It is about cute girl cyborgs who fight aliens and use their social media following to gain more powers in their battle against evil. After every stage, you have to do things to enhance your fanbase on Chirp -- the game's fictional Twitter-like social network -- and this will lead to more power-ups.
The weirdness doesn't stop there. This game might be inspired by Mega Man but its combat mechanics is akin to Smash Bros. So each time you enter a one-screen stage, you're armed with light attack, strong attack, and jump.
Really, it's enjoyable. And I'll be honest, this is typically the kind of thing I eat up. I love girls armed with chainsaws and hammers.
But there are frustrations. For one thing, there's a big jump in difficulty between the regular stages and the boss fights. It usually takes about six stages to reach a boss. And once you meet that boss, oh boy -- it's easy to die quickly.
The problem is, there's no save states. If you die, you have to start from the beginning of each level, which means playing all six stages yet again, just to reach that boss. And the thing is, because the regular stages are relatively easy, it gets real tedious quick.
I also don't enjoy the social media-focused rounds that much. You're supposed to pose for the camera but you don't really pose. Instead, you just stand in front of the camera and beat up your social media followers as they start to throng you. I guess that's hilarious, but it also feels like filler.
At its best, though, Chenso Club is about all the cool ways you can beat up baddies and send them packing. The boss battles are also a lot of fun, especially if you are patient enough to win.
Graphically, I like the 16-bit style pixel art. The sprites look good with the appropriate level of cuteness. This kind of thing has a lot of charm to me.
The audio is something else. The moment the game starts, and you hear a Japanese woman intone "Chenso Club!" in that intriguing accent, yeah, I'm dialled in. I love the anime-inspired soundtrack. And the sound effects are vivid.
The weird thing, though, is that this isn't a Japanese game! It wasn't even localized into Japanese! I don't know what to make of this.
All that said, this is the kind of game that's really enjoyable on a Steam Deck where you have nice controls and the sprites look good on the 7" screen. And, in fact, it's verified for Steam Deck too!
The guts of the game are enjoyable. It's not refined, though. There are some rough patches. But overall, this is a nice indie title with some retro-inspired action.