10 reasons to get excited for Super Bullet Break

A few weeks back, PQube announced its newest upcoming title for the anime gaming enthusiast: Super Bullet Break, a deckbuilding roguelike themed around clearing the bugs out of a series of popular mobile games.

Now, at the time of writing, Steam is running its “Going Rogue” festival , and Super Bullet Break is featured as part of the celebrations. So, since we’ve had the good fortune to be hands-on with an early version of the full game, I thought it’d be nice to run down some of the reasons you should be keeping an eye on this game.

So, then, I present to you: ten reasons to get excited for Super Bullet Break!

There’s a demo

To coincide with the Going Rogue celebrations on Steam, the first public demo of Super Bullet Break has been released. You can try it for yourself here! Don’t just take our word for how enjoyable this game is — give it a go for yourself and have some fun!

The thrill of gacha without the free-to-play crap

Super Bullet Break is a deckbuilding roguelike, which means rather than building up a single “deck” of characters as you do in typical gacha games, each playthrough of the game sees you starting with a set deck (or “Magazine” as it’s referred to in the game — bullets, you see) and gradually acquiring new cards as you progress.

Each new playthrough or milestone you reach in the overall game structure unlocks new Bullets that are added to the pool available to you in each playthrough, meaning you get the same thrill of discovering new characters and crossing your fingers to get your favourites, but not a hint of reaching for your credit card. Heavenly.

A whole heap of gals to collect

There’s a huge number of different “Bullets” to acquire as you play Super Bullet Break, and they each have their own distinct functions. Every Bullet has a primary ability that is the same every time you encounter them, but their Cartridges can be swapped out, giving them different active or passive abilities. In this way, there’s a huge combination of different “cards” to add to your “deck”, making for a wealth of different strategies.

Easy to understand but strategically deep combat

Every enemy in Super Bullet Break is capable of wrecking you if you’re not careful, so you’ll need to pay close attention to every aspect of your Bullets to succeed. Make good use of weaker cards that heal or protect you, then unleash hell with more damaging cards when you get a suitable opening. Inflict status effects, then make them more effective with unique skills from specific cards. And fail. A lot.

Themed decks spoofing popular genres

The concept of Super Bullet Break is that you’re diving into a series of bugged games to fix them from within, and the Bullets you acquire to fight alongside you are characters from the games. But it’s not just a visual theme: each “game” has its own unique mechanic, rewarding you for collecting themed sets and building a coherent deck.

The Seasons of Love dating sim girls, for example, have a “Heartsplosion” mechanic that allows you to delay enemy turns and unleash large quantities of your own Bullets. They also, rather charmingly, all have their own “text box” that constantly floats alongside them with a catchphrase. Meanwhile, music game The Aquarhythm Deep rewards you with powerful attacks for building up your combo meter, and “girls who are guns” game Phoenix Gunner allows you to summon drones for continuous passive abilities such as healing, defence and damage.

Fun events

It’s not just about battling. You’ll also encounter and interact with the various characters from the game, giving you a chance to get to know them in various situations and even add special new variants of them to your Magazine. Sometimes you’ll get into a fight; sometimes saying the right thing will reward you with bonus items; sometimes one good turn deserves another.

Varied art from a range of artists

With Super Bullet Break’s theme being the exploration of several very different video games, you’d expect each to have its own distinct aesthetic — and indeed the game doesn’t disappoint. In fact, much like popular mobile gacha games, each game has a selection of artists with their own distinctive style working on things; you’ll quickly learn to spot your favourites, and you can admire the lovely character art at your leisure in the game’s Field Guide mode.

Booba

Present and correct on plenty of characters — though not all, ’cause we all have different tastes, after all.

Feet

Some people (especially gacha players, in my experience) like feet, for example, and there are plenty of characters in Super Bullet Break who will happily satisfy that particular taste.

Replay value

You ain’t gonna beat this one quickly — it’s hard. But never in a way that feels cheap; feeling a strategy come together that allows you to finally take down a tricky boss feels absolutely great. And even once you’ve cleared all the game’s main missions, there’s still plenty of Bullets to collect and ways to challenge yourself. This one should keep you busy for a good long while to come.

Super Bullet Break is coming soon for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and PC. A demo of the PC version is available as part of the Steam Going Rogue festival, which runs between May 2 and May 9, 2022 — try it for yourself here.

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