1996 indie shmup Devil Blade, originally created by Vanillaware’s SHIGATAKE inside a PSX shooter creator game called Dezaemon+, has been lovingly reimagined here for a wider modern audience. The result is an exciting game with excellent pacing and explosive pseudo-3D pixel art. Its purity of design, relative accessibility, and strong presentation make it both a great beginner shmup and a pleasant, enjoyable one for those who already like the genre.

Mechanically the game shines in its simplicity, as there is only one ship that can freely toggle between a default wide shot or a more focused shot with slower movement. It feels really good right away, easy to get the hang of, and that approach extends to the enemy and level design. The game is very willing to visually telegraph what’s coming and how you may approach it, which doesn’t necessarily make it easy to deal with, but reduces the amount of memorization and planning needed to clear the game. Boss designs are especially fun and are able to throw a wide range of stuff at you.

On Easy and Normal difficulties, the game is incredibly generous with its resources, making for a relatively easy clear. Bombs and shields can be recovered several times per stage, so you have a lot of room for error before you actually die. Bombing also recovers the shield on those easier difficulties, so you can really brute force through the game. Even on Normal, though, the shield definitely doesn’t guarantee your safety as bosses and larger enemies in particular are going to keep firing away at you even after your brief invulnerability. For those seeking a meatier challenge, there are harder modes which don’t help you out as much and up the intensity level.

This is easily one of the more fun action games I’ve played this year, with an “all killer no filler” set of levels, super cool presentation, and approachable but exciting mechanics and level design. It’s a simple game to clear, even without continues, but has extra depth in a scoring system that encourages aggressive play through point-blank killing of enemies, as well as harder modes and a modified version of the retro original. I was pretty impressed right away and have enjoyed continuing to learn and improve at the game.