Tormentor X Punisher is a simplistic, but devilishly hard SHMUP that takes place on the planet Fuck You. Yes, that’s really what it’s called. Akin to the cult hit Devil Daggers, only played from the top-down perspective, TxP is an insane arcade shooter that will test your patience and your resilience. It’ll also make you smile and laugh with maniacal glee as the bodies of your demon enemies litter the floor and pile up high. This is our Tormentor X Punisher review.
TxP takes place in one singular, ever increasingly hard room. This isn’t some complex dungeon-crawler. It’s a straight up top-down shooter through and through. So what’s so good about it? It’s brutally difficult, sure, but never cheaply so. It’s the definition of “one more try” in videogame form. You’re always taunted to try and best not only your own score, but those of your Steam friends, and the world at large. Curse you, Steam User NOIZ, I shall never beat you.
The gameplay of shooting everything in sight is pretty straightforward. WASD moves you around the room, the mouse aims, and left click fires off your machine gun. When it’s empty, you use the right click to fire off a shotgun spread and reload. It’s deceptively simple because you’ll soon discover ways to combo kills and get special bonus attacks and statuses on the swarming demons. There are also demon summoning portals littering the floor, and walking over them clears them off the map and gives you bonus points. Clear and kill enough demons
Clear and kill enough demons and a randomly chosen boss will spawn. Beat them, and the waves begin anew with the battlefield littered with corpses and blood. The goal is simply to survive as long as you can, as the procedurally generated waves of monsters get progressively more aggressive and explosive. This would be easier if it weren’t for the screen-shake that happens when you fire your shotgun. It’s almost as if the devs knew this and use it to add confusion to the mayhem. If there was any complaint I had about the gameplay, it would be the screen-shake. I’d like an option to turn it off or reduce it.
Joonas Turner’s latest game is a delight though. It’s simple, it’s straightforward, and its fun. It’s the game you want to play when you just want to kill demons. What kind of madness would you expect from the guy behind Downwell, Broforce, and Badland? This may seem like a short review, but I promise, I just about covered everything. If you like hard roguelikes such as Devil Daggers, The Binding of Isaac, and more, then this is right up your alley. You can find it on Steam, Humble, Green Man Gaming, and more. Head to tormentorxpunisher.com to see a full list of stores.
