I am truly contemplating sliding bird pins where when you move them, it exposes the legs of the bird.
That said, I truly have my eyes set on owls — particularly Snowy Owls, a.k.a. nature's best model of the feather pants — but I don't know what other owls to do.
Anyone have any suggestions?
This week's game is Horror Story (aka Demon's World), Toaplan's unusual run and gun romp through hordes of tangentially related monsters. Approachable and chill compared to some of their other games, it's absolutely worth a shot, especially with a friend:
I hadn't really heard of this game prior to playing it and I'm wondering why because it's a good time! Toaplan is held in high esteem, but people mainly seem to talk about their shmups rather than their experiments in other genres. Horror Story is their take on the run and gun and they did a great job of making it feel distinct thanks to a focus on platforming and some great aesthetic choices. Instead of moving at your own pace, Horror Story scrolls the screen automatically at a slow pace. This means you always need to be ready, but it always keeps the pace going at an exact tempo, too, giving you a good idea of how long you have to react and grab power-ups. Horror Story also uses a lot of two-tier level design that encourages you to switch between elevations to grab power-ups and find the safest places to attack from. Though I'd say it still fits into the run and gun genre, it really does feel like a platformer as well. You can even bounce off of enemies like a Mario game!
Horror Story's other big strength is its choices in visuals. Every level here feels wildly different and each one focuses on a different type of horror. You've got Chinese folklore, Japanese yokai, fleshy cave horrors, and even appearances from Frankenstein's monster and a Jason Voorhees lookalike! Like Monster Party on the NES, a lot of the fun comes from seeing what's waiting for you in the next level. It's not necessarily the easiest game in the world, but it feels friendlier than most games of this ilk do, making it well suited for a festive weekend playthrough.
