Don’t Stop, Girlypop! first impressions: Gorgeously gleeful 

If you like bedazzling guns, Y2K pop, and playing DOOM, you’re in luck – Don’t Stop, Girlypop might be the perfect game for you. Developed by Funny Fintan Softworks and published by Kwalee, this movement shooter is sparkly, silly, and seriously compelling.

From its speedy movement to its pearlescent aesthetics, it’s a slick shooter that comes packing extra endorphins.

The Escapist recaps

• Don’t Stop, Girlypop is a fast-paced, frantic movement shooter, developed by Funny Fintan Softworks and published by Kwalee.
• The game is vibrant and explosive in its design, with a Y2K pop aesthetic, upbeat soundtrack, and otherworldly, sci-fantasy design. 
• The story focuses on battling against an evil mining company called Tigris Nix. Tigris Nix is destroying the world by draining it of The Love, and the player needs to take down minions and monsters to save the planet. 
• The core gameplay focuses on zipping through colorful levels and shooting down enemies, picking up secrets along the way.
• While the visually intensive art style and fast speeds might not be ideal for everyone, fans of Y2K aesthetics and fluid movement shooters will fall in love with Don’t Stop, Girlypop; it’s undeniably charming and ridiculously fun. 

Fast-paced, kaleidoscopic movement

Don’t Stop, Girlypop screenshots immediately differentiate it from the more dour first-person shooters out there. It’s psychedelic rather than bloody, and that makes it a hell of a lot of fun to zoom through its sparkly levels. 

The game’s Big Bad is Tigris Nix, a mining company that’s attempting to hoover up all of The Love from the world, destroying the environment in the process. You’re tasked with defeating said enemies, shooting through hordes of alien-insect creatures as you keep moving and shooting.

The gameplay in Don’t Stop, Girlypop is all about momentum; you’ll need to be moving at top speeds consistently to stay alive and maximize damage. The movement feels smooth and fluid overall, and the levels have been designed around the act of getting up to speed and staying there, making exploration and trick shots feel equally rewarding. 

Difficulty-wise, the combat is balanced and exciting, even in these early stages. I didn’t tackle the hardest modes until I’d mastered the movement, but I found the difficulty increased at a steady and manageable pace while playing.

An unexpectedly stellar part of Don’t Stop, Girlypop was the customization options. It’s purely cosmetic, but you can swap out skins and weapon designs while playing, and even tack on cute jewellery or trinkets for extra flair. It’s a small detail in the grand scheme, but it pairs beautifully with the game’s overall design and themes. 

Sparkly and soulful

Don’t Stop, Girlypop is a game where you should take the title literally – stopping while playing means you’ll lose momentum and make it a lot easier for enemies to take a chunk out of you. 

Hitting max speed will keep you healed up and on top of your game, particularly if you utilize the wave jump mechanic, which involves jumping, dashing, and ground-pounding in the correct order. High speeds will also increase your damage output via the speed multiplier, so you’re always encouraged to give yourself a run-up before engaging with the enemy. 

The movement feels fluid and responsive overall – although it can be disorienting to lose speed and end up crawling at a snail’s pace after missing a wave jump. This is a game that plays quickly, for the most part, which may be off-putting to some folks, but if you’ve enjoyed the likes of HYPERVIOLENT, you’ll undoubtedly fall into something of a groove here.

Expect to zip around corners and pogo off mesh floors to hit enemies mid-air; as someone who doesn’t usually play movement shooters, I found it a little tricky to get the hang of at first, but rewarding once I practiced. Paired with the pink neon and upbeat soundtrack, there’s nothing quite like Don’t Stop, Girlypop.

Performance-wise, Don’t Stop, Girlypop looked great and ran well overall. The bulk of my time with the game was spent on PC, where I tested out keyboard and controller movement options – I’d recommend going with a controller where possible. The keyboard and mouse were fine, but the controller felt smoother. 

I also played through a fair few levels on my Steam Deck and found the experience to be cohesive there, too. A few text elements were small and hard to read in places, but other than this, it felt like a great match for the handheld.

Overall, Don’t Stop, Girlypop managed to convert me into an FPS fan, meaning I can safely recommend it to folks who aren’t keen on movement-based shooters. It’s also worth checking out if you are a fan of the genre, of course; the movement is wickedly fun, the world is beautiful, and there’s an interesting story underneath all the sparkles. 

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References

1. Download Don’t Stop, Girlypop! Lite (Steam)