Disclaimer
I was sent a free copy of Super Bullet Break to review for my blog. While I am very grateful for the opportunity, I won’t let it sway my opinions. This will be my honest review.
Shameless Self Promotion
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Table of Contents
What is Super Bullet Break?
Super Bullet Break is a deckbuilding roguelike where you get to collect cute anime girls while you try to fix corrupted video games. The game is available for Steam and on the Nintendo Switch. There is also a Steam demo you can try.
Hook
All of the online multiplayer games have been rendered unplayable by rogue AI that have infected them. Collect your deck of cute anime girls as you fight against the rogue data that have made your favorite games unplayable. Build a powerful deck from over 160 cute anime girls in a unique gotcha system that won’t cost you any money (aside from the $20 it costs to buy the game). Play through seven unique worlds in a unique roguelike experience that will have you trapped for hours. Can you build the deck that will save the world, or will the AI prove too powerful?
Gameplay
Players start with a basic deck and make their way in roguelike fashion through each of the seven unique game game genre themed worlds. Players choose their path through a series of nodes, each with a unique encounter: combat, harder combat, shop, rest, random encounter. This pattern is repeated until hitting the final boss, collecting a valuable ally and moving onto the next world.
Combat
Combat is pretty unique for this deck builder. Each card has a cost that affects the initiative. You can either cast a series of weaker spells or a powerful spell before the enemy’s turn. Initiative is easily seen through an easy to read tracker at the top of the UI. You take turns chipping away at your enemies using your collection of anime girls until either you or the enemy dies. You earn gold and a card at the end of combat. There are better rewards for harder encounters, but they also leave you drained of resources. Plan your routes accordingly. The characters you get at any point of your run will have random abilities that can either make or break your run. For the most part, the RNG feels fair.
Shop
Shops are pretty self explanatory. Over the course of your run, you are earning gold or tickets. Gold is used to buy helpful items that can be used during combat like healing potions or items that buff your abilities. Tickets are used to pull for a random card to add to your deck in the truest, non-predatory form of gotcha on this planet. The trick to this game is generating enough income and using that income efficiently to build a powerful enough deck of anime girls to save the world.
Rest
At certain points of the map, you are allowed a coffee break. At these points you can either heal 30% of your total health for free, 50% for gold, or reroll one of your cards abilities for free. There is always a coffee break before the boss, so plan accordingly.
Random Encounters
If you don’t want to engage in combat, there are random social encounters scattered across the map. These encounters sometimes give players a choice, but mostly offer buffs and debuffs for their run. You can find a special item that will give you an edge in your next combat, or you could get robbed. They are a gamble. Speaking of gambles, there are also nodes that let you choose from three boxes. These boxes contain buffs, items, gold, or cards you can use during your run.
Does it work on the Steam Deck?
Super Bullet Break works great on the Steam Deck. If you are looking for a good Steam Deck game, you have it here. The game runs great on PC, but if I am using a controller, I prefer playing on the Steam Deck. I love that the game is pretty low profile so it won’t use up all of my memory (I have the lowest memory unit), or get that fan whirling, or kill the battery. Any game I can sit back and play in bed or on the couch is a huge blessing because I stay at my computer all day.
Review
If you like collecting cute anime girls and need a new deckbuilding roguelike, then Super Bullet Break is for you. It does lean a little heavy on the fan service, but it is expected from a game where you’re collecting cute waifus. The combat system is fine, and there seems to be enough content to be worth the price point.
Aesthetic
I will shamelessly admit that I am a huge fan of the art for this game. You get to choose from a wide selection of cute wifus and each world’s theme is unique and fresh. If you like anime girls, you’ll find your waifu somewhere within this game. I’d go as far as to commission some fan art (if I had the money).
Gameplay
I’ll admit that at this point of this career, I am a little burnt out on deck building roguelikes. Super Bullet Break is a solid deck builder with unique mechanics that help it stand out against the rest of the genre, but it does feel repetitive at this point. I think the gotcha mechanics are a good way of keeping each run feeling fresh and new. The game does a good enough job at giving players the tools to get through a run, but it really comes down to being lucky enough to get the right cards and abilities to get through each world. Whether this game is worth it really depends on how much you like waifus and how okay you are with the randomness of it all.
Conclusion
I like this game enough to keep it on my Steam Deck. It is a game I’ll pull out when I just want to play a game, but don’t want to get too invested in its lore or mechanics. The turn based system makes the game a very casual game, but there is enough complexity in the mechanics to keep you engaged. Even if there is enough luck based nonsense to sway your run, you still have to try and plot your route efficiently. If you are looking for a waifu game with solid mechanics that you can play anywhere, Super Bullet Break is a solid title worth your attention. If you aren’t, you should at least try the demo.
You can pick up Super Bullet Break on for Steam and on the Nintendo Switch.