It’s rare for a game in a genre so common and mundane to catch my eye, but Orbital Bullet manages to look new and original without actually changing many of the fundamentals of the sidescrolling roguelike (roguelite). What it does introduce is a component that is used throughout the gameplay and it only adds to the familiar experience without taking away from what many enjoy about these types of games.

Abbreviated Review: https://youtu.be/q8vnjFcwOxg

Orbital Bullet is, at its core, a relatively straightforward action roguelite akin to Dead Cells and the many other games that have touched on this genre. Your ultimate goal is to complete a run through several bosses across procedural planets without dying. If you fail, you’re back to the start with pockets full of upgrade materials that you can use to attempt to make your future run have a little less failure. I’m sure this all sounds quite familiar.
Despite this design being so well-explored, not every game pulls it off particularly well. Orbital Bullet, however, feels like they memorized the manual and hit the bullseye on every requirement. At its most basic level, the game presents a fun roguelite experience that I think many people would enjoy even if it was completely 2D. The thing that makes this game unique, however, is that every level is a tight cylinder that you battle around.

This mechanic isn’t just an aesthetic choice though. While it does look cool to see the entire level looped around, you can also make use of various weapons to take on enemies without having to engage directly with them. Of course, some enemies can make use of this as well, and often the deadliest attacks are the ones that wrap around a level and surprise you. Each area is made up of a collection of these rings that you have to clear of enemies before being able to move on. Once you do, however, you’re free to teleport between any cleared rings to revisit things you may have missed or didn’t have the right items to unlock.

Roguelites, in general, can be a little frustrating. I know I swore them off for a while because of how demoralizing it can be to make a lot of progress and lose it. The “roguelite” name, however, was coined from the idea that the rigid structure of ‘no progress’ wasn’t necessarily the best. So when you die in a game like Orbital Bullet, you don’t lose everything.
You can progress in several ways.

The most effective means of progression is a skill tree that is unlocked via some blue triangle things you collect on various levels. These let you unlock a skill tree (web) that gives you things like limited heals, bonus health and damage, and more starting credits to buy items on each run. The difference this makes is the most impactful for each run and even your initial short ventures can make a big difference. There’s also the ability to unlock more weapons that you’ll discover in chests and at markets within the game. These aren’t quite as impressive since even the regular rifles and shotguns can be used to great effect, but they’re fun to obtain and use regardless – and there is a hefty number to unlock.

The final piece of the progress system is the ability to pick and upgrade four classes. These aren’t significantly distinct classes, especially since you’re always using random weapons you pick up, but each does have a unique ability that you can use to help tailor the way you play. Things like a thrown disk that fires projectiles up and down as it flies, a bouncing exploding projectile, and the requisite automated turret that shoots things… automatically. The classes have upgrades that unlock class-specific perks you can get within a run to do things like make your dodge roll do damage or increase critical hits. Really though, it’s easy to forget that which class you’re even playing until you hit the trigger for the special ability.

There wasn’t a lot of story in this game until launch. Even now, you’re mostly going by the intro information which describes an alien force assimilating planets and harvesting resources to continue their crusade. It turns out, you’re a cyborg with the memory of a dying resistance member uploaded at the last minute. The only reason I’m mentioning this is that it doesn’t seem to matter all that much for the experience. To draw another comparison to Dead Cells, the story is very much secondary to the gameplay and is only revealed when it has to be. That’s not really something I have any issue with, though.

If there’s any legitimate complaint I have about this game, it’s that the style of the visuals can get very muddled and hard to follow. It’s designed to be kind of blocky and pixelart-esque, which is fine in most cases, but when the lighting and color schemes get dark and the enemies start blending in (like these crawling zombie things), it’s easy to lose track of what’s going on. Even more so when ♥♥♥♥ hits the fan and half a dozen enemies are attacking you at the same time. This may be somewhat intentional and part of the challenge later in the game, but it’s never fun to die to something in a roguelite that you didn’t even notice.

The roguelite genre always has this interesting aspect where the games are really only 30-60 minutes long when you beat them. Orbital Bullet is no different. Yet it took me at least five hours to complete the bosses in the early access experience and, now that progress is reset, I’m sure it will take me several more hours with the additional bosses to reach the same level. Even then, there are scaling difficulty levels you unlock - which I'm sure lead to "true" endings as they often do. I must say though, with everything added throughout this early access development, I think it’s likely this isn’t the end of new content. Yet, with what is here now, this is an easy game to recommend if you still have any room left in your soul for another roguelite.

