Given how often I’ve had to write introductions for retro-styled arcade shooters, you’d think by now that every possible concept and permutation of play has been covered. Whether it’s twin-stick, bullet hell, vertical, side-scrolling, or some more customized implementation that simply uses one of those styles as a base, surely there should be nothing new under the sun. Ah, but that’s where indie developers seem to thrive, coming up with new tweaks and spins to help grab some attention for something new, and while Schildmaid MX plays very traditionally in most respects, it has a tweak to the formula which makes for a different feel than usual.

In some bullet hell shooters there are gauges that fill up as you repeatedly get close to enemy fire, tempting fate in order to give your firepower some extra oomph. This roughly moves in the opposite direction, instead encouraging you to take hits in order to charge yourself up, but you’ll need to be very careful to keep an eye out for when you’re then vulnerable and need to go back to dodging. By adding this element, more often than not gameplay feels like a sort of dance, and there’s even a strategic element to when you start taking on fire, trying to delay to be sure you absorb as many hits as possible in your relatively short window to make the most of it. Throw in the fact that the three available ships all have their own firepower, EX attacks, and feel, and there’s a fair amount of mileage here to enjoy.

In terms of downsides, there aren’t too many but they do knock the experience down a peg. The first is a somewhat common complaint that I have and that’s the fact that I wish your ship were just a hair faster. When trying to weave through bullets, seeing an opportunity you can’t quite get to because your ship doesn’t have quite enough oomph is always a pity. The other complaint is that you do have a dodge roll maneuver at your disposal, but I really couldn’t figure out a meaningful benefit behind its inclusion. Perhaps making it a little more useful could have further improved the experience, instead of mostly being unused and feeling pointless. Regardless, this was another pleasant surprise of a decent arcade shooter I’d never heard of popping into my inbox, proving there are still new ideas in play to be had out there.