ねこみみのかけら (Nekomimi no Kakera) released DieFeen, which is a shooting game (like most other games I have been talking about these past couple of days). Unfortunately, there are no trailers and there are no gameplay videos to leech, so I will have to provide screenshots instead, which fortunately enough for me are available on the website.

It is a very pretty-looking game and quite different from the general STG. For starters, your two characters have three different firing modes, just like Ether Vapor.

Both player controlled characters have four Feens (at least, that’s what I think they are in-game; the general term are satelites or options I think). Depending on what firing mode you choose, they form a different formation. It appears that they do take damage if hit with enemy fire, but I don’t know if they actually can die. I never tried it but you, the reader, can and let me know afterwards.

Ariel, the 猫耳少女 (nekomimi shoujo) is a catgirl that flies on a broom. She can put her Feens out in front of her (front), get them to follow her around, like Marisa’s first choice in Mountain of Faith (follow), or fly around her with the shots going around like a windmill (rolling).

Nebel, the うさみみ少年 (usamimi shounen – not really sure what it means although Gjiten says sad-earred boy, which does not make any sense) is a boy with dark rabbit ears that has little wings on his back, which are used to fly around. His firing modes have him putting his Feens to the side (side), facking backwards (back) or overlapping himself to get a wide firing arch (hide).

Personally, I like using Nebel more, since the side and back formations are really effective in taking out enemies in the front and back respectively.

Another thing that makes DieFeen a bit different is the fact that you have a ridiculous number of bombs. In this game, Feens are also your bombs, although they are inside a bag and you start off with 16 inside.

Actually, now that I think about it, maybe the Feens get replaced by the ones inside your bag if they die…

Oh well, like I said, you readers can find out and let me know.

The general impression that I got when I heard about this game from the various places I look around for Comiket games is that this is hard.

After playing this, I concur. And it’s only the trial! The actual game itself is not finished!

RefRain ~prism memories~ is from RebRank. From my limited knowledge of Japanese and skill of observation, they are a doujin group focused on STGs.

Due to the lack of trailers from RebRank, I present a gameplay video instead (stolen from here).

Please note: this guy makes it look easy -.-. However, it provides one thing that people should note when playing STGs: use your bombs!

Pretty awesome techno-based soundtrack as well. In any case, I think I will need to try out their previous game 五月雨 ~samidare~ while anticipating the complete game. Good luck for me finding it though; finding games from previous Comikets is near impossible, unless they are extremely popular like the 東方 games.