If you'd like to see more of my reviews, check out my curator page here: Endyo’s Indies, Abbreviated Reviews, and online at BagoGames

It’s rare for a game in a genre so common and mundane to catch my eye, but Orbital Bullet manages to look new and original without actually changing many of the fundamentals of the sidescrolling roguelike (roguelite). What it does introduce is a component that is used throughout the gameplay and it only adds to the familiar experience without taking away from what many enjoy about these types of games. Abbreviated Review: https://youtu.be/q8vnjFcwOxg [h1]Around the World[/h1] Orbital Bullet is, at its core, a relatively straightforward action roguelite akin to Dead Cells and the many other games that have touched on this genre. Your ultimate goal is to complete a run through several bosses across procedural planets without dying. If you fail, you’re back to the start with pockets full of upgrade materials that you can use to attempt to make your future run have a little less failure. I’m sure this all sounds quite familiar. Despite this design being so well-explored, not every game pulls it off particularly well. Orbital Bullet, however, feels like they memorized the manual and hit the bullseye on every requirement. At its most basic level, the game presents a fun roguelite experience that I think many people would enjoy even if it was completely 2D. The thing that makes this game unique, however, is that every level is a tight cylinder that you battle around. This mechanic isn’t just an aesthetic choice though. While it does look cool to see the entire level looped around, you can also make use of various weapons to take on enemies without having to engage directly with them. Of course, some enemies can make use of this as well, and often the deadliest attacks are the ones that wrap around a level and surprise you. Each area is made up of a collection of these rings that you have to clear of enemies before being able to move on. Once you do, however, you’re free to teleport between any cleared rings to revisit things you may have missed or didn’t have the right items to unlock. [h1]Living, Dying, and the Repeating Process [/h1] Roguelites, in general, can be a little frustrating. I know I swore them off for a while because of how demoralizing it can be to make a lot of progress and lose it. The “roguelite” name, however, was coined from the idea that the rigid structure of ‘no progress’ wasn’t necessarily the best. So when you die in a game like Orbital Bullet, you don’t lose everything. You can progress in several ways. The most effective means of progression is a skill tree that is unlocked via some blue triangle things you collect on various levels. These let you unlock a skill tree (web) that gives you things like limited heals, bonus health and damage, and more starting credits to buy items on each run. The difference this makes is the most impactful for each run and even your initial short ventures can make a big difference. There’s also the ability to unlock more weapons that you’ll discover in chests and at markets within the game. These aren’t quite as impressive since even the regular rifles and shotguns can be used to great effect, but they’re fun to obtain and use regardless – and there is a hefty number to unlock. The final piece of the progress system is the ability to pick and upgrade four classes. These aren’t significantly distinct classes, especially since you’re always using random weapons you pick up, but each does have a unique ability that you can use to help tailor the way you play. Things like a thrown disk that fires projectiles up and down as it flies, a bouncing exploding projectile, and the requisite automated turret that shoots things… automatically. The classes have upgrades that unlock class-specific perks you can get within a run to do things like make your dodge roll do damage or increase critical hits. Really though, it’s easy to forget that which class you’re even playing until you hit the trigger for the special ability. [h1]Killing in the name of[/h1] There wasn’t a lot of story in this game until launch. Even now, you’re mostly going by the intro information which describes an alien force assimilating planets and harvesting resources to continue their crusade. It turns out, you’re a cyborg with the memory of a dying resistance member uploaded at the last minute. The only reason I’m mentioning this is that it doesn’t seem to matter all that much for the experience. To draw another comparison to Dead Cells, the story is very much secondary to the gameplay and is only revealed when it has to be. That’s not really something I have any issue with, though. If there’s any legitimate complaint I have about this game, it’s that the style of the visuals can get very muddled and hard to follow. It’s designed to be kind of blocky and pixelart-esque, which is fine in most cases, but when the lighting and color schemes get dark and the enemies start blending in (like these crawling zombie things), it’s easy to lose track of what’s going on. Even more so when shit hits the fan and half a dozen enemies are attacking you at the same time. This may be somewhat intentional and part of the challenge later in the game, but it’s never fun to die to something in a roguelite that you didn’t even notice. The roguelite genre always has this interesting aspect where the games are really only 30-60 minutes long when you beat them. Orbital Bullet is no different. Yet it took me at least five hours to complete the bosses in the early access experience and, now that progress is reset, I’m sure it will take me several more hours with the additional bosses to reach the same level. Even then, there are scaling difficulty levels you unlock - which I'm sure lead to "true" endings as they often do. I must say though, with everything added throughout this early access development, I think it’s likely this isn’t the end of new content. Yet, with what is here now, this is an easy game to recommend if you still have any room left in your soul for another roguelite. [quote] If you'd like to see more of my reviews, check out my curator page here: [url= http://store.steampowered.com/curator/28346672-Endyo-Gaming/]Endyo’s Indies[/url], [url= http://store.steampowered.com/curator/38271367/]Abbreviated Reviews[/url], and online at BagoGames[/quote]