Second Move is a DLC for Epido that introduces six new girls to the mix for us to take down in some more bullet hell action. There is no further story introduced. We just go right into the level with our usual objective of raising a girl’s Affection by defeating her. That will be a significantly more difficult task this time around. Having defeated the base game’s seven girls, this DLC will immediately offer more of a challenge than we’ve previously experienced. Even the grunt enemies who were total pushovers and mostly there to give you power-ups before the boss fight are now an actual threat. It is still unlikely that they will do you in, but they can definitely leave you worse for wear.
To compensate for this additional challenge, you are now able to upgrade your characters stats further, as to allow you to dish out more damage or take more hits. The one to five-star difficulty system is still in place and earns you the same amount of affection as before. Playing on the lowest difficulty will only net you 20% of her total affection, while playing on five stars will net you all of it at once if you can pull it off. There are no new abilities or anything of the sort. You retain your same skillset that ranges from slowing down time to causing double damage.
One of the first things you’ll notice once booting up a new level is that it finally has some different music other than that single song that played on every stage. Not only that, each level actually has its own song now, which is definitely an appreciated improvement over the base game. The journey to the boss will still be relatively short as you fight off the grunts and try to catch all their power-up tokens under the now much heavier barrage of projectiles coming your way. Battling the boss will take up the majority of your time in a stage, and these new women retain the lovely artwork Epido was known for.
From a cheerleader, shrine maiden foxgirl, and a pair of bunny Vegas casino girls, they are all more varied than the ones found in the original. Each has their own little variations and gimmicks to their attack methods. They will give you a run for your money while thankfully none end up being plain cheap like the base game’s fourth boss that reverses your controls. While fighting them, you will still slowly but surely rip off more of their clothes as the battle rages on, and she takes more damage. If you have previously removed the file that censors the game, there is no need to do so again to see the art as it was intended.
At 50% affection, you will unlock that specific girl’s sprite to view it freely and at 100%, will unlock an animated CG of her performing sexual acts. Beating all six of them will unlock a new Arcade mode that is quite the challenge, even for skilled players. If you manage to get through that entire mode with your one life, you will unlock another CG involving your character Miel. Most of this DLC is identical to what the base game offers, really. It is more of the same with the new additions being six girls and some much needed new music for the stages. Second Move won’t change your opinion of Epido, but if you did enjoy it, this DLC is a must. The increased difficulty makes it more fun to play, and with six new girls all with their own lewd CGs, it nearly doubles the overall content. At the lowly price of just two dollars, this is a no brainer for fans.
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