Mala Petaka (2025)

great style, compulsive momentum, delightful vibes and music, easy as piss. I died twice in the entire game, to the same boss, who has a reflection move that bounces some - but not all - of your attacks back at you. (yes, petaka is so op, only petaka can kill petaka.) enemy is literally named "laser armor," so the first death is my fault: took too long to realize I was hitting myself with my laser gun. second death? I would not assume the enemy named "laser armor" also bounces my grenades back at me, and that they will kill me instantly even at over 100 health. also if they're gonna give me an enemy who can deflect my laser weapons they need to not auto-swap to the laser weapon when I run out of bullets, that one's not on me!

but generally, you will spend most of this game at 200 health.

the bright colors and infectious mega mannish tunes really do pull you forward, though. addictively enjoyable. whole thing takes barely over two hours, ends on a cliffhanger for its nearly nonexistant plot (working theory: mysterious figure is petaka from the future after transitioning). free expansion coming, I guess the solo dev ran out of money and had to ship what they had and promise the rest later, broken age style. (it's a doom engine game, don't say "free expansion," just say "episode 2!" actually, say "episode 3" and call the demo "shareware episode 1.")

but, like so many things in life, it needs to be hard or it needs to be long; both might be too much, but neither is just a bummer.

if I touch it again, next time I'm feeling the itch for a shootgam, I will put it on max difficulty and see if it feels like a real game. as it stands, it's a quick, fun afternoon, but I can get a lot of those these days.

UPDATE: I have replayed on hard, and it is closer to a real game, in that you instinctively teach yourself strategies like sideways bunny hopping and target prioritization, and a few spots are even a little scrappy. but it is still piss-easy, and I'm still beating most bosses - including the final boss - first try. it is unfathomable that there are four difficulty levels below this. maybe the nightmare-equivalent is the real game!