Hey...great game. Really nails the bullet-heaven feel.
Firstly, I'd like to mention I really love the variety with the ships, weapons and their upgrades.
And it's really satisfying to destroy the enemy ship clusters.

Now for the "tough love". 

1) Even though it's fun to take down the enemies, I felt that it's too easy to go past the enemies, which will then cluster together and keep chasing you from behind. So I just need to move in one direction (slightly move to dodge the enemies in front) and keep shooting in the opposite direction. Then I'll just turn around, dodge a few and then collect all the hundreds of drops from the ones I took down. I can just follow this strategy for longer runs. Eventually I die because I get bored of it and try to jump into a cluster and then get surrounded by enemies. It would balance the challenge if maybe the enemies don't cluster right behind the player's ship when chasing and maybe even try dodging bullets sometimes.

2) When getting upgrades and new weapon choices, IMO instead of either giving only upgrade options or only new weapon options, maybe it'd be better if there are a mix of both, like for example 2 out 5 are new weapon option and rest are upgrades for existing ones. Also, this might just be a me problem, but there is too much text for the upgrade and new weapon stats, and even with the green highlight its hard to figure out what's a good choice. Simple icons would maybe be easier to understand and read. You can still have a tooltip on hover on the stats (or tap and hold if you plan to add touch controls later) for showing text details.

3) Lastly, the game got stuck mid-run for me. Both on the web version and on the PC version. PC version I was able to play and die in 2 runs and it got stuck on the 3rd run. But on web it happened every run.

Overall it's a fun and challenging game, and the content is really cool. With some balancing and polish, it'd be really awesome.

The runs just feel bugged, why are they ending after 2 waves?

I played as Red Ranger. Go Go Power Rangers! Forever Red!

A lot of good words said already, so let's go to the "negatives" fast: 

After the run, I see the shop with Armor, HP and Regen upgrades, but there is no any Health Bar in the game, there are weapon slots only. Either there is a lack of hit detection on player that could let me know when I get hit, or I was not taking damage at all, and then one big enemy ship touched me and I was either destroyed instantly (if I was not taking damage before and that was a one-shot of 100% of my HP amount) or I just ran out of health (if I gradually was taking damage without noticing it). In result: I died and did not get why.

"Latest Changes" widget does not scroll down after returning back to the Main Menu. But it does if I try to scroll when the game is just opened. Was the Mouse Cursor disabled by accident? 

After all, Yes, it is definitely a 5-Star Game by all parameters!

Hey I gave your game a play.  It was fun.  The core bullet heaven is executed well, with a lot to like, but there are also some shortcomings.  Here's some notes on specific things:

--Base gameplay, destroying ships, is super satisfying.  Mouse aim is a little clunky,  but also makes it easy to quickly reverse where you're firing, which helps a lot.  Not sure if there's any way to tweak it, or if it even needs fixing, but wanted to note it.

--I like the weapons you have, but they are all just variations on the same thing I guess?  Just projectiles with different behaviors.  You could have a shield (like the garlic in VS), or drones that will target the enemies.

--I will say I liked the variations of the weapons upgrades and seeing how they affected the projectiles.  It was fun having different builds that had different weapons get really powerful.  The wall of bombs is the best!\

--For the weapon upgrades, it was a little confusing at first, when upgrading a weapon to another level, I at first thought all of the cards were the same, and I didn't really want to read all of the text on it.  Maybe coming up with a way to visually communicate the different types of upgrades would be good. 

--Enemy looks and behavior could use some variety I think.  Though the base variation between stronger and weaker enemies is good, it would be nice to have other things to mix it up.  I'm trying to remember examples from VS, but I can't.  Maybe like the big swarm of bats coming at you, and the ring of plants.

--I like the loop of coming back around and buying upgrades after each run, and that the runs are pretty short.  The meta upgrades could use some better communication about what they do.  

