Stepping into the purely absurd territory, who wouldn’t like to become a space potato obliterating hordes of aliens wielding up to six weapons at the same time? But, of course, everyone!
Brotato is a game which could be classified as roguelike bullet hell shooter. Our main task is to withstand incoming waves of enemies, decimating them mercilessly in the process. Your calamity-inducing weapons shoot automatically, and you get plenty of those at your disposal, from sticks and stones to rocket launchers and flame throwers.
There are many options to assign a fighting identity to your Brotato – it may become a raving lunatic, lucky bastard, belligerent mage, machiavellian entrepreneur, earnest arms dealer, and many more, each of them having different stats. To top it off, your Brotato may be buffed by various items, either found or bought, and its talents may be upgraded via so-called talent tree.
Key Features
- A roguelike bullet hell mayhem!
- Manual aiming but automatic fire
- 44 Brotao characters to choose from
- Shitload of weapons!
- Even more buffing items
Want to experience the explosive exuberance of Brotato or do you fancy something similar yet not exactly the same?
| Game | Release | Genre | Developer | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Voidigo | 2021-02-25 | Action Roguelike | Semiwork Studios |
 | Vampire Survivors | 2021-12-17 | Action Roguelike | Poncle |
 | 20 Minutes Till Dawn | 2022-06-08 | Action Roguelike | flanne |
 | Soulstone Survivors | 2022-11-07 | Action Roguelike | Game Smithing Limited |
 | Enter The Gungeon | 2016-04-05 | Adventure | Dodge Roll |
 | Synthetik Legion Rising | 2018-03-15 | Indie | Flow Fire Games |
 | Halls Of Torment | 2023-05-24 | Bullet Hell | Chasing Carrots |
 | The Binding Of Isaac | 2011-09-28 | Adventure | Edmund McMillen and Florian Himsl |
 | The Binding Of Isaac Rebirth | 2014-11-04 | Action & Shooter | Nicalis, Inc. |
 | The Binding Of Isaac Afterbirth | 2015-10-30 | Adventure | Edmund McMillen |
 | Rogue Genesia | 2022-09-19 | Bullet Hell | Huard Ouadi |
Vampire Survivors
| Release date: | 2021-12-17 |
| Genre: | Action Roguelike |
| Developer: | Poncle |
Cutting to the chase, Vampire Survivors is Brotato but taking place in brain&blood-thirsty realm of the undead. You have 4 chapters and 4 survivors to navigate through the undead-infested city.
Lots of items to boost up our attacks, and achievements to acquire with each leveling up, add up to the undeniable charm of the game. And, naturally, hordes of monsters to slay, straight from the horror movies: bats, zombies, vampires, armed skeletons, ghosts, carnivorous flowers, praying mantises, etc.
Upgrade-wise, you may buy yourself some in the power up selection, as well as find weapon-oriented ones in the lootboxes (along with coins). The only real difference between VS and Brotato is graphics – less cartoonish, more pixelated and a tad more top-down.
| Key features |
|---|
|
Soulstone Survivors
| Release date: | 2022-11-07 |
| Genre: | Action Roguelike |
| Developer: | Game Smithing Limited |
Another of many alternatives to Brotato, an early-access Soulstone Survivios puts forward a magic-side of bullet hell.
So its probably anti-bullet hell? Or spell hell? Well, moving on from the naming into gaming, Soulstone Survivors offers plenty.
First off, spells, charms, and other magical incantations. Oh, how powerful and obliterating these are! Sometimes the whole screen is splattered with pulsating flashes and writhing lightnings. The second fancy feature is blacksmith, where we transform ores and miscellaneous stones into ever-powerful weapons.
Some other raw facts? 14 characters to choose from, 5 maps to move around, 142 skills to get, 8 bosses to kill, and hordes of tiered enemies to decimate. Need more? Play it and see for yourself.
| Key features |
|---|
|
Deathstate: Abyssal Edition
| Release date: | 2015-10-19 |
| Genre: | Action Roguelike |
| Developer: | Bread Machine Games |
What do you get when you blend Lovecraft, 16-bit top-down graphics, and lots of eldritch abomination?
Why, Deathstate: Abyssal Edition, naturally. A bullet hell roguelike shooter, with a story of professor Elinberg who unwisely opened a portal to void. And we, his meticulous students, are bound to see what happened to him, by entering a deep meditative state – the titular Deathstate – which allows us to travel into the dimension beyond all dimensions…
D: AB really comes into its own when it comes to enemies and power ups. The former are a filthy slew of disfigured Lovecraftian monstrosities. The latter, like potions, relics, grimories and organs of the unknown origin, all spike up your power, resistance, dodging ability and the likes. Multiple runs reveal more unique characters and more fun!
| Key features |
|---|
|
Rogue: Genesia
| Release date: | 2022-09-19 |
| Genre: | Bullet Hell |
| Developer: | Huard Ouadi |
Another Early-Accessian on our list, Rogue: Genesia, combines what we love in roguelike games best: medieval motives, Vampire Slayers-like graphics and loads of monsters.
The player stats are pretty detailed, which swiftly shifts the game into the action RPG area. An achievement