Ritual: Crown of Horns

Ritual: Crown of Horns is a twin stick shoot'em up with a zany plot, a decent gameplay mechanic and an exceedingly high difficulty level that will often have players trying over again and again. The frantic action pace somehow mitigates the game's sense of repetitiveness but a better looking visual environment would be very welcome in a production that is more likely to appeal to longtime fans of shoot'em ups than to the greater public.

While interesting and certainly unique, Ritual: Crown of Thorns wears down the player with relentlessly punishing difficulty. While the concept and story are a hoot, in the end the gameplay can't sustain interest. Instead of feeling rewarded by advancing to new levels, players must often backtrack and play previous difficulty levels repeatedly. Frankly, there are just too many other ways that I would rather be spending my time.

The uninteresting tale about a half-demon cowboy teaming with a witch to combat an evil cult doesn’t to much to sweeten this raw deal. Ritual: Crown of Horns has a solid enough foundation but it fails at making its challenge feel enjoyable or fulfilling. Unless you’re a gamer of the sadomasochistic variety, mosey onto the next twin-stick shooter, partner.