A lot of bullet hells take the basic format of choosing a character, a difficulty level, and sending you on a determined path of levels where you die in one hit. After dying enough times, you have to start the whole game all over again. You get a high score, and try to do better next time.
A2 Zygon modifies this formula by creating more of a 'story mode' experience. You can save between levels and bosses, start off playing easy levels and choose a harder path later down the road, and you collect coins instead of points, which let you buy upgrades for your character.
Also, your character does not usually die in one hit. Instead, you have this thing called 'health', which lets you absorb a certain number of hits before dying. You can collect hearts to heal up, and spades to use a powerful strike attack to deal more damage to enemies up close. There are no bombs however, so you have to use your strike attacks wisely to wipe out nearby bullets.
On top of this, A2 Zygon is built with replayability in mind. There are 4 challenge levels you can unlock that provide more difficult challenges, as well as unlockable cards filled with lore and hints. You get to keep the left-over coins you collect from story mode and challenge levels, and use them to buy the cards you unlock. Buying all cards counts as 100% completion. There are a few other unlockables as well, but those are a mystery. Boss dialog also changes depending on how you play the game.
While the game does have more of a 2D retro aesthetic, there is some stylization to it, as well as some rare instances of 3D effects. The music has both a retro and modern version to listen to, so you get to change things up more when replaying story mode or the challenge levels.
The game is set to be released in December 2022. As of now, the game is almost complete. If you want to try out the demo and wishlist, you can view the Steam Page.
I hope you enjoy the demo, and make sure to follow my Twitter Feed for more updates!
