Games I Played in 2025 - Sine Mora EX
Console: PSVita, PS4, Steam, Switch, XB1
Sine Mora EX is a bullet hell shoot 'em up with a dieselpunk aesthetic focused on a time travelling narrative. Developed mostly by Digital Reality, with Grasshopper Manufacture only handling art direction and sound design, Sine Mora EX is an extended version of the original Sine Mora, with some added features like co-op, some quality of life changes, and a few new options. This is one of the first shmup games I've ever really clicked with, so I was pretty excited to play it again through this EX version.
TIME TRAVELLING WAR
There are 7 playable characters, with 6 having a major role in the story. There are 7 stages, with 6 of them being split into two levels. In Story Mode, the levels are played out of order with a character monologuing before the first level and after the second level on top of the story, while in Arcade Mode, the levels are played in order while also removing all the dialogue. What I really appreciate is that Sine Mora's story is dire, brutal and dark, but not in an edgy way that comes across like it's for shock value. The story includes a rape victim and cancer survivor, as well as racially motivated genocide in the most horrible of ways. Thankfully, all of the darker aspects are only told through text and voice, rather than shown in any way.
The bosses are all either massive machines or oddly animalistic robots, and they all look fantastic. In fact, the entire game looks superb, as though simple and now fairly old, the colors are vibrant and the atmosphere is palpable, which is a heck of a feat for a shmup. There's also a good variety of locales, from a bustling city and a factory full of lava and robots, to rocky cliffs near the ocean and beautiful dusty plains, and there's even an underwater level. Once Story Mode is cleared on the Challenging difficulty, a true ending and alternate monologues are unlocked. Kind of unfortunately, this doesn't change anything that's said during the levels themselves, and it doesn't add a new boss or level, instead only adding a (critical) scene in the middle of the final boss and an epilogue scene.
Sine Mora was very unique in that the spoken language was only in Hungarian, giving it a very foreign feeling due to its rarity in media on top of just sounding really cool as a language. The voice actors are great as far as I can tell (as I can't speak, read, or understand a lick of Hungarian) and give every character gravitas in a way that really works and suits the story's tone. EX adds English voiceover and makes it the default option, and I have to say that it really doesn't hold a candle to the original Hungarian voiceover; the direction and delivery feels off, and there's just a lack of emotion out of all of them outside of Dryad's voice actress who does an okay job. The most flagrant misstep in the English cast is Myryan's voice actress, not because she does a particularly bad job, but Myryan is a laryngeal cancer survivor and explicitly has to speak through a voicebox, which is heard in the Hungarian performance and visible in her portrait... yet the English voiceover simply casts her as a kind of tough girl with a southern accent. It shows there was a distinct lack of care and consideration when it came time to add English voices.
Another unique aspect of Sine Mora was its 21:9 aspect ratio as opposed to 16:9. For EX, they've made 16:9 an option and the default, but I've noticed some issues with it that make me think not much care was put into this option either. Namely, instead of actually changing the screen and game to run at 16:9, the camera is merely zoomed in so the black bars are gone, which means you can move your plane off-screen and just means you can see less of the screen, which can make dodging bullets harder in general, as well as just seeing enemies come in. In 21:9 there's an "edge" to the play area on the left and right that can be frustrating, preventing you from getting visible power-ups as they go off-screen when it feels like you should be able to get them, but I think it's miles better than the 16:9 option.
TIME TO DODGE
As a bullet hell game, Sine Mora is pretty tame but also, to me, a bit unconventional by being a horizontal bullet hell instead of a vertical one. Its most unique feature is its time system as instead of health, you instead have a dynamic time limit that goes up when you destroy enemies and down when you take damage as well as naturally just ticking down since it's a countdown. Replacing health with time fundamentally changes the way the player approaches encounters, and to make sure it's not too easy to just stack 99 seconds forever, every level is divided into sections that end with your "time mass" being stabilised, resetting it to your difficulty's default. This design decision is what I feel allows Sine Mora to be accessible for someone unfamiliar or inexperienced with this type of game, since taking damage is not the end of the world as long as you keep destroying enemies and even someone like me, who's not great at these games, was able to beat Story Mode on Challenging without too much issue.
However, I've seen that the game is pretty divisive for veteran bullet hell and shmup players, with some disliking that there's a story at all, but the bullet patterns are often brought up as a negative. I think it's due to how the bullets can sometimes feel very difficult to avoid even with the time powers (which I'll get to in a bit), and this is specifically caused by the fact that the plane's hitbox is not visible; in bullet hell games, it's common to have the player's hitbox actually be a fairly small point on the model rather than the entire model, and Sine Mora is no different... but it's only shown on the character select screen in Arcade and Score Attack modes. Coupled with the lack of visual indication of the hitbox on the planes, it makes it difficult to judge where it is at all times. I feel like an option to see it in some way during gameplay in EX would've been far more important than changing the default resolution or spoken language, especially seeing the lack of care both of these were handled with.
There's also some small issues throughout the game, with instant kill attacks being my biggest criticism. Their presence is not a problem to me, and they're all fairly easy to avoid... once you know where they are. From lasers that rain down from the sky with markers on the floor when you're likely looking at either your plane or the enemy, to starting a level and immediately having to dodge two trains that take up 80% of the screen, they almost all feel unfair the first time you play. However, a particularly punishing section where you have to hide in floating trash within a trash compactor or else you instantly die was made notably easier in EX, thankfully.
As a shmup, Sine Mora has a lot of power-ups that drop from defeated enemies, and EX has made them deterministic rather than random, which is a welcome change and makes trying for a high score or perfect run more skill-based. The most important power-up is the weapon power-up, which powers up your plane's gun and changes their spread depending on the plane. When taking damage, not only will you take a time penalty, but all your weapon power-ups will fly out of your plane, requiring you to grab them again, which can lead to panic and taking more and more hits as you scramble to get them back.
Other power-ups include having a shield the next time you take damage, a time extender that gives you an extra 10 seconds when you die, points that give you more and more if you don't miss any, subweapon refills, and time capsule refills. The way Sine Mora works, every plane has different bullet spreads that are affected by the weapon power-ups, while the pilot changes the subweapon, which is essentially a super attack. They're all powerful and everyone's preference will be different, I think. As for the time capsule, you can manipulate time by using your time gauge. In Story Mode, only the Speed Up capsule is used, which feels like a misnomer since it actually just slows down time while you still move at normal speed. Arcade Mode and Score Attack have two extra time capsules that can be used, Roll Back and Reflection, which let you rewind time and erect a shield, respectively.
One of the new features of EX is a half-speed button, which allows you to move slower to have more control over your plane's movements. This is a pretty standard feature in other bullet hell games to my understanding, so it's a welcome addition. However, this is not shown to the player anywhere in the game outside of the controls menu, which is really disappointing since the tutorial could've easily been modified to show it. The biggest new feature in EX has to be the added co-op function in Story Mode, and there's also a extra little versus mode for fun. I didn't get to try either of these, but they sound like a fun time, especially the former since you can switch pilots at any time with a timed button press from both players.
EERIE AND APPROPRIATE
When compared to other shmups and bullet hell games, Sine Mora's soundtrack stands out thanks to being so lowkey and dripping with atmosphere, rather than being hyper and exciting. It really fits the game's universe and dark, grim storytelling. The final boss theme in particular makes things feel hopeless and bleak in a way that I think only Yamaoka could do, complete with a big focus on drums rather than melody or instruments. The biggest highlight for me is actually the results screen theme, with its lo-fi beat layered under some wonderful flute melodies.
PROS AND CONS
PROS
• Well-crafted and interesting story with a fascinating world around it.
• Lots of replay value, as is typical of the genre.
• Genuinely really nice-looking, with full 3D environments that change depending on the time period.
• Unique and fitting soundtrack that enhances the atmosphere of the story.
• The Hungarian voiceovers are great and make the game stand out.
• Good character designs in general, with traits that you wouldn't normally see like having a voicebox or being a war amputee.
• Bleak and dark without being over the top and edgy about it.
• Fun gameplay in general, with a unique HP system that makes it accessible.
• Co-op modes were added in this version, which is always cool.
CONS
• Some instant kill attacks are poorly telegraphed.
• The story is hard to follow and many players won't dig into it more than they need to.
• The default 16:9 aspect ratio makes the game harder and doesn't feel fully thought out.
• The English voiceovers are lackluster with pretty bad direction alongside missing the point of some characters.
• Feels designed for casual players more than hardcore players, as many nitpicks and issues occur when looked at with a hardcore lens for many.
• 3D perspective makes some shots odd, like being able to shoot a ship around a rock simply because it's visible to the player.
• Steam version isn't great and crashes frequently alongside breaking the Steam Overlay randomly.
WORTH PLAYING?
Sine Mora is a shmup that dares to be different and do something unique with the genre, from the storytelling, to the music, to the game design, everything about Sine Mora feels different from its brethren in some shape or form, and I can't help but love it for it. It's a game that, though not perfect, tried to push the genre in a new direction and I think it's admirable and worth playing just for that, and its accessibility makes me comfortable recommending it to anyone even mildly interested in bullet hell games and shmups. Just make sure to put the game back in Hungarian with its original 21:9 aspect ratio.
What has really stood out to me with Sine Mora is its story and world, to the point that I kind of wish it was a different kind of game so I could see more of it instead of just a few snippets over an hour or two. But with Digital Reality being shut down and the Sine Mora IP belonging to THQ Nordic now, I don't think anything else will come from this universe, which is a massive shame; there's potential for this world to be expanded upon, whether it be other games or books and animated series.
If you play it, the story is the most worthwhile aspect, while the rest can potentially either make bullet hell gameplay click, or make it clear it's not for you, but either way it shouldn't be so hard that you can't get through it. Just get it on console and not Steam, since the Steam version is sadly pretty unstable and crashes frequently enough that I couldn't finish a full Arcade Mode run.
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