The Bullet Heaven genre was all the rage last year, with Vampire Survivors leading the pack and several others following suit. There’s just something about watching your character grow massively powerful each run that makes these games beyond addictive. One such game that entered Early Access last year is Brotato, a more straightforward, minimalist art style to the genre with a twist that will entertain genre fans far and wide. Now that it’s finally time for its 1.0 release, is it worth that tiny $4.99 cost of entry?

Brotato takes a different approach to its gameplay loop. Instead of going for 30 minutes or until an end boss is vanquished, you’re tasked with surviving 20 waves of enemies, with increasing difficulty/quantities as rounds go on and on. In between each round, you’ll have an opportunity to spend what you’ve collected from enemy drops and wield up to six unique weapons that are both ranged and melee. The range is a factor in how far you can swing or shoot.

There are so many modifiers in Brotato that it may be overwhelming at first. I had to do some Googling to figure out what harvesting (collecting drops that you missed when a run ends) and engineering (damage a turret/structure can do) corresponded to after my first few runs. It helps, though, that you can view your current stats at any time by pausing. The number values will show green if they’re above average and red if they’re below. Monitoring these numbers is key to surviving, as the difficulty really does spike in the last few rounds.

As a game that can really go off the rails, Brotato is no stranger to Bullet Heaven insanity. In the first run I conquered, I had more than a handful of turrets, some of which attacked and others that healed, as well as six guns with an elevated rate of fire thanks to upgrading that path meticulously throughout the run.

Balancing your pros is a challenge, though, as the majority of items will give you benefits in conjunction with detracting values. For example, you may have an item that will raise your attack speed but costs you 1HP. Almost as much time will be spent fine-tuning your character as fighting, which is great for players who love to enhance their way to victory.

Enemies in Brotato are no pushovers. Since you automatically fire, your characters shoots at the nearest enemy until they die. Keeping this in mind is imperative when there are a few dozen monsters on-screen at once. It’s a big game of kiting, as you prioritize the knockback you can do, and maneuver the times you know an enemy is on a warpath towards you. With no invincibility frames, you can lose a run in milliseconds if you’re not careful.

I was pretty put off by Brotato in my first few runs because I thought I hit a brick wall. Instead, I tinkered around in subsequent runs, found a build that was borderline overpowered, and felt a rush of success once I finished off the 20th round. While this game could certainly benefit from some kind of persistent upgrading, it has more than enough content to unlock after runs to keep your eyes on the screen. At $4.99, this is another no-brainer purchase.

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Brotato

4.99

8.5

Score

8.5/10

Pros

• Enthralling Gameplay Loop
• Lots of Content
• Excellent Balancing

Cons

• No Invincibility Frames = Super Difficult
• Would Benefit By Being a Roguelike