Epic Boss Fighter

Damage upgrades that you can actually notice (no weird percentage points or anything) are a good thing. They help you feel that the grinding is actually going towards progress, instead of the vague promise that one day, you'll get somewhere.

Unfortunately, it also means that without a wider spectrum or difficulty curve, the game is really short lived. And the survival mode removes the idea of progression and is just about maxing out and letting the skill based mechanics take over.

While giving simple arcade pleasures their space is important, the game had been designed as a good framework for an upgrade-focused system. No needless fodder to slog through: just progressively stronger bosses and their minion dudes. Scrape by a boss just to meet his angry older brother. Take away that meta-narrative, and the game only becomes a barely competent bullet-hell.

This is kind of a silly thing to get upset about, but once I've maxed out all the upgrades and no longer have anything to spend cash on, it's kind of awkward to see the number climbing higher and higher after each failed run and nothing to use it on. I had this problem with Bullet Heaven as well.