Review – Don’t Stop, Girlypop!

During 2020, there was a joint launch of the games and , starting a series of memes in which Isabelle and the Doom Slayer teamed up to defeat monsters with lots of cuteness. seems to have come directly from this unusual and fun idea: an extremely cute boomer shooter aimed at little girls.

Produced by the Funny Fintan Softworks studio, the game mixes the visual styles of Y2K technology with chromecore, featuring metals that look like slime at times. The title focuses on fast and frenetic gameplay, packed with Jungle/IDM tracks to cheer the player up as he spreads bullets loaded with love across enemies.

Spreading love and lead

The story of Don’t Stop, Girlypop! takes the player to the distant planet called Oasis, where love reigns and fairies and other creatures inhabit a technologically advanced world, with great inspiration from the Y2K and Frutiger Aero stylistic movements. Everything seemed peaceful, until the greedy interplanetary company Tigris Nix invades the planet with the aim of destroying it in the name of progress and profit.

Imber, the guardian of Oasis, is awakened during the invasion and takes on the role of protagonist of this adventure. Initially armed with a special shotgun — capable of firing both normal shots and spheres of area damage —, Imber fights against the corporation’s first rivals, but ends up succumbing during the battle and is captured.

After the capture, the game jumps forward a few years in time, and the player awakens in one of the suspension chambers of the Tigris Nix, which now dominates Oasis. Using his flip cell phone, his Zune and weapons with a totally brutalist design, the player embarks on a journey of revenge to rid the planet of these greedy intergalactic corporatists.

Don’t Stop, Girlypop! It has a basic plot, but the mix of narrative elements with the Frutiger Aero and Y2K look resonates interestingly with the current zeitgeist. In it, technology stops being something fantastic and hopeful to become, in many ways, something oppressive and controlling, marked by subscription fees and corporate abuse against the user.

Weapons, styles and plushies

Have you ever imagined what the ULTRAKILL game would be like if it were all pink and had a molten metal aesthetic? If so, perhaps you have visualized what could have been the alpha of Don’t Stop, Girlypop!. After all, the feeling that the game conveys is exactly that: a less visceral version of the indie title about the blue robot and its brutal parries through hell.

Imber does not have a visible body; the only parts of the protagonist that we see are her forearms and her weapons as she quickly advances through Oasis’ stages. The alien aesthetic abuses saturated colors and, in certain places, tones bursting with so much brightness. Everything evokes the girl style of the 2000s, being the equivalent of mixing a Capricho magazine collection with boy band CDs and lots of glitter, blowing everything up in the player’s face.

The move uses bunny hopping techniques to increase speed and score multiplier. This agility, added to the hook that can be fired at certain structures, turns the game into a true test of reflexes. The player must combine fast movement with parries against enemy shots and precision in aiming to clear the rooms in the shortest possible time.

As you progress in Don’t Stop, Girlypop!, new weapons are released, each with two types of fire. This helps the player to keep the combo stable and deal massive damage to large groups of enemies. The special shots are only not present in the sniper rifle, whose telescopic sight is considered its unique ability; however, the weapon redeems itself by firing nails capable of pinning enemies to the wall.

Killer combinations

During the mission to liberate Oasis, in addition to powerful weapons capable of firing explosive chewing gum, energy spheres and even a super-powerful tamagotchi, the player can also carry out executions on weakened enemies. Overall, the game is not overly difficult, however, as is common in the genre, the difficulty escalates when previous bosses start to appear as common enemies.

The enemies in Don’t Stop, Girlypop! They are usually robots without a defined shape, made of what appear to be crystals or pure rock; the most basic ones offer little challenge. The old bosses are a different case: armed with powerful missile launchers and shields that allow charged attacks, they pose real challenges to Imber.

In addition to the flashy world, the player can also customize his weapons and arms. The game offers a wide variety of colors and textures: you can follow the chromecore style of runny metal or opt for leopard prints and pink weapons full of bows. The important thing is to maintain style while exploring the planet.

As in other titles of the genre, the levels hide secrets, Easter eggs and echoes in space — fragments that narrate events that occurred while Imber was sealed. While not an impactful feature, as narrative isn’t the game’s strong suit, these collectibles help give context to Tigris Nix’s dominance.

Aggressive visuals and gameplay

Although the gameplay will be familiar to anyone who knows DOOM Eternal or Ultrakill, the game innovates with its weapons and alternative shots, giving the combat an extra flavor. The greater the fighting and movement combo, the greater Imber’s damage and the more frenetic the soundtrack becomes, in a system reminiscent of Devil May Cry 5.

However, I admit that the excess of ultra-saturated colors and visual effects can tire the player faster than expected. On the fourth level, for example, when we leave the corporate buildings for the open world, the textures of the rocks are so purple and pink that the scenery appears to be made of beets, all under a very aggressive cyan-green filter.

Don’t Stop, Girlypop! it bets on the aesthetic absurdity of the Y2K scene, something that I personally like, but the excessive saturation becomes exhausting. However, the gameplay style — although less visceral than its inspirations — is genuinely fun, and the soundtrack is infectious.

I recognize that it is not a title for everyone and that its mechanics and story do not revolutionize the market, but the game succeeds in trying to innovate in its theme. If you’re not looking for a torture experience on extreme difficulty, the vibrant and colorful world of Don’t Stop, Girlypop is worth giving a try!