When I was younger, I used to have an Xbox that had a couple of emulators. If I was bored, I would scroll through the game list and click on whichever game sounds interesting, or which I haven’t played before. Eventually, I found one of those moving tile games with naughty images. I played it for a little while before moving on to the next game.
Apparently, naughty games have always existed, but you need to be looking for them to find them. I think they fall into a very odd niche where they are usually played out of curiosity, but don’t have a long lasting appeal. Gameplay is usually second, with imagery being the star of the show. Waifu Uncovered is a little different because it is a shmup, a genre I’m very fond of, so let’s see if the gameplay is worth the curiosity.
I believe this is pretty obvious, but I’ll just say it once before we begin: THIS GAME IS EXTREMELY NOT SAFE FOR WORK AND ONLY FOR MATURE AUDIENCES
Developer: One-Hand-Free-Studios
Platform: Nintendo Switch
Release date: Jul 16, 2020
Price: $6.99
Note from the publisher: “Please note that we have heard reports about graphic glitches and game crashes if the game is played extensively in 1080p mode. While we are working on a patch, the issue should not appear if played in 720p mode or if regular breaks are taken.”
Waifu Uncovered is a vertical shmup, but without the auto-scrolling. The objective is to rescue the “waifus” from the alien invaders which are infecting their…clothes. It seems the only way to save them is by destroying the infected pieces of clothing. Also, you are a ninja horse.
Wave after wave
Gameplay is a little different from your traditional shmup game. Instead of going through auto-scrolling stages, Waifu Uncovered features more of a “horde” style of gameplay. Simply put, you are always on the same screen while the enemy formations enter and exit the screen. In order to advance a stage, you must collect enough stars from fallen enemies to “uncover” the next phase. After clearing all of the phases, you will have to fight a boss before you finish your rescue.
I really have a hard time deciding if I like the gameplay or not. On one hand, the game runs really well and the patterns and enemies are really varied. On the other hand, it does feel a little grindy at times, with you moving sideways through the screen and racking up stars. Of course your main driving force is seeing the uncovered girl. I guess it does bring a sense of purpose into the experience.
Good or naughty?
The team behind Waifu Uncovered definitely went all out with the enemy design. From what I saw, they usually come in one of 3 different flavors:
- “Provocative” enemies that allude to real life body parts
- Pop culture references
- Memes
They all kind blend in as part of the surreal experience that is Waifu Uncovered. I never thought I would be shooting such a combination of enemies, but somehow they don’t feel out of place either.
There’s even one boss that throws literal feces into the screen, which smears it and blocks visibility. I haven’t seen a similar enemy since my showdown with the Great Mighty Poo on Conker’s Bad fur Day.
Defense of the panties
Waifu Uncovered plays for the most part as any other shmup. Despite being a little bit localized and not auto-scrolling, it does fundamentally feel like a shmup. If you remove the concept of scrolling from other games, you’ll see that it is about enemies that enter and exit the screen at intervals, and that’s pretty much what this game is about.
Your basic actions include shooting, bombing and throwing your shield. This last piece of tech is only available when you have a shield equipped, and will remove it as a trade-off for a very strong attack. Several stats can be upgraded by collecting power-ups, such as bullet strength, multi-hit, speed and even leveling up your ship.
The game is divided into 8 stages, each representing the rescue of each of the girls. Progression is semi-linear, as you are able to choose at the beginning of each round which girl you want to save. Each girl has its own stage with proper enemy patterns, progression and a boss. There is a caveat, however, as one of these 2 stages will be tagged as “harder”. This is pretty explicit, but in case you were wondering, it means that the stage is harder.
The horde disadvantage
Unfortunately, I will heavily advice anyone against going through harder stages. In terms of difficulty design, Waifu Uncovered falls along the lazy category. Enemies have more HP, swarm the screen more and the star requirement to advance a phase is higher. Rather than feeling like a challenge, it ends up being a slog that takes more time than it should. Clear time is usually double from a non-“harder” stage and there isn’t a reward for picking the challenging stages. Moreover, the stage you didn’t pick will eventually be back in the pool without the “harder” tag. This means you can effectively go through the game without having a hard stage.
Another issue I found is that the horde can be extremely overwhelming at times. Enemies don’t seem to stop spawning ever, so if you don’t have the firepower to clear the screen, then the enemies will stack on top of each other and ultimately overpower you. This is also very prevalent in bosses with forward shooting patterns, as their bullets will cancel yours and take little to no damage.
Naughty vision
Before beginning your run, you can choose whether to play on censored or uncensored mode. Both modes share the premise of destroying the clothes of the girls (you are saving them from the aliens after all), but the mode comes into play in their undressed phase. Everything that would be blocked from the TV in the form of blurs of black rectangles is blocked in censor mode. The censoring is a little more elegant, with features from the stage such as grass or soda cleverly covering the more mature body parts.
Oddly enough, just because you play uncensored doesn’t mean you will see the uncensored version. The reason is that every level’s phase 1 is a challenge to kill every enemy. If you do, you will be rewarded with “clear mode” which will let you see the uncensored picture. If you missed at least 1 enemy, then you would get the censored version regardless of your play mode.
Ship selection
Surprisingly, there is a huge amount of ships available for you to play. Each ship will have different stats, with some being stronger and others being faster. A lot of stats vary such as the amount of bombs you can carry and the assistant power-ups.
They aren’t available from the start, but are unlocked as you clear stages.
A mode for every type of player… I guess
Waifu Uncovered offers 3 different play modes: Normal, Arcade and One handed.
To be honest, I couldn’t figure out the differences between Normal and Arcade. The one thing that’s pretty obvious is that Round 8 is only available on Arcade mode. I also feel like the difficulty is slightly higher, but I can’t say for sure as many things do feel similar in this game.
One handed mode is a hilarious addition. The trailer itself advertises it as a mode for when one of your hands is busy, so you get the point. A touch screen controller scheme isn’t too far-fetched. One of my favorite games to play on my mobile device is Danmaku Unlimited 2, which is touch-controlled and works pretty well.
One handed mode movement is handled by sliding your finger across the screen. The movement isn’t 1-to-1, but you can adjust the sensitivity. An advantage is that you seem to be able to move much faster, as you aren’t hindered by ship speed constraints. The downside is that, depending on your mastery of touch controlled shmups, you will probably obscure much of the action with your finger.
The Vortex engine
Powering Waifu Uncovered is the Vortex Engine. You might recognize the name from a very similar game: Vortex Attack EX. Both games have a similar gameplay style and the engine is probably the reason why.
One thing I’ll say about the engine is that it works really well. The game runs at a nice 60 FPS and picture quality is very clear. One of my common nitpicks about shmups is when bullets aren’t visible enough. Thankfully, Waifu Uncovered’s style is extremely clear and easy to see. The graphics and style are pretty great. It is a shame that the ship’s hitbox is extremely janky, so dodging bullet patterns isn’t as enjoyable.
Last words
Waifu Uncovered is a very peculiar game. The nudity and mature imagery is probably the reason you are interested in the game, but beyond that lies an enjoyable shmup experience. Horde styled gameplay isn’t much different from traditional shmups other than the time factor. The bullets are clean and the patterns are fun to dodge, although it is hindered by the very weird hitbox of the ship. For what its worth, the gameplay is surprisingly solid.
In the words of the game’s creators, if you want a challenging experience then you ought to check Vortex Attack EX. If you like the imagery, then you are playing the correct game.
