ari against the bug blizzard

The great tree, long our home.

This spring, weird bugs came.

Ari Spider, pest controller! Help us!

ari against the bug blizzard is a bullet hell/puzzle mashup. In an attempt to annihilate the robotic bugs that attack the aforementioned tree, you span up spider webs between (or on) the walls. Since the length of web you have available for a level is limited, you need to find sufficiently efficient spots – and reach them without getting killed by touching the assaulters – a balanced, diverting mixture of brain, dexterity, and patience is needed to succeed.

The whole realization is exceptionally well done: The graphics are a bit blurry but pretty, with vivid litte details. The sound effects are fitting, the music is cool and the intro (quoted above) is downright smashing. The whole game sounds, looks, and feels absolutely coherent. And the gameplay rocks: The controls work rather flawless, the hitbox is well measured, and the difficulty is satisfying hard without getting unfair. There are a few early difficulty spikes within the level progression, and two (abusable, but otherwise not game breaking or even disrupting) bugs, but who gives?

The game captures the atmosphere of old low-budget productions damn well, and felt highly nostalgic for me – while playing probably remarkable better than these titles ever did; the whole atmosphere is dreamy, enrapturing. Fitting to this, the environmental message is there, but – and that has become a rare thing – one with a positive note: The robotic, world devouring flies might still be defeated in the end.

ari against the bug blizzard is a wonderful game. Worked without problems using Wine under OpenSuse Leap. The developer, moult, released two more games on Itch.