Games worth discovering

Limbo Disco- Diving Deep into a Devilish Demo of a Bullet Hell.

3K View2023-07-21

Hey Folks, thanks for tapping and tuning in as I talk shop about Hunk With Helmet's Limbo Disco, a bopping bullet hell - (That I was able to play through the power of BlueStacks 5, since my phone is a useless potato).

An Infernal Introduction

Premise-wise, Limbo Disco kicks things off by placing you in the role of DJ Hunk- a seemingly daft punk-inspired DJ whose renown and prowess seem him somehow sucked into the deepest regions of Limbo. Rather than let this slow him down, he instead decides to continue doing what he does best- albeit with all his turntabling taking place in Tartarus.

That, and to occasionally shoot demons in the face, though it's a bit less obvious why he's getting into those shenanigans, given the overall plot falls off a cliff at about this point.

Specifically, once the introduction ends, there's not an ounce of dialogue or lore to explain why you're progressing through its various stages, or even to help introduce or flesh out your ensemble of employees.

(A small part of me wonders if it might be rooted in localization, given- there are a few moments that stuck with me in that first cutscene.)

Gunning Through The Gates Of Hell

So, let's focus on how it plays. At its core, Limbo Disco is a bullet hell- tasking you to maneuver between oncoming enemies, and projectiles while also navigating any environmental hazards or barriers. All while you stay within a close enough range that your automatic attack can still target them. This latter element is perhaps the most important, so it more or less ensures you can't play wholly on the defensive, especially when other parts of your arsenal are -severely- limited in range.

But, I'm getting ahead of myself. Currently, the game only has 4 different levels, each one a gauntlet of stages which culminate in a stage-specific boss. While this is a rather narrow slice of gameplay- to the point that it's entirely possible to memorize the obstacles, enemy types, their arrangements, and even their spawn locations- there is a particular quirk that helps to keep things a bit fresher than they might otherwise be.

Namely, the perk system. As you progress through stages, you acquire experience. Once you get enough, you earn a small heal, but more importantly, you gain access to a randomly selected trio of passives to choose from. These can range from simple things like boosted attack, or movement speed, to more interesting options, like more attack when at full health, or boosted attack speed when you risk being stationary. It also includes the aforementioned additional weapons. I stress additional, because they don't -replace- your arsenal, simply adding an additional layer to what you can do, during the current run.

And all of these perks can be stacked several times- though, it's the weapons which afford the most notable changes, since the way they function actually changes as you continue to advance them.

It's definitely interesting, and there's a certain bit of fun to be found in trying to figure out the most efficient options, so you can set a boss's health bar on fire, and reduce the normally dangerous dance of navigating their attack patterns into a brutal, one-sided beatdown.

But that's all I have to say about the stages themselves, which do little to highlight the various persistent upgrades you'll accrue through metaprogression, - in order to keep up with the continually escalating enemy health and damage output.

So! Let's begin. The first major system that'll help you along your way is upgrading your characters. Levelling them up can be done at the hub with the resources you accrue, amping your max health, as well as damage. That's far from your only option, however. For instance, as you accrue certain materials, you'll also be able to power up their actual attack types, as well as unlock a passive ability associated with whatever character you're using.

Lastly, there's an additional upgrade track, which requires you to burn puzzle pieces associated with a character, to boost their stats- and acquire additional passives.

But what's the deal with puzzle pieces? Why did I take the time to mention them? Well, they're a byproduct of one of this game's Gacha systems. These can be used either through tickets you earn from clearing levels, and tasks- or through gems, which can be slowly accrued in the same way... or from using the shop. The shop isn't actually implemented yet, but, those same gems are tied to the Gacha's in general, the season pass (and all its materials), as well as certain rare items in the upgrade material shop.

I don't have much of an opinion on this as of yet,- beyond one thing. The Gacha system you get puzzle pieces from is a bit underwhelming since it's the one you use to unlock employees. I.E. the demons which act as weapons when you clear stages. I say underwhelming because you don't actually get characters when you use it, but a random assortment of puzzle pieces you can use to buy one. Yes, you do get a guaranteed character if you do a 10-pull, but otherwise, you're likely going to be plinking away, one arbitrary resource at a time, with no avenue to otherwise expedite the process, either then gem spam.

Something which meant I only got to try out -2- additional characters out of the various ones included in the demo. And, to their credit, they were fun. I had a new melee attack (with some neat passives), and a hard-hitting ranged attack- but I really wished I could have seen the others because you can only bring so many demons in with you to a stage- emphasizing a need to mix and match for strategic purposes. Or well, it -would- if things were different.

And then we have the customer system, which has two tiers. The basic customers are associated with certain perks you encounter in stages- unlocking them for you to boost in the hub. Doing so slightly increases your health and attack. More importantly, however, are the VIPs, which can only be acquired through the Gacha, and which provide powerful passives, or even timed abilities (which get even better as you scale them up).

Like your employees, there's a limited number of slots available, so there is a strategic element here insofar as creating the ideal crew to clear stages. I probably would have toyed with this system more- but I sunk all my gems into trying to unlock new characters, so I don't even know what rolling a copy of a ghost would do. I only know that getting a demon copy gives you 10 puzzle pieces to burn.

Disco's Design

As far as the visuals go, I'm actually quite fond of Limbo Disco. Overall, the character designs are a lot of fun (which is part of why I regretted not being able to acquire more), and the actual in-stage visuals are fairly cute. The attacks are also generally well-telegraphed, too- which helps in this sort of title.

Audio-wise, there are actually some decent enough tracks to accompany your rampage. To the point that even after I'd cleared out all the levels, I actually found myself wishing there was a means of just

At the end of the day, though, I'm still not sure how to feel. On the one hand, I think there's some decent potential. The gradual introduction of different enemies, with unique attacks, and the complications they provide when juxtaposed with other units was interesting, as was optimizing my loadout. But I felt very limited insofar as my options, so I don't know how much variety there'll actually be in the end.

Still, if you're a fan of bullet hells, and want something to poke into, you can certainly do worse- so give it a gander, and figure it out for yourself.

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