I’m just gonna say it - giving a player a shooting mechanic that does absolutely nothing until you get a first upgrade, and that sticking that upgrade so far, is such a dumb idea. I only stuck with the game because there are so many people praising it in the comments, but it really soured my enjoyment.

Why not give the ability to shoot with a first upgrade? Or add basic boxes that you can destroy without upgrades. Right now for the first couple minutes the game communicates that shooting just doesn’t work, and it feels like a bug.

After that initial hurdle, the game becomes quite fun. I like that shooting upgrades also modify your movement, and I like some of the level design when you need to shoot from different positions to destroy on obstacle. But I think it’s a little too shallow, I don’t feel like you ever need to think about a puzzle, you just try another path if you don’t fit.

I feel like direction shooting could add some complexity, especially since you don’t use W and S in a control scheme. Or maybe the bigger the weapon the more recoil it has, and you can use it in your movement.

Overall, it’s a great entry, that would benefit from a little work on it’s beginning to not alienate players!