Some of the Bullet Hell you should expect.
Reactance is an Adobe Flash video game released in 2011. It's a Bullet Hell vertical shooter in which you dodge monochrome bullets. Each enemy killed gives points which can be spent on upgrades. You also have a tiny hitbox and there are five weapons to choose from. There are 15 levels and every fifth one has a boss.
The sequel, Reactance 2, was released in 2012. It shakes up the gameplay considerably by introducing a focus meter, usable bombs, attachable weapons, and modifiers (two for the ship and each weapon, plus one for the bomb). There are now 25 levels and again a boss every fifth one. Oh, and it has color.
Tropes in the original/both games:
- Achievement Mockery: Some achievements are earned for dying several times. They give more max HP in the sequel, so hey, hopefully it doesn't happen as often now.
- Boss Rush: There's a boss run mode in the sequel where you refight slightly stronger versions of the five previously fought bosses and an exclusive sixth one.
- Bullet Hell: Hundreds of monochrome/colorful bullets in simplistic, but difficult to dodge patterns.
- Collision Damage: Colliding into an enemy deals damage to you and them. Though the damage you take is painfully high.
- Deliberately Monochrome: The original goes for only black, white, and grey. It's still available as an option in the sequel.
- Flawless Victory: Beating a level without taking damage marks it with a star.
- Infinity +1 Sword: The Laser is the best and most expensive weapon in the first game. It deals high damage, is wide, can attack the sides, and shoots bullets that come near you. It even makes the game lag on weaker computers and at higher resolutions, which is a plus when dealing with a shmup.
- Regenerating Health: Both games have an upgrade which slowly regenerates the ship's health.
- Warm-Up Boss: Both the first boss of the original and Argo in the sequel have low HP and a predictable attack pattern. Argo does have a Turns Red moment and can last a bit longer, but only deals 5 damage with each shot and is no issue in general.
Tropes in the sequel:
- Arbitrary Weapon Range: Plasma weapons' main weakness is their really short range as their damage and fire rate are high otherwise, despite the game taking place in space. Other weapons have infinite range.
- Bragging Rights Reward: After beating the five bosses and boss rush, you charge the warp core and can use focus endlessly. Of course, it's only there for survival mode or bombless/damageless runs, as the main major challenges have been beaten.
- Close-Contact Danger Benefit: The game fills the focus meter and multiplier slightly every time you graze.
- Hitbox Dissonance: Your hitbox is the one pixel in the center of your ship instead of the entirety of it.
- Homing Lasers: You can add the homing modifier to your lasers which will make them bend to hit the enemies at the cost of some damage. As one of the Kongregate comments stated, it gives you "BENDY LASERS!"
- Mook Maker: Level 13 introduces enemies which produce yellow triangle foes endlessly.
- Not-Actually-Cosmetic Award: Each achievement earned boosts some stat slightly, with additional levels adding to the effect.
- Optional Boss: Tartarus, the boss only fought at the end of the boss rush, which is your ship from the first game with some spruced up attacks.
- Playlist Soundtrack: The sound menu has options to switch between the three tracks once one finishes playing one after the other or randomly.
- Recursive Ammo: Some bullets split into bullets. The big bullets from the spawner enemies in level 13 fire a big one after death which splits into four which also split into eight.
- Sequel Hook: After beating the boss rush, AC himself states he might make another one someday. He didn't.
- Super-Persistent Predator: Those enemies which first appear in level 12. They won't disappear until you kill them and will chase after you, shooting waves of bullets in the meantime.
- Turns Red: Once a boss takes enough damage, they lose a part and switch up their attack pattern.
- Wake-Up Call Boss: Aegis. It deals four times as much damage as the previous boss, has two fairly tricky bullet patterns with more of them as it Turns Red, and a lot more health. Taking advantage of Focus and Hitbox Dissonance is of utmost importance here.
