like I shared earlier, I started BOSSGAME: The Final Boss Is My Heart and so far it is Very Good. i took a couple of screenshots showing off key details that i believe people will enjoy (or at least, that I am enjoying):
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it is Very Gay. the protagonists are a pair of girlfriends who are hunting demons for money. i think it's early to say too much about the other characters i have encountered, but i like these two a lot already.
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it has a lot of accessibility options! this is great because it is pretty hard! it's good though, and these options give a lot of wiggle room to fine tune the experience... including making it harder??? i just realized that, oh no
anyway, i'm into it, especially being a one-transaction experience for a mobile game. this is probably gonna be my new lunch buddy for a little bit since it breaks up into 5-10 minute chunks so nicely 
I spent a couple hours last night finishing up BOSSGAME and it remained very enjoyable in a lot of ways!! I'm going to try to catalog a bunch, also there's a gameplay video buried deep in here:
Despite what I said about the combat being difficult, I found that the difficulty curve actually tapered off pretty quickly after the initial hurdles! The game is very responsive and boss mechanics never got too involved. The "rhythm-based" elements are definitely minimal - some folks asked me if it was like Necrodancer or Stepmania, but it's more like "you defend against attack patterns in a rhythm" and that is it. Once you grasp that, you're well on your way.
BOSSGAME also does a really nice job of varying the encounters, especially thanks to the second act where Sophie and Anna are separated (oh no). Members of the side cast get their chance to help in fights and their different abilities shine on stages that know to use them. I think a big strength of the gimmicks is that the game says nothing about them and the controls are simple enough that you can try things really quickly. Because of how fast the combat is, every moment of realization felt really satisfying to discover and exploit.
This goddamn story made me cry SO MUCH. Like I'm a sappy bitch but still, I'm glad I didn't actually commit to playing this on my lunches because I would have melted LMAO. There are also a lot of extra details that you can unlock for every boss by performing well on their fights and those have been fun to read through. There's also a lot of different illustrations that are unlocked by going through the story and it's just.... nice it's a nice game you guys 
on top of all that, there's just a lot of really great window dressing. The victory screen has a marquee text that normally muses on victory -- and also has some points in the story where it changes -- but I completed a boss rush earlier and discovered a different victory text. It's at the end of this video (which, spoilers for an early boss) but I also transcribed it because I liked it a lot:
To strive for greatness, to push ourselves further, always finding new limits to break . . . that is a warrior's goal. But a warrior must also learn how to rest. In these moments, she should sleep hard, and revel freely, and love those around her. When the battle returns, she will never forget the happiness she fights for.
hell yeah
anyway great game, seven bucks, heartful recommendation ππ