Anyway that's what I've got.  It's definitely a game I could see myself sinking a few hours into if there were a lot of upgrades and maybe some different scenarios/levels to try out.  Nice work!

Here we go...
• What are the controls? I kinda know that this is obvious to players familiar with such type of games, but why is this not explained anywhere in the game? Is the gamepad supported?
• During the game - it shows my weapon (in the top left corner), but no information about it other than the upgrade level. What is the total damage, fire rate, projectiles number, cooldown, etc. Who knows...
• "Upgrade a weapon" popup jumps on me without a warning. And after I click "Equip" - I'm already facing the wrong direction with no time to react.
• In the Upgrades Shop is says: "Select an item to see its effect" - which I can not see apparently.

So yeah, as you said: "What? No, don't write a reply telling me in a reply what I did wrong. Just put that information on the screen in the game! Tell me when that's done."

P.S.: Nice game, take your five stars :)

Played on Windows 11 in Chrome.

Short version: there’s a solid Survivors game here, and the weapon-building system is the real hook. I’m a big fan of the genre, so I feel at least somewhat qualified to nitpick this one 😏

I love that it’s built in Godot. The music fits the game well (but needs to be updated at some point), and putting the latest development updates directly in the main menu was a great touch. It tells me the project is alive without making me hunt through devlogs.

The basic loop works: fly, survive, fill weapon slots, then mutate those weapons into increasingly stupid projectile machines. Good stupid. The individual modifiers, including damage, firing speed, range, projectile size, parallel shots, and spread, create more build variety than the initial presentation suggests.

The issue is that the upgrade screen hides the interesting decision.

When several cards are all called Shotgun, Sniper, Repeater, or Broadside and use the same artwork, they look like duplicates. The meaningful change is buried lower in the card. I’d lead with the mutation instead:

1. Twin Barrel: Adds a parallel volley
2. Hair Trigger: Fires faster
3. Wide Load: Adds projectiles and increases spread
4. Heavy Shot: Increases damage and projectile size

Keep the weapon family underneath. Show me the decision first and the arithmetic second.

The ship designs are cool and gave me some FTL vibes, but I’d push their silhouettes further apart. At a glance, I want each ship to feel like its own machine, not mainly a variation of the same shape.

The ship-selection screen also has a ton of room, but most ships only get a sentence or two. It doesn’t need to become a spreadsheet. Just give me a little more: intended playstyle, starting weapon behavior, difficulty, strengths, and weaknesses. Something that helps me think, “Oh, that’s the precision ship,” or “That one turns the screen into soup.”

Also, not sure how you feel about this, but I’d love mouse-only movement as even an option. The aiming already lives on the mouse, so being able to steer there too would make the game easier to pick up and more comfortable for one-handed play. Not a joke. I have CTS and I always appreciate being able to use my trackball for games like this.

The wide purple enemy confused me. I assume the bullets are hitting some kind of shield, but visually it looks like they simply fail to reach the body. It feels unsatisfying and, honestly, reads like a bug. If there is a shield, draw the shield. Give me a bubble, ripple, impact flash, or whatever fits your style. If there isn’t a shield, then yeah, something’s busted.

Combat generally needs more juice. Stronger hit flashes, impact particles, recoil, enemy reactions, brief hit-stop on important attacks, and better player-damage feedback. The usual stack. Not noise everywhere. Hierarchy.

Because the core concept is relatively simple, I expect more polish around the entire presentation. Simple games live or die on feel. Every shot, pickup, upgrade, level-up, and reward screen needs to carry more weight because there aren’t fifty other systems distracting me.

The reward screens especially need to pay out harder.

Look at how Vampire Survivors handles a chest or major upgrade. Twinkly sounds. Escalating reveals. Flashing rewards. Anticipation. Then a big stupid celebration shoved directly into your face.

It’s almost casino-like, and I mean that as a presentation reference, not a monetization suggestion 😅

You don’t need to copy that exact style. Do it in your own brand voice. But when I earn something important, make me feel like I just hit something. Better reward sounds, stronger reveals, more movement, more anticipation. Right now the functional result is there, but the dopamine delivery could be much stronger.

