Before I begin, I must disclose that I received a review code for the game from the publisher. And I have to admit, if I had spent my own money I wouldn't have made a video at all. But when you get a code you're kind of locked into making something with it, so here you go.
I love shoot-em-ups, but I am not a hardcore, one-credit-clear, no hit run, ultimate high score type of player. I die a lot and use continues and still have a good time with most of them. Conversations about the genre are always dominated by that first type of player, though, so I feel like it's important to show potential players that you can still have fun with shumps even if you suck at them and it's OK to be casual.
I also feel I should say that I don't get filtered by difficulty in these games very often if at all. I can usually get through them fine. Most shmups in the last 20-years or so have taken great strides to be more accessible for everyone by adding difficulty options and practice modes and unlimited continues to ensure all players can actually see the whole game. I greatly prefer this modern era compared to the old days when you'd spend $50 on a shmup and only ever see the first two levels.
Truxton Extreme, on the other hand, almost totally rejects any notion of attempting to be welcoming and accessible to casual players. The game is absolutely brutal and there are no training wheels or infinite continues or generous checkpoints here. It chews you up and spits you out and laughs in your face. It isn't even a bullet hell style shooter where the screen is filled with bullets, either, so why is it so hard? Well, to understand that, you need to know that bullet hell games aren't actually that difficult. There is always a pattern through the bullets and your ship always has a teeny tiny hit box, so bullet hell games aren't nearly as crazy difficult as they seem.
So why do I find Truxton Extreme so much more difficult, then? First, the hit box is basically your entire ship. It's just absolutely massive. There is no finding a safe spot in the patterns and instead you have to pretty much constantly be moving. The second reason is that the game is very messy onscreen and it's hard to see. Your ship actually pumps out way more bullets than the enemies do, and your own bullets fill the screen and make it hard to see incoming enemy bullets and objects. Readability is absolutely vital in shmups, and Truxton Extreme is just plain hard to see what's going on.
The third reason why Truxton Extreme is so difficult is that it is one of the most spiteful and maliciously designed shmups I've ever played. The game likes to intentionally lead you into danger pretty much constantly. See that power-up that's sitting all alone over there? Don't bother because that's exactly where a line of bullets will appear the second you get there. Or an enemy ship will spawn out of nowhere. See what looks like an obvious safe path through the enemies? Nope, that's a trap. Think that staying close to the bottom so you can see more of the field makes you safe? Nope, enemies you can't see hit you from behind. I can go on and on. It genuinely feels like actual frickin' hate went into some of these encounter designs.
You basically have to memorize every single inch of every level, and then play absolutely perfectly, or you just die constantly. Memorization is part of all shmups, of course, but most of the time you can still recognize and react and just play by feel. Not so in Truxton Extreme. The levels are shockingly long and the wave after wave after wave after repetitive wave of enemies within levels always go about three beats too long. You are constantly on edge and stressed out more than any other shmup I've ever played. It's so genuinely exhausting to play. Casual players are just not welcome here. Don't bother.
The weird thing is that they did, begrudgingly through gritted teeth I imagine, put in a couple things to help casual players along. The problem is that you have to unlock them all. See, there's a story mode that's slightly easier - but still stupidly difficult - and an arcade mode that is double plus stupidly difficult. You can unlock a training mode that lets you practice all you like, but you can only practice levels you've already beaten in the double plus stupidly difficult arcade mode. Get what I'm saying here? That's absolutely zero help for casual players. You also eventually unlock more continues - only after hours of trying and dying, of course - but that mostly just lets you brute force your way through the more brutal sections. Story mode at least does let you select the level you want to play instead of having to start over from the beginning every time, but that's about the only concession the game makes for us normal folks.
And, no, the "easy" Heart Starter mode doesn't really count because it's far too dumb and way too easy and does not prepare you for the rest of the game whatsoever.
I suppose this is all par for the course for the Truxton series and I should have known what to expect but I, uh, haven't played the older ones. They were all from the era where shmups were ball-bustingly difficult and I wasn't interested in them. I had hoped that this new modern entry would at least try to match up with what the genre is today, but that is most definitely not the case. It is an oldschool brutal difficult shoot-em-up for the most hardcore of hardcore.
I'm just not having a good time with it. And I hate making a video like this when I'm just whining because I don't "get it", but goddamn. Like I said, I love shmups. I truly enjoy bullet hells that are far more intimidating than Truxton Extreme. This game just kicks your ass, though. And before you leave your snarky "Skill issue" and "git gud" comments, yeah no shit. But I'm not doing this video for you. I'm doing it for the 99.9% of folks out there that aren't hardcore shmup players.
If you do want to give Truxton Extreme a try, it is reasonably priced at just $25. It has a lot of content, too, if you're good enough to actually see it. For me, though, it's a pass. There are at least 50 other shmups between Xbox and Switch that I'd recommend over it instead.
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