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It looks like I’ll be pushing my Top 5 Octoberween Game Titles of 2019 a little late again. Life has a way of making things difficult. One day I’ll be able to get these kinds of blogs out much sooner but till then let’s get to my choices. As before I try to find games that are not exactly fully price or possible hidden gems, so they can make anyone’s budget for some great non-mainstream gaming goodness. Enjoy!

Happy Halloween everyone! This is a different change this year given how late I am in posting my Top 5 list. I’ll make this one short and sweet given my plans for Halloween.

First off I have a confession to make: I HATE mobile gaming. I didn’t care for it when games were tried on the original iPod then later on our smartphones. I considered them less than games and little more than “time wasters”. You know what I mean: games with very little substance but enough addict-ability to make them somewhat enjoyable to be played in short spurts. It didn’t matter to me if the graphics were on part with traditional handheld gaming systems, if it was built with very little behind it or was made with micro transactions in mind I wanted nothing to do with them. I will admit I did give them a try at first when I did move into the realm of smartphones in my everyday use. I tried out the Angry Birds and Peggles of their time but I eventually ended up deleting them off my android/iPhone device soon after and stayed true to my handheld gaming roots.

Though time has passed, and a handful of games made exclusively for smartphones have proven worthy to be considered “games” in my eyes, I’ve mostly just dipped my toe into gaming when I find a certain title that was originally on consoles. The primary genres that current occupy space on my smartphones consist of arcade like shoot-em ups and classic JRPGs. I’ve found those to work well given what small degree of control is needed to play them. Shoot-em ups in particular only require a simple touch on the screen to move your character as the game automatically shoots your main weapon. It may not be like using a physical d-pad/joystick but I’d rather use touch screen controls than try to use the offered on screen variants. These kinds of Shoot-em ups are also a dime a dozen on smartphones so it’s easy to find the “timewaster” variants or worse, the ones that were originally a part of a dedicated franchise and transformed into a microtransaction mess.

Though sadly this game seems to have embraced some aspects of the micro transaction trend I’ve still chosen this game for this year’s Top 5 Octoberween Game Titles of 2019. It started out in the arcades then made its way over to the Xbox 360 and is now on iOS. And since word has come out that this franchise is going to see a re-release on current gen consoles as of this writing, it felt like a good time to re-introduce this game to iOS players who either had this game but couldn’t play it due to it being only playable on older iOS devices or have never known this game to be on iOS to begin with. I speak none other than Deathsmiles.

Now I know what you are thinking? Why are you writing about this game again? Did you not pick this game back in the day during one of your Top 11 Game picks during your 1up.com days? And once again you’d be right again. Kind of. Once again those blogs are hard to find these days so it might be hard to prove I ever picked this game as an Octoberween choice. Perhaps one day Deathsmiles might one day be re-visited in my new revamped Top 5 game picks. I could’ve tried to play it again on my Xbox 360 but the copy I used to play it belongs to my “Little One” who guards her personal games collection with a passion. But I digress.

Despite this game being a great mobile choice for some handheld SHUMP gaming action, we’ve never see its release on any of the current handhelds consoles available. I would’ve kill to see this game on either my PS Vita or New 3DS back in the day. But since that’s not an option I’ve usually had to rely on carrying my old iPhone 4S to be able to play it when I felt the urge. It’s something to note that Deathsmiles was one of the many games by Cave that never got an updated version once Apple upgraded from their 32-bit OS to 64-bit. A few gaming developers back then either didn’t have the time or ability to upgrade some of their game titles and ended up being lost in the Apple Store, or worse delisted. Thankfully about a month ago as of this writing, Deathsmiles saw an update and is now playable on current iOS devices. I only learned of this when I found I was able to download my copy of the game onto my nephew’s iPad mini after I updated it to the latest iOS. I later re-downloaded the game onto my iPhone SE and iPhone 8 Plus and was glad to learn that indeed that the game was updated and not some fluke with my nephew’s tablet. I only wished the game was updated much sooner for I had been playing the game for most of the summer on my iPhone 4S.

Deathsmiles is a gothic themed bullet hell shooter where you pick one of 4 “angels” to fight off a monster menace that threatens the kingdom of Gilverado, a medieval looking land where magic still lives. The game’s story is very detailed on how little girls from the real word get lost and end up in the land of Gilverado where they are trained to become flying “angels” who are later called upon to protect the land and find out where the monster threat originated. I could go more into detail about the story but I don’t want to spoil anything given the multiple playthroughs needed to find the multiple endings.

Playing this version of Deathsmiles is much easier given its responsive touch controls. It makes it very easy to dodge even the hail of bullets you’ll face off in level 1 difficulty. Yet despite this you’ll skills will still be tested in later levels as they get harder or if you try either the level 2 or 3 difficulty settings. Your main shot, demon familiar follower and magic summoning screen clearing attack are both set to auto at the start, making the game easier to control, with touch screen controls allowing you to switch between the lock shot and left/right facing options. Even with some features set to automatic you still can place touch screen buttons for other attacks if so preferred, especially needed if one plans to use the shot boost upgrade once you collection over 1000 skull icons. I myself never needed to use most of the touch screen controls for basic attacks thanks to the games base settings. If anything with most of the attacks set to automatic it helped me to focus more on dodging bullets than holding down an attack button or timing my screen clearing attack weapon for the right moment. Deathsmiles doesn’t seem to give you all the game type options found in the Xbox 360 release but instead just focuses on the arcade mode, with different unlockable difficulty modes, 3 different rank settings and a practice mode. Far be it from me to bemoan a lack of play modes I have to admit I like having these fewer modes of play given the game can be played from start to finish in less than an hour, making short playtimes preferable.

But what adds extra play value to this digital download package is the addition of a brand new chapter mode where you play as Princess Tiara with a new story and play elements. Instead of this chapter playing like your basic style like the base game it instead consist of an RPG style affair where you have to equip Tiara with weapons and armor to change her various stats. The enemies in the rehashed levels also come with little health bars so you can tell how much punishment they can soak up if your attack weapon isn’t strong enough to take them out quickly. Tiara also has a life bar instead of the basic hit gauge found in the arcade mode. Depending how you equip Tiara will determine how much damage she can take from a bullet or enemy collision. I found myself playing this mode more often given how much you’ll need go actually grind to gain gold treasure to buy better gear and continues at Sakura’s shop or find treasure boxes in the hopes of getting better equipment in later difficulty settings. There are even different endings to this mode depending on our choice of difficulty you play. You’d think it would be a chore to play Tiara over and over again but I found myself coming back for more to better my skills, collect gear sets to unlock the in-game puzzle and collect all the Tiara specific skins where I could even play as the original angels in this new game mode.  

So why would I add this game to my Top 5 list for this year? Well it’s certainly obvious. This game just screams Halloween with every part of its being. Its dark occult and gothic setting make it a must play during the Octoberween season, let alone Halloween itself. Just seeing the game trailer alone can confirm this. The music in this game is beautifully made that invokes the spirit of the season from start to finish. It’s stating soundtrack in level one is music I can have on a constant loop playing in the background. The characters fit the look of a Halloween setting, even if you’re not much of the fan of the loli-look. That in of itself never bothered me though I’ve heard this has been an issue with some over the years. If you’re able to overlook that aspect of the character design you’ll be able to enjoy a great shoot-em up in the genre that earns the title as a “Bullet Hell Shooter”.

When I bought this game long ago it cost me around $14.99. A bit steep at the time but when I learned Deathsmiles was only available on iOS I had to get it. The only downside with the game for me at the moment is that during one of the game updates before it was updated for current iOS systems was with the implementation of DLC micro transactions. It’s sad that the game ended up getting them when originally it never had them. The only plus side I can see is that the game now shows a price of $5.99. I’ve never updated the game since it’s been on my iPhone 4S so for the longest of times I’ve lived in ignorant bliss of the fact that my beloved Deathsmiles has embraced the evils of DLC. I’m not sure if the DLC offered breaks the game since it involves smartphone mode but I’m not inclined to pay for it to find out. Despite this I still consider the game a solid buy if you want some Halloween theme SHUMP action in the palm of your hand. It plays well, it’s perfect for quick plays and the game is an all-around excellent title to have for any Octoberween goodness. Try it out if you can. And as always play responsibly and happy Halloween!

My Top 5 Octoberween Game Titles for 2019

5) Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon – Price: $15.99 for PS4 and PS Vita version for me with 50% off code at check out. Free with Microsoft’s Games with Gold program on Xbox One.

4) Blair Witch – Price $29.99. Free with Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass.

3) Vampire Savior: The Lord of Vampire – Price $35.00 physically. Available on PSN for $14.99 or Xbox Marketplace for $2.99 as of this writing.

2) Deathsmiles (iOS) – Price I paid was $14.99. Currently selling for $5.99 on Apple App Store at time of this writing.

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