Rise & Shine Reviews

Rise & Shine is ranked in the 28th percentile of games scored on OpenCritic.
6.5 / 10.0
Jan 12, 2017

All in all, Rise & Shine isn’t a bad experience. It’s just one that has a lot of wasted potential. If the AAA barrage on indie games is real, then this game would not make a good soldier to fight in that battle. The gameplay is good and the game doesn’t overstay its welcome at 10-ish hours, but the sudden ramp up in difficulty plus the finicky aiming blemishes the experience. If you want a game that touches upon the horrors of military engagement, try This War of Mine. If you want a game that parodies/honors video game culture, try Super Meat Boy or Scott Pilgrim. If you want a weird mash-up of the two, I guess this experience was made for you.

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6.5 / 10.0
Jan 22, 2017

Ultimately Rise & Shine just didn’t hit the spot for me. Failing to reach the end I often found myself frustrated with no real satisfaction. There was never a grand pay off for my achievements and several bugs relating to dying would often result in completely killing the game and starting several checkpoints back.

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6.4 / 10.0
Jan 20, 2017

Rise & Shine is a visually stunning, promising game on paper, but that does everything possible to contradict with its vision. While the developers claim that it's "NOT another run’n’gun clone at all", but more of a "Think and gun" both core game mechanics and elements makes it a flawed and unoriginal experience in a lackluster package.

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6.2 / 10.0
Jan 12, 2017

Rise & Shine may be an infuriating endeavor but it's also a memorable one full of humour and a fun mix of gameplay elements.

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6.2 / 10.0
Apr 25, 2017

Rise & Shine is a gorgeous game that pays homage to a slew of video game touchstones. While it employs some interesting mechanics, it is ultimately a frustrating experience that disrespects your time in an effort to artificially lengthen an otherwise brief game with a ho-hum story. Let this one sleep in.

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Jan 12, 2017

Rise & Shine is a run and gun 2D shooter that struggles to find its footing in game play and tone. Small issues can be found throughout the experience, but the difficulty and level design, in both variety and beauty, makes the experience worth a few hours of your time.

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Jan 26, 2017

Players who like tough games will love Rise & Shine, but it will never truly shine unless the developers rebalance the difficulty.

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Ken McKown
Top Critic
6 / 10.0
Jan 19, 2017

Rise & Shine looked like an early sleeper for 2017, but its design holds it back more often than not. I wanted to love it, but after banging my head against it for the short duration it lasts, it wasn’t worth the tedium.

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Jan 12, 2017

Rise & Shine has a lot of interesting ideas to keep players on their toes. It’s just a shame that some of the fun turns sour due to repeated puzzles and poor gun accuracy.

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6 / 10.0
Jan 13, 2017

At its best, Rise and Shine is a marvelous reinvention of shooter mechanics wrapped up in puzzle-heavy stages that require some serious grey matter to think through. But most of the time? Rise and Shine’s charm can’t save it from its sadomasochistic formula.

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Cubed3
Top Critic
6 / 10
Jan 12, 2017

A strong case can be made for Rise & Shine. It boasts fantastic visuals, tons of references that appeal to the older crowd, and a more thoughtful approach to running and gunning. Unfortunately, it never realises its full potential. There are numerous intriguing elements, such as destructible cover or contending with adversaries while platforming. Simply put: they don't get enough attention. If a few of the less interesting segments were excised or moved to optional modes, and in their place were stages designed with a more advanced skillset in mind, then the campaign could be tighter and more complex. All told, it's still a worthwhile venture for shoot 'em up fans seeking a change of pace.

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Simon Brown
Top Critic
6 / 10.0
Oct 8, 2018

A solid, if uninspiring run ‘n gun title with some very nice visuals. The game's length and difficulty make it hard to recommend without reservation but if you are after something a little quirky you might enjoy your brief time with this.

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60 / 100
Jan 12, 2017
Rise & Shine - Quick Game Review video thumbnail
3 / 5
Jan 12, 2017

Rise and Shine is a very challenging platformer that relies heavily on references to other games to balance its lack of a good cast of characters.

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5.5 / 10.0
Jan 12, 2017

Brutal difficulty isn’t bad by itself, but Rise & Shine doesn’t balance it with a sense of satisfaction when you succeed

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5.5 / 10.0
Jan 21, 2017

Rise & Shine makes an amazing first impression, but the game hiding underneath lacks the depth and replayability of the many SNES action games that it attempts to imitate.

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5.5 / 10.0
Jan 13, 2017

Try this game out for the beautiful art style and your occasional dose of maniacal bullet hell gameplay, but prepare to rage quit more often than you would like.

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5 / 10.0
Oct 2, 2018

Rise and Shine is undoubtedly one of the best-looking games on the Switch.

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5 / 10.0
Jan 19, 2017

Rise and Shine's awesome 2D art-style and references can't help the uneven shooting that pervades its shoddy gameplay.

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5 / 10.0
Feb 7, 2017

The Digital Fix polish their firearms and stroll into an apocalyptic landscape to review Adult Swim's Xbone homage to gaming's golden age: Rise & Shine.

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