Feeble Light | PS5 Review

Panda Indie Studio, and their signature shmup design returns with full-on familiarity. Like a reskinned or revamped version of prior releases "Feeble Light" does little to innovate or deviate from the beaten path. In it you control a living star with a heart. This star that you are barrels through randomly generated space levels, vertically, facing the darkness there. There's everything from undead Lovecraftian horrors, to corrupted stars, and even asteroid fields filled with plenty of telegraphed hazards. 

Your abilities to combat these threats, at base level, includes a slowdown that comes from holding down the fire button, as well as a basic shot, and a three tier bomb that builds up on the left behind stardust collected from fallen enemies. Outside of that it's a roulette wheel of randomized power-up drops that do a good many things. Making the only way to see it all through to it's end, RNGeezus.

Though it is very much like the Kaleidoscopic color palette inclusive shmups that the developer often churns out on the regular "Feeble Light" does still have it's charm, if nothing else. In it's simplicity lies a brutal challenge wholly reliant on RNG. As such a successful full playthrough banks purely on the levels you get, and the power-ups that drop. At it's neutral the star you play as is as the title suggests. It's feeble. Unless you get damage, shot, health, and supportive upgrades like turrets and shields your chances of completing the game are almost void. 

Levels themselves come at you with no rhyme or reason making things more of a game of chance that that of skill applied. Those interconnecting sections therein being a mixture of three different biomes including asteroid fields, winding canyons, and clear and open frontier. The catch in all of this is that while these basic building blocks are mixed and matched so too are the enemy types that come into view. You'll get everything from smaller to larger enemies at a lesser scale to mid-bosses and actual bosses that often times take the piss with their unavoidable bullet hell sucker punches. 

Make no mistake, you are going to get hit regardless off how good you are while attempting to 100% "Feeble Light". The odds are purposefully stacked against you in an abusive way, and the only thing that will carry you through to the next level in most instances are heart refills that grant one extra hit per heart container. That and extra lives/hits will add to your chances at seeing this game through to it's end. 

The reward for sticking to the grind is twofold. As you play, and make milestones you'll find that alongside the PSN trophies come alternate 3-tone color palettes that can be changed back at the main menu. Additionally the higher in level you make it, the higher up on the global leaderboard you'll be placed. Currently me, and one other player are at the top having only made it to level 5. This is a testament to how brutal the game is in regards to artificial difficulty, and I say "artificial difficulty", because the difficulty is based mostly upon unfair or unavoidable situations. The randomized generation of levels, and the randomized nature of power-ups plays into this as do the unavoidable bullet hell patterns. It's like playing Russian Roulette, but in hoping that you land the bullet on a target other than yourself. You've got one bullet in the revolver, you spin it, point the gun at a tin can off in the distance, and hope that when you pull the trigger you get the bullet and hit the target. That's the gist of it.

The Verdict ...

As a shmup enthusiast I prefer games that give me a fair fighting chance. A game that rewards precision maneuverability, and precise shooting. This shump that is "Feeble Light" does not offer that. It offers, instead, a playthrough that is randomly generated in such a way as to be purposefully stacked against you according to odds. The stars have to line up both literally, and metaphorically. You've really got to have RNGeezus on your side to place at the top of the leaderboard. The only mercy beyond that is that grinding will eventually get you some golden PSN trophies and a Platinum. If you are into for the platinum it's an easy recommendation as there's little effort to get there. The fact that is one of those under $10 titles makes it an alright buy to that end.