I really dig the trippy dream-verse theme of this game, all the surrealist imagery is very cool, and the retro inspired backdrops are right up my alley. Generally, as an artistic choice, I do prefer a consistency in pixel density, so the fact that some of the objects are higher resolution than others is a little distracting, but other than that, the visuals are great.
I also really liked the weapons system. Using the various different directions for the subweapons is really unique, and not something I've seen in other shoot-em-ups, which usually rely on switching. Being able to switch to the needed weapon on the fly, just by pushing in a different direction with the right stick (I used a gamepad) made the combat and switching weapons much more intuitive. The mechanics and the combat in general are very good, everything feels tight and responsive, and the visual cues and sound effects are good at conveying when you're dealing damage, or when an enemy is shielded.
I've never been particularly good at shoot-em-up games, so for me, having a checkpoint after the sub-bosses would be of great help. Even on Daydream difficulty I found the game to be quite challenging, but it's a lot of fun! I definitely want to keep trying just to see what other kinds of cool levels there will be. I'm glad that this isn't a bullet hell game.