Platypus Reclayed

I remember playing niche video games on a secondhand laptop (that my family shares) over a decade ago, and the original 2004 Platypus was my favorite out of them. It still holds a special place in my heart to this day, and I usually associate my childhood and my better days with that game, before I became who I am now. It was also how I got introduced to shmups and why I started playing them. It might not be perfect but it's charming still, and I have a lot of memories with it. So when I heard in the 2020s that my favorite childhood game was getting remade, I was thrilled to see it. Fast forward to last year, I was getting so impatient with the demo that I bought the game the day it got released (the price was higher before) and I never usually do that. I was initially disappointed with my first session but things were quickly addressed by the devs, so it's all good now. Anyways, this is probably the best claymation game out there. I don't know much about clay games other than The Neverhood (and its kinda disliked successor) but considering it's a niche genre, I just think this game is the best. The devs really went the extra mile with this game: new graphics, weapons, ships, enemies, qol, mod support, music (Ocean Loader still bangs), pulse finally being buffed, a new level, even a setting to turn this game into the original Platypus, etc. You can see that so much passion went into this game, and the fact that you even get free DLCs shows that, too. It's got everything you would want for a remake, good not just for the fans of the original but also for the newer players. For me, I think one thing that separates Platypus from other shmups is that it's not only about shooting. It feels like an adventure. Every level has something special in them, as if you're exploring your world and seeing the sights. That part with the ringed planet in Level 2 just looks beautiful, you can see that they spent a lot of time with it. Then there are the mine fields in Level 2 and the Volcano part in Level 3. The backgrounds change, there is a day-night cycle, and every level introduces enemies as if you're exploring new things in your world. I guess my issues are that some new weapons like Homing and Fish are underpowered or generic, dying still feels painful (though it's not as bad compared to the 2004 version), and there are times you have little reaction time in getting weapons or those crates. My brother complained a lot about the last one. I haven't seriously tried this game and I've only done a Hard complete run, so maybe I'm not a credible source and I guess I'll try more soon. I did complete Nasty with my brother months ago, so there's that. For those who are into bullet hell, you might still see this as a Euroshmup because of the bigger hitbox, relatively weak main weapon, and other design choices you might dislike, but consider giving it a shot (literally) and try the free demo. My brother's way better than me in this game (he got no-death in the hardest difficulty) and he liked it. I'm just biased since it's my childhood game lol Anthony Flack, you should be proud of all the childhoods you've made with your game. Thank you for creating Platypus.

Underrated gem that deserves a LOT more attention, especially with the amount of artistic effort put into it, it's rare to see games like this nowadays.

I LOOVED this game so much i spent hours in the final computer and remembered struggling in the sky area with the mines, Nostalgic!