Nhhhh it's a bullet hell game with loot, and it doesn't drop interesting crazy loot, and it doesn't look unique. That's the problem right there (I mean bullet hell and no interesting unique look and loot) ... if you click on the tags within steam itself, you will see why.
So why you ask anyway, despite me just telling you to look that up yourself ;P
Rabi-Rabi - http://store.steampowered.com/app/400910/ (This is a big one)
Space Moth DX - http://store.steampowered.com/app/425340/
Starward Rogue <--
Close Order - http://store.steampowered.com/app/383800/
The Bug Butcher - http://store.steampowered.com/app/350740/ (another big one)
Endica 4 the Dream King - http://store.steampowered.com/app/343150/
Sora - http://store.steampowered.com/app/390730/ (Something SHMUP fans especially know about, but very niche)
So lots of bla bla and text and links... I just wanted to show that chronologically, SR released right between 2 big SHMUP / Bullet Hell releases one of which even I (someone that hates bullet hell) would want to play at some point (That's Bug Butcher obviously ,p). Look at the sales of the games I listed above on steamspy and you see... Shadow Rogue.. .. Stalwart Rogue.. Starward Rogue fits right in the middle sales wise. (Btw, that was a joke on the naming.. don't just type Rogue, you never find this game in steam :p)
Also for the record Bug Butcher steam discussion has a very Interesting topic about Spanish translations in case you ever thought translation work was as simple as translating words ,p
Point being: Genre flooded in January, very unusual to see that many games in the same genre (kind of) And tons of other games I didn't even list released, the week SR released especially.. so lots of contenders, huge swath of other games. Market flooded, literally. Still not even half way through my discovery queue for LAST month. ^^
Honestly, MOST games of the type that this is dont drop "crazy loot" or use synergies. Isaac is, actually, the only one that does. Which is part of the problem. People play that just a BIT, and expect every other game of this type to do that. Aint how it works. And even in Isaac, it has.... issues. It works there because nobody expects actual REAL balance, which is good, because there isnt much, not to mention that it obliterates what difficulty the game has. It also utterly deletes the need for thinking or tactics when a synergy occurs (fun for awhile, but honestly, this is what makes for by far the least interesting part of Isaac to me). I own a bunch of games of this genre though, and... yeah. Isaac is the only one that does that. And frankly.... I think that's a good thing. I actually can get some challenge out of those. I cant get that out of Isaac, much as I like it. Every run is a guaranteed win in that game. ALL of them.
Also.... those games in that list dont make sense for comparison.
Like Bug Butcher... that's not even close to the same sort of game OR a bullet-hell. Neither is the original arcade game (from a million years ago) that it copies/mimics (which is one I've played to death actually, very fun game). And the less said about Rabi-Ribi the better; it's a Metroid-vania sort. And a platformer. It has bullet-hell bosses, but... that's about the only real similarity. And even then, the differences in design are extremely dramatic. Understanding alot about bullet-hells and metroid-vania sorts, and all of that... I can say, it isnt exactly going to attract the same sort of players. You'd think "bullet hell" might mean it would, but not in this case. As we've already seen with THIS game, and as I myself have witnessed 10 squillion times over the years in that blasted community, fans of THAT specific aspect tend to be a bit.... picky. Tell one of them that "platformer" is involved, and you typically get "NOPE" in response (frankly, tell them that, well, all SORTS of possible things are involved, and you still get "nope" in response... sigh). Obviously there's exceptions, sure. But they arent the main ones drawn to that game.
In the end though, it's also still just a Metroidvania game, as is Endica for that matter. Metroidvanias and roguelikes.... VERY different from each other. It's another set of genres that just isnt very comparable.
There is Space Moth, but.... ehhhh.... I'll just say, that one didn't come out so well, honestly. The really boring patterns kinda kill it for me. But I need more time with it before I can fully judge it.
I was going from the perspective of needing replayability in order to stand out. For this genre I will get bored very quickly if things are too much of the same. Having items that are powerful to have me adjust my tactics on the fly would be a very large positive for me to investigate and ultimately buy a game.
That's the thing about really powerful items though: go too far with them, and "too much of the same" is *exactly* what you get. Because suddenly, every time you have those items... same boring run as the last time you had those items. Like what happens in Isaac if I get the Stopwatch (a cure for insomnia, basically, and I mean that literally; I actually started to fall asleep the last time I played it with that, it was so boring). Or Brimstone + ... er... anything. I dont even take Brimstone much anymore because it's insta-wins against nearly everything just got so bloody dull.
The only reason why Isaac avoids this being a chronic problem is the sheer ridiculous nature and ridiculous NUMBER of synergies that can happen. They're so hilarious and bizarre that even if they ARE utterly destroying the challenge/balance of the game, you keep going anyway. Yet when you get right down to it... all of the strongest synergies really are the same. Enter room, HAHAHA CHAOS, next room, repeat.
That sort of stuff is hard to do to begin with, and COMPLETELY impossible on a low budget and low time frame. There's a reason why Isaac and it's expansions took a bazillion years to come out.
Now, that being said, I'm well aware that, for what this game is, the items do still need to have more to entice the player to them. Weapons and special weapons right now arent very desirable, a number of items that DO have special effects (instead of stat boosts) dont have ENOUGH of them, some items are so stupidly powerful that they make the rest of the run boring (blade module, among others), and consumables arent very desirable.... there definitely are issues with them. I'm going to be diving into these myself starting today and making some changes, and seeing what can be done.
However, we CAN also use some ideas/inspiration for future items, if any of you guys have any. It's not stuff that'd get added immediately of course; this'd be for later down the line. But it would help alot. So by all means, let us know if you have any ideas for any.
But for right now... I'm gonna work on sorting out some of what we already have.