As a lover of pretty well all things twin-stick shooting, this generation on the Switch has generally been a blast. Whether it has been more old-school arcade-style shooting, or of the more intense roguelike persuasion, we’ve had a great deal of variety of titles to enjoy in the eShop. Of course, full representation would also assume that not everything can be quite so terrific, so we’ll also see occasional clunkers like Doug’s Nightmare.

With its hand-drawn art style, and somewhat odd combination of a typical health gauge, as well as one for anxiety it sets out to be a bit different from the get go. In general, you’re at least offered some versatility, being able to move between melee and shooting, though most of the time you’ll want to keep your foes at a distance for safety’s sake. As you proceed you’ll want to try to explore wherever you can, in the hopes that you’ll be able to upgrade your weapon options a little in order to keep up with your enemies, or more specifically the bosses.

In terms of the game’s issues, it’s tough to know where to start. The first is tied to scale, as your character is plain big and chunky, and not particularly quick. This can make evading enemy fire and attacks a particular challenge, especially since you lack anything like a dash to try to use timing and skill to help counteract that issue. The second is that there simply isn’t much in the way of true variety or excitement, you’ll just continue to bump up against mostly the same enemies, able to succeed through generally the same techniques, plodding along a room at a time, picking up health and an occasional speed up to keep yourself going. Then there’s your anxiety gauge, which I suppose is worth trying to keep under control since otherwise a dark version of yourself will show up, but overall just feels like a gimmick of questionable value in clearly making the game better.

I think many will see some red flags just with the game’s look, which is absolutely on the “unpolished” side, but I’ve learned that sometimes looks can be deceiving. Having now spent some time with the game, I can confirm that its play is consistent with that unflattering first visual impression though. Even at a budget price, there are simply too many far better shooters out there in the eShop for a comparable cost to have to settle for this.