Star of Providence (2017)

Monolith is a game (at the time of the most recent DLC release) that suggests a heavily skill-based procedurally generated shooter - while that paradox combined with the sheer breadth of content makes things a little too random and exhausting near the harder edges of this game there's still a lot of exciting things to chew on at its core.

The game is a top-down shooter with a series of randomly generated dungeons. Players can shoot in any direction and use walls and scenery to their advantage, as well as the use of a dash and a bomb that recharges. As the player moves from floor to floor they have various upgrades they can utilize (health increase, teleport dashing, extra HP) and weapons of various types and special keyword effects. Whether it's a triple homing laser or a knockback drill that produces bullets as it moves, there's a dizzying amount of options to work with. In the most recent update ammo is fairly limited, meaning the player will often be stuck with swapping between weapons and while most of the gameplay is generally fun, the harder modes/bosses demand a lot more destructive weaponry if you don't want to get stuck with a pea shooter.

There's also a LOT of additional content, with enemies of various types/behaviors, secret upgrade cartridges and cute NPCs with additional offers, mysterious bonus levels with even more fiendish bosses, extra ships and permanent upgrades that are essential to gameplay, etc - in a way all this means that you either have insane skill and can basically win with a bad setup or get frustrated because the randomness doesn't ensure a good run. If that's the case then random generation can be controlled by a seed input, but even that has its limits.

It helps that the game looks and plays gorgeously. There's a dizzying array of beautiful pixel art, with dank depths, spooky ghosts, powerful machines and mages, and mysterious constructs that feel and act unique even with palette swaps. The soundtrack is atmospheric and exciting, evoking an upgraded 8-bit feel that feels like a Famicom game with expansion audio.

Monolith can be intimidating, with a lot of fun combinations amidst a play that can get a little too frustrating for random generation. The most skilled and obsessed will find a way through the madness but those easily frustrated by roguelikes can stick with normal mode and maybe try the seed system to help.

I love this game so much. The artwork, colors, minimalism, music, sound effects, difficulty, game-feel... All the parts of the game, that whole "tangible" experience feels incredibly intentional, cohesive, and fresh (...and cute). And there's seemingly no fluff -- it's all just straight-to-the-point action without wasting your time and focus -- it's so easy to pick up and play for however long you'd like.
Between Monolith, Nuclear Throne, and Enter the Gungeon, Monolith is my favorite take on bullet-hell top-down shooter rogue-lite.

I haven't scratched the surface on why I love this game so much, but there's a demo of it if you want to give it a shot:
https://team-d-13.itch.io/monolithdemo

Monolith is best described as a roguelike bullethell. Dungeons are split into square rooms, where the goal is to beat the midbossess and then take on the floor boss.

The game is tight to control and there isn't an encyclopedia of knowledge you need to know to play the game (i.e. what certain items do, which items are good, etc.) This is partly because content is fairly light, the numbers of rooms, enemies, and weapons is fairly small. It's very straightforward. The bosses are diverse and fun to fight, and since it's a shooter, personal skill has a much larger hold on how well you'll do compared to other roguelikes where a good build will sweep a run. Most weapons in Monolith have about the same overall damage output, with upgrades being only moderate increases to raw damage.