ZOE Begone! Review

ZOE Begone! is a retro-inspired hand-drawn bullet-hell shooter, blending run-and-gun mechanics with looping shmup arenas. Developed by Retchy Games (solo dev Graeme Hawkins) and published by PM Studios, it casts you as “Zoe” – a stubborn ink splodge fighting a deranged animator. Each level sports a unique 1930’s-inspired film-strip art style, complete with hand-animated enemies and shifting backgrounds. In preview coverage, critics praised the style and jazzy, old-timey soundtrack that make ZOE Begone look and feel the part of an old arcade classic.

Gameplay

The core gameplay is fast-paced and frantic: Zoe can fly, dash, and ground-pound her way through waves of squiggly enemies. Dodging bullets and chaining attacks builds a score multiplier. You manage two gauges (health and energy) – energy depletes when flying or dashing, forcing Zoe to land and run on foot until she refills. Enemies drop Apples (the game’s currency) which you collect by stomping on small item bubbles at the screen’s bottom. These Apples can then be spent on permanent weapon and stat upgrades between levels. While the complexity takes a minute to grasp, once you get into the groove it becomes incredibly frantic, involving, and fun. In short, ZOE Begone! is easy to pick up but hard to master – the controls feel solid (twin-stick style on controller or keyboard) once you learn to dash and stomp through tough situations.

At higher levels the screen floods with cute bullet patterns. Thankfully, Zoe’s dash and ground-pound move grant brief invulnerability, so timing becomes crucial. The game rewards chaining: kill enemies in quick succession to keep your combo rising. As you dodge and attack, the score multiplier climbs rapidly, encouraging players to aim for high scores. The core action feels much like an arcade classic, complete with a boogie-woogie soundtrack and rewarding sound effects.

Modes & Content

ZOE Begone! offers three main modes and three difficulty levels. In Arcade Mode, you run through each film-strip level beating the animator’s enemies. In Time Attack, you race the clock – dashing through enemy chains spawns time bonuses, and mini-boss challenges give extra seconds. Frame Trap throws every boss wave at you for an ultimate showdown. Each level has its own bonus challenges and shop between reels – for instance, time modes pop item bubbles instead of opening shops, forcing on-the-fly power-up decisions. There are multiple bosses (the “animator’s tools”) – a roaming paintbrush or giant marker – that serve as mid-boss and final-boss challenges.

Progress and replayability are boosted by an upgrades system and leaderboards. Apples collected are spent on upgrades (gun power, speed, shields, etc.), so each run feels progressive. All modes support online leaderboards for each level and difficulty, encouraging high-score competition. This adds incentive for repeat play, though the steep difficulty and arcade pacing make extended sessions intense.

Art & Audio

The game’s visual flair is its standout feature. Every level uses a different drawn-on-film theme: one stage’s enemies might be crayons and brushstrokes, another a cutout collage. The art is bold and colorful, evoking Norman McLaren’s experimental animations. The unique visual themes are matched by level-specific enemies – levels are designed around tools like a knife, marker pen, or brush. In practice, this means each stage feels different, and you can even see new enemies being painted into the scene as you play. It feels like a hand-crafted living world.

The soundtrack is similarly charming. It’s a swingin’ retro jazz/piano score that perfectly complements the action. The music warps dynamically with gameplay intensity, and the sound effects – cute pew-pew shots and boings – add to the lighthearted feel. Highlights from both players and press often emphasize the “awesome boogie soundtrack.”

Technical Issues and Controls

Despite the solid core, ZOE Begone! currently has some rough edges. During my playthrough I found item pickups finicky: since health/energy orbs require stomping exactly on blue/green bubbles, they can be tricky to snag in a fast bullet storm. The hitbox feels a bit odd – occasionally shots or hits that look like they should connect don’t register damage. The settings menu is also clunky: key rebinding requires an extra step (you must first move an action off the desired key to a dummy, then assign it) and there’s no borderless-window mode. Alt-tabbing from fullscreen can be slow and produces flicker on some setups. These UX issues (common in early indie shooters) slightly sour the experience.

Pros and Cons

• Pros: Distinctive hand-drawn visuals; imaginative animator tools (brush, pen, etc.) as bosses; tight run-&-gun gameplay; energetic jazz soundtrack; multiple modes/difficulties; online leaderboards for high scores

• Cons: Very high difficulty spike; pickups and hit-detection can feel unforgiving; lack of quality-of-life options (no borderless window, awkward rebinding); occasional framerate drops/flicker on alt-tab.

Summary

ZOE Begone! delivers a unique and charming arcade shooter experience, with standout visuals and toe-tapping music. However, its fun factor is tempered by technical roughness and unforgiving gameplay. It’s an okay little game – perhaps best enjoyed in short bursts on a Steam Deck or TV with a controller – but it falls short of greatness due to its quirks.