any story during the true final boss of the game. The story that you do get might feel forced to some, and maybe out of place, but I love it.
Speaking of, there's a special mechanic with the true final boss, that I personally feel the game does a fine job of explaining, but some people think that it's misleading and unfair. I'd rather not spoil it, but look through negative reviews and you can see what it is. I don't have any problem with it, and I did fail the TLB twice before I finally beat it. I think every failure helped me realize how much better I was getting every time I had to reach that point again.
Don't let the one achievement on steam make you think there's not much to do, after you earn it, several challenges open up to you, with some of them being incredibly brutal. I've been playing off and on for over a year, and the hardest challenge the game gives you I was only just able to beat, after half a year of trying. This game doesn't go on sale often, and it's standard price is absolutely worth it for what you're getting.

This is my favorite game ever made, and after 99 hours, I've finally gotten all the ingame challenges I want to do completed, with a fully completed gallery. The main game itself is just two separate gamemodes (with a third hard mode in development), and a full playthrough of the main mode should realistically take only 40 minutes without using a continue, but my first playthrough of the game was 8 hours with countless continues and stage restarts. I've only recently been able to consistently beat the game without using a continue. The game does a wonderful job of presenting itself, the limited color palette might be off-putting at first to some, but I've grown to love it. Bullet visibility was never an issue for me, and you can even change the colors of your own ship's bullets if you have trouble. Every enemy explodes into bits and pieces, the bosses are these huge spectacles that you take down all on your own, and there are so many little minor details that add so much charm; like a tiny little house in the background of a massive city. The OST is one of if not the best soundtrack in a game I've ever heard, I've been listening to it for a year now, and it never gets old to me. Everything in the stages are synced up near perfectly to the music, and it makes every little moment feel that much more important, that I sometimes think of the exact sounds that would be playing in certain portions of songs. The story is very hard to talk about because the game doesn't really give it to you, you have to fight a boss in a special way to get any story during the true final boss of the game. The story that you do get might feel forced to some, and maybe out of place, but I love it. Speaking of, there's a special mechanic with the true final boss, that I personally feel the game does a fine job of explaining, but some people think that it's misleading and unfair. I'd rather not spoil it, but look through negative reviews and you can see what it is. I don't have any problem with it, and I did fail the TLB twice before I finally beat it. I think every failure helped me realize how much better I was getting every time I had to reach that point again. Don't let the one achievement on steam make you think there's not much to do, after you earn it, several challenges open up to you, with some of them being incredibly brutal. I've been playing off and on for over a year, and the hardest challenge the game gives you I was only just able to beat, after half a year of trying. This game doesn't go on sale often, and it's standard price is absolutely worth it for what you're getting.