If I’m not covering a Roguelike or an FPS, you can bet I’ve been playing a Bullet Heaven recently. Ever since Vampire Survivors made the genre mainstream, the resurgence is undeniable and we’ve already covered several titles here at Phenixx Gaming. The one I went out of my way to buy as of late is Soulstone Survivors thanks to its word-of-mouth and positive reception despite being in Early Access. What does this game do to stand out from the pack and have so many early fans?

Soulstone Survivors takes place without time limits, as the Bullet Heaven genre is typically bound to. Instead, you’ll face bosses that spawn once you defeat a certain amount of enemies. The enemy scaling is very well-paced and never feels excessive. Pickup range feels a little iffy to start, but you can upgrade that very quickly after your first few runs. Health is also scarce to start, and with no invincibility frames, you can be taken out in the blink of an eye. I got stuck on terrain/enemies once or twice leading to death, but wasn’t too upset since there was an abundance of upgrades ready to purchase from the get-go.

Abilities in Soulstone Survivors are great fun to expand on and see how they work in conjunction with up to 5 others. There are a lot of playstyles to accommodate and they range from attacking in front of you, at your position, as a trail, bomb(s) in front of you, or to a random enemy. I tended to stack attacks to my front as I was used to aiming the whole time from other Bullet Heavens. I found myself feeling extremely strong in certain classes once I figured out that range plus crit chance meant I could clear the screen in fractions of a second if I could get my level near 100 in a run.

If there’s any pain point to Soulstone Survivors, it’s that things get so downright intense that the screen will fill up not only with enemies but particle effects as well. As enemies constitute solid objects and cannot be passed through, if you get stuck on them, your run could be over just like that. I also found some of the upgrade costs to be a bit steep. However, as a result, they made subsequent runs feel like I truly was getting stronger, all the while trying out new characters and learning their quirks along the way.

The depth and replayability within Soulstone Survivors are truly staggering. I’ve just about milked the rest of the Bullet Heaven games I own to maximum enjoyment, so I was thrilled to take that skill and apply it to a title with plenty of upgrades and several hours to sink. The best part is that there is still more content to come even though the game plays like a dream and already has so much to conquer. Even though it’s technically double the price of most games like it, Soulstone Survivors is comfortably a no-brainer $10 purchase.

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Soulstone Survivors

9.99

9

Score

9.0/10

Pros

• A Perfect Standout In A Flooded Genre
• Massive Variety Between Classes
• Ability Synergies Feel Amazing

Cons

• Just A Little Bit Too Grindy
• Screen Clutter Can Get Bad