Shikhondo: Youkai Rampage is a vertical shoot’em up developed by Korean team Deer Farm and published by CFK.
It’s an updated version of the original game Shikhondo: Soul Eater that was released in 2017 on PC (Steam) and then ported to PlayStation 4 and Switch in 2018, a classic bullet hell (“danmaku” in Japanese) set in a Eastern Asia fantasy concept and based on mythical creatures from Korean folk legend.
The player controls a girl that has to seal away all these creatures that have escaped hell and can choose between a girl who even lost her name and has homing attacks and a celestial grim reaper with straight attack.
The core of the gameplay is the “Soul Collect System” that allows the player to gain souls by avoiding attacks and getting closer to enemy bullets grants more souls. Once the gauge bar is filled and the Soul Collect is activated, all bullets on the screen turn into souls.
The among the new features introduced in this version there are different game modes, beside the classic Arcade and Boss Rush modes, the Hardcore Mode has a high difficulty and the soul gauge charges much faster but any damage will result in a game over, the Novice Mode allows player to use bombs and Dual Mode makes both characters available and can be switched while playing to change attacks according to the situation on the screen.
There are 5 different difficulty mode, including a Story mode where all damages are avoided so the player can enjoy the game and learn enemy’s pattern before changing to a more challenging difficulty.
Shikhondo: Youkai Rampage will be released worldwide on Steam on 18 April (with support for English language) while a Switch version is also planned but no mention has been made regarding a physical copy.
Considering shoot’em up games have had good results in term of sales in the latest year, it could be possible to see on the shelves like a collection of both titles, CSK have already released various games in physical format like the recent Scarlet Symphony series.
Watch the “Steam promotion” trailer below: