it's super challenging! patterns hit 100 pretty much straight away. I think it'll take me a good while to be able to clear, but it's good fun. Reached the Stage 2 boss on Casual. I thought Casual might feel more punishing since I've always found shmups that kick you back to a checkpoint on death quite hard to get through* but, actually, having a save at the start of each pattern is pretty great. It's very satisfying figuring out each pattern that way, will likely be a good tool for learning a 1cc run. A lot of the patterns look much more intimidating than they are, too, which is always nice. That moment where you can clear see the path through the bullet curtain is always satisfying.
Really great work, especially for a jam!
* = at least in ones where you die after one hit rather than having health