For the time being, the award for "Steam Next Fest demo that killed me the fastest" officially goes to Vividerie, which developer WangleLine proudly describes as "a hard bullet roguelike" that was explicitly "designed for those who crave a difficult game." I mean, I don't know what I expected after that sales pitch, but this demo still caught me off my guard. You get three hearts and a stick to bite down on and then it's off to the bullet-filled dungeon. Punches are not being pulled, but boy is it fun.
If you've played games like Enter the Gungeon, Nuclear Throne, or Brotato, you have a pretty good idea of what's coming. But at the same time, you don't. Fire your cooldown-based weapons at enemies and dodge the zillion projectiles coming your way. Vividerie ups the ante with a zippy dash that can damage enemies and let you pass through shots unharmed, and this allows for clutch finishes as well as clumsy mistakes.
A big difference is that, instead of a seemingly bottomless arsenal of weapons, you collect items that augment your primary and secondary attacks, your dodge ability (presumably, though I haven't seen any yet), and add a special active item to your loadout. That's been my experience so far, anyway. The dev promises over 100 items capable of "ridiculous amalgamations of stat modifiers, effects, and proc-chains that can make or break a run." We're talking about common items with 50% cooldown reduction here. I've only seen a sample, but I recognize the combo potential.
And that has only been my experience so far because I haven't gotten very far in this game. I'm no bullet hell master, quite demonstrably, but I'm not new to the genre either, so I feel pretty confident in saying Vividerie is hard. This is the kind of gut punch I didn't get in Enter the Gungeon until much later in the game. The rooms are small, bullets are fast, and invincibility frames are in short supply. This is just one of those games you have to acclimate to, like a harsh new environment filled with wizards.
That said, this is a pretty fun way to get your teeth kicked in. Vividerie's pixel art is fantastic; environments are thickly detailed and the witchy female lead, like all the enemies I've seen, is sharply animated. There's so much bounce and flourish and life to it all, from the way your hair sways as you run to the lighting on enemy spawn effects. The thumping music intersects with attack sound effects beautifully, and the chaotic energy of Vividerie's Steam trailer is obvious throughout. It's just a toothy, watertight riff on a proven formula that feels perfectly sized. It's releasing "some day," and it'll stay on my wishlist until then.
You'll find quite a few bullet hells on our list of the best roguelike games.