I know you’re using Godot and this is a Unity asset, but FEEL is an amazing reference for this stuff. I’ve played with it and replicated the same general feedback system in my own non-Unity game. Worth a look.

The itch page needs real work.

Right now it opens with controls, then asks about the mailing list, then asks for feedback, then gets into changelogs. None of that matters until I know what the game actually is.

Tell me the fantasy first.

Something like:

Aim manually, mutate every weapon slot, and turn a precision fighter into a screen-filling arsenal.

Then show me a gameplay GIF. Seriously. Early build, upgrade choice, ridiculous late build. Bam. Now I understand the game.

I’d structure the page like this:

1. Core hook
2. Gameplay GIF or short video
3. Ships and their playstyles
4. Weapon-mutation system
5. Controls
6. Prototype disclaimer and feedback request
7. Mailing list
8. Changelog

You played my game, so you already understand my philosophy here: presentation matters. A lot. People decide whether something is worth their time before they’ve experienced the systems underneath.

My priorities would be:

1. Improve combat and reward feedback
2. Clarify the wide purple enemy
3. Rework upgrade cards around the actual mutations
4. Add more ship information and stronger silhouettes
5. Consider mouse-only movement
6. Rebuild the itch page around the real hook
7. Add gameplay videos or GIFs immediately

There’s already something worth developing here. The weapon system has real potential, the music fits, the ships are cool, and the late-run projectile nonsense delivers the correct kind of Survivors chaos.

The game just needs to communicate its strengths faster and celebrate them much, much harder.

Oh yeah and in response to your other comment asking about how to arrive at a good hook or twist:

Obviously, this is another Survivors-like. I’d think about how BALL x PIT approached that problem. It didn’t just start with general popular roguelike ask how to make the formula slightly more unique. It took classic brick-breaking gameplay and asked what a roguelike version of that could become.

Your game already feels like it has a nod toward Space Invaders. I’d start there. Ask what a modern roguelike version of Space Invaders could become, then borrow whatever progression ideas you need from Survivors games.

That might lead somewhere much stranger and more ownable than starting with another Survivors-like and trying to differentiate it afterward.

Thanks again for playing my game!

I recorded my thoughts in real time as I played, and went into detail on which upgrades I opted for, in the doc below! 
https://docs.google.com/document/d/10-cDx0HDTeCNMoAE0FWYtGEkL4St1EAkKPWYaf0e7Y8/...

This is a fun game! It really isn’t breaking any new ground. This is probably the third or fourth game inspired by Vampire Survivors that I’ve played in this round of Feedback Quest alone. It’s also a game where you are a space ship and you shoot stuff in space, which is a concept that has existed since the dawn of the medium. With that said, in terms of execution, this is the most fun I’ve had with one of these Survivors-likes. I think the different starting classes add a lot of depth to the game as well as a good deal of skill expression (I really liked starting with Cerulean and I felt really skillful pulling off my shots), and at first I felt the weapon choices were really shallow, but with the different modifiers on each upgrade round I soon found a lot of depth in how I choose to build my character. It would be nice if there were maybe some other types of modifiers beyond just new guns, but for a shmup like this I can live with being given a horrifying arsenal of blasts in all directions. In terms of balance, it’s easy to make a build that feels overpowered but I think that’s okay, it’s sort of in the spirit and appeal of a game like this. I do feel that the permanent power ups are hit or miss though. Regen feels completely broken, I got two of those and it felt like I could top myself off from a hit after only a few seconds. Feedback could use some work too, I think the screen shakes a little when you take damage but I think a unique sound effect is basically essential. Beyond that, this game is pretty fun, and once I sat down to play it I had a great time and was dying to play more, but I do fear it could struggle to stand out in the crowd. If you can get past that though, it’s a very good time.