TormentorXPunisher is one of these games that I find really frustrating: I sit there, teeth gritted, frowning and furrowing my brow, filled with tension and distress until I eventually give up and kick my computer off the desk and pour bleach onto my CPU. And yet, despite the steep difficulty curve and the punishing gameplay, I find myself lured back again and again to be tormented once more.

TormentorXPunisher could be summed up as a "2D-Devil Daggers," although it's arguably not as ridiculously difficult or grimly serious as that game. The concept is simple: you're one furious space marine gal and you've landed upon the humorously-titled "Planet Fuck You" for the purpose of killing as many demons as possible. You're staged in a rectangular arena and demons (of various types/appearance/behaviour) spawn in by the dozen, with an occasional boss fight. The controls are standard twin-stick shooter (I picked it up easily from my experience with games like Enter the Gungeon or Nuclear Throne), you hold the right trigger to fire your machine gun; when you run out of ammo you tap left-trigger to fire your shotgun (which replenishes your machine gun ammo). Each enemy dies in a single hit, and so do you (no health bar). Bosses also die in a single hit but they have shields or other interesting strengths/weaknesses which require a different approach to defeat them. Also one can attempt special "trick shots" like killing 3+ demons with a single shotgun round, or killing them by ricocheting bullets off walls; these trickshots can unlock special abilities which become crucial as you progress deeper and the difficulty and spawn rate ramps up. Bosses also have interesting behaviours which change the arena: they leave obstacles, acid pools and other things in their wake, adding complexity/variation to the environment.

The game is pretty simple and fast-paced. On your first attempt you might survive only 10 or 15 seconds. Unlike Devil Daggers, your score is measured in points rather than time, and more points are awarded depending on various factors: risky kills, melee kills, using the shotgun, etc. But basically you'll get more points if you can survive longer and defeat more bosses. Also unlike Devil Daggers, touching an enemy won't kill you: the enemy has to actually strike you with melee/projectile, so if you bump into a demon you have a tiny grace period to back off before you are punched into red goop. There are a bunch of other weapons/tools/mechanics that you stumble across as you play more, adding delightful little flourishes to the gameplay, giving the player small but much-needed advantages against the horde. But overall the experience remains as a fast and simple arena-based twin-stick shooter.

It's reminiscent of many of the games that I've found myself returning to over and over (like Furi, Enter the Gungeon, Spelunky, Teleglitch, Towerclimb, Ubermosh, etc.), and it has that delicious "just one more" factor, the quick reset, allowing one to make repeated attempts in a chain of short bursts; it's admittedly difficult to put down once you get started. Another thing I enjoy about this game is that it doesn't have a massive active player base so I find myself rising to #1 on the global daily scoreboard quite regularly! It's satisfying to climb up there and pompously sit atop that leaderboard each day, like in the arcades of old. It's a noticeable difference compared to my extremely slow and arduous climb on the Devil Daggers global leaderboards. :'(

There's little more to say about TormentorXPunisher. It's just an addictive little satisfying twin-stick shooter with a lot of attitude. The whole experience is expertly glued together with brilliant sound and visual design making each a run an intensely enjoyable over-stimulation of the senses. The soundtrack is electrifying industrial tunes, the protagonist screams and shrieks insults at her demon enemies as she sprays their guts across the arena and paints your screen red. The pixel art is somewhat cartoony and gives the game a fun, lighthearted atmosphere, overplaying the silliness and goriness of it all. The thing that actually drew me to the game was the animated launch trailer, which was so ridiculous that I bought the game immediately (for $4 at the time). I wasn't disappointed with my investment! I really enjoy games like Enter the Gungeon or Nuclear Throne but I've invested much more time in this and I've enjoyed it more also. I think it's because all the core elements are boiled down here without any of the unnecessary extras or bothersome RNG factors. Also a run rarely lasts more than a minute or two, so it isn't so disheartening when you screw up; you're not throwing away half an hour of gameplay.

It's a brilliant game with really carefully-balanced mechanics, tight controls and satisfying gameplay. It seems simple but the more you play, you begin to notice the depths and complexity as you utilise different powerups, experimenting with the shotgun or even using boss obstacles to your advantage. It's the ideal game to let your brain go into a zen state, allowing your finger muscles to dance around in the zone, can be played in a couple little bursts or in a long sequence of repeated rounds. Really satisfying because I could feel myself constantly progressing and getting better at it. A very challenging game but it doesn't take itself too seriously, and it's nowhere near as difficult or as punishing as other games in the genre. The elements in TormentorXPunisher blend together so well that, even when faced with repeated failure, it's still such a delight to play.