I’ll never be able to get enough of the feeling of persistent progression within Rogue-lite games. The rewarding feeling that comes with every play session, whether it be hours of a grind I actually want to do or a brief pick-up-and-play for 10 minutes, it’s great fun whittling away at something, all the while feeling yourself get better at the game. This addictive feeling is ever present within BORE BLASTERS, developed by a team already familiar with the genre in their game Void Scrappers. Does this dwarven-digging title stack up to the rest of the Rogue-lites?

While it is not a bullet heaven, BORE BLASTERS does have some of the DNA from those games, like Vampire Survivors. During your excavation, you’ll have a choice between 3 powerups to dig faster, stronger, or more defensively. If you can make it all the way to the bottom before your copter’s fuel runs out, you’ll also unlock a new upgrade option in future runs. Since runs will usually take anywhere from 1 to 5 minutes, it’s worth making every upgrade count. This is where the Rogue-lite progression makes its mark, as you can select all kinds of permanent upgrades between runs by using your hard-earned gems carefully.

That progression makes BORE BLASTERS such a delight to keep returning for more runs – to the point where I had to tear myself away from the game to write this review. You can improve almost a dozen things after each run, and in the early goings, you’ll be upgrading 2 or 3 things each time to really grasp a sense of progress. When you’re not upgrading, you’ll often be tasked in most runs to complete a side objective that will progress the story and sometimes even drop a ton of gems for you. There’s always some sense of progression even as the upgrading slows in the late game.

The high difficulty in the Rogue-lite genre is bog standard within BORE BLASTERS, as the time limit before the gas runs out demands the player to dig vigorously and prioritize gem hunting in conjunction with enemy killing. The ship can only take a few hits before going down, and bumping into the terrain contributes to this, as well.

As such, experienced divers will have to decide whether to focus on side objectives, gem collecting, or making it to the end to clear the level. As you keep all gems either way, it’s not the end of the world if you don’t make it. It’s refreshing to know your minutes are well-spent in the caves.

I couldn’t get enough of BORE BLASTERS in my initial playthrough. Having something to strive for in every single run and having them be a compact length made me go back time and time again to this enthralling title. It barely reduced my Steam Deck’s battery while playing, but did suffer a few micro-stutters here and there in the more enemy-heavy levels. Nevertheless, this is a strong recommendation for any Rogue-lite fans looking for their next fix.

A PC review copy of BORE BLASTERS was provided by 8bitskull for the purposes of this review.

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BORE BLASTERS

9

Score

9.0/10

Pros

• Massively Satisfying Progression
• Engaging, Easy-to-grasp Gameplay
• Constant Feel of Getting Better

Cons

• Late-game Grind Is Real
• Some Stutters In Gameplay