This game is my whole identity now.

There are some issues with the gameplay. Movement is painfully slow, hit detection isn't very clear and there are design decisions taken from the most annoying and irritating arcade shmup/bullet hell tropes ever. I was hoping for something more like Raptor, Tyrian or Stargunner, but at least it seems to have a well-balanced difficulty. Overall I don't think this type of game matches the theme, something like the 2D Legend of Zelda games would be much more appropriate (though surely harder to execute). I don't think the music is fitting either, it sounds like something from a retro pixel art metroidvania, which it is not.

There is no option to change the controls, which is unacceptable. I also wasn't able to set a 1080p resolution correctly on a docked Steam Deck and some of the gamepad inputs were either not shown correctly, or didn't work at all (like the visual novel controls other than forward). Devs, please fix this before release! It's kinda your fault for making a game in Unity, so take responsibility!

But the plot, oh man... The story is entirely, hilariously deranged and the art matches it perfectly. It's one of the prettiest eroge I've ever seen (I've seen a lot). Artwork skillfully jumps between sexy & cute, it's consistent between scenes and gameplay and the UI itself and everything has a specific, charming flare to it...

I mean, just look at it! The ButtKnight runs around butt naked, his chin is a butt, his chair's arm rests are butts... Even trees look like butts a bit and there are girls with cute round butts strewn around the levels, even the pause menu selection indicator is one. This is certainly the definitive title for the discerning ass man.

My only concern is the amount of content... It took me about 30 minutes to get through the demo. Judging by the trailer, the trend of 3 levels per lady is consistent throughout the game, so it's very likely that it will take less than 5 or even 4 hours to complete. But that's fine - as long as the price reflects that, it should be a blast.

On the surface, you might think this is a coomer game about huge boobs. But this assessment cannot be further from the truth. In fact, this is a 25% light musou, 25% fighting game and 50% kinetic novel.
It is a moving story about friendship.
About cherishing our loved ones in the limited time that we have to spend with them.
About setting goals for yourself and consistently pursuing them.
About the thin line between unhealthy ambitions and wholesome striving to fulfill one's dream.
A story about comrades in arms and rivals to the grave.
About overcoming hardships.
About pretty ninja girls uniting their spirits in close combat so brutal that they tear off all the clothes from their big round tiddies.

In fact, this is a very strange game. Senran Kagura fighting games are built upon a Musou game archetype where you're supposed to fight a horde of enemies, something like Dynasty Warriors. But in this game there are never any truly large groups to fight and half of the missions are 1 on 1 fights between big tiddy ninjas. And fighting is only half the game, the other half is basically a kinetic novel (in other words, a visual novel without any choices to be made).

It is also supposed to be a reimagination of the first Senran Kagura game released on Nintendo DS, but in practice it seems to be a rework of Shinovi Versus, a later PSP title, flipped into this mid-production and unfortunately under-cooked. There are a couple of features present in other Senran Kagura games which are mysteriously absent here. For example there are no battles with multiple Shinobi, be it versus themselves or versus regular enemies - it's always either you versus groups of baddies or you versus another character, even though the story suggests something different. It is regrettable, I guess something must have gone wrong during production. The fighting mechanics are also a bit different than in some other games - you can't easily cancel your attacks with a dodge and many moves include cooldown animations. Many players hate this, but I think it makes the fights much more methodical and tactical in nature, discouraging simple button mashing, especially in duels.

The basic elements that make up a Senran Kagura fighting game are here though and working as intended, so this is a good entry point for anyone wanting to check what this franchise is about. And it's not simply about about boobs, rather, it's about the girls that these boobs are attached to. This particular game features a roster of, like, 30 Shinobi with all the DLCs, but mainly focuses on 10 MCs around which the main story arc (which is, regrettably, nothing to write home about) is tailored. And all those characters are the true power of this franchise - each of them have a distinct personality that is fun to witness in combination with others. Most have some form of mental illness (you can't fix them). Their silly obsessions and animosities made me chuckle a lot and their personalities really come through in dialogues, animations, special attacks, transformations, etc. It all simply oozes character and style, pretty much none of these girls are stereotypical or bland once you get to know them. I only wish the same could be said about the game's dialogue scenes, it's enemies and environments.

In comparison, the gameplay aspect does feel tacked-on to all this moe silliness, but it goes surprisingly well. The missions and arenas are the epitome of repetitiveness and maxing out characters means grinding, but the core game play mechanics are fun enough to make the game hard to put away, at least for me. Combat mainly consists of trying to juggle your opponents into naked oblivion with a couple of different two-button combinations, but there are multiple types of these for each of the dozens of playable characters, varying widely with regards to range, damage, speed, etc. It seems brain-dead in some aspects, but knowing the limited move set well and correct use of parries and dashes are crucial to being successful. A couple of special bosses can get pretty hard, especially on higher difficulty levels.

So, essentially, I think it is a significantly flawed game, but despite it's shortcomings I had a ton of fun with it (mods make it even better ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°). I would absolutely recommend this game to any fan of character-focused female-only ecchi with yuri elements... If I had known any. It is an acquired, very specific taste, but, I think, unlike any other. So if that sort of thing interests you, then I don't think you would be disappointed, but if you are looking for a very solid gameplay experience regardlesss of Japanese character-focused fluff, then I'd look elsewhere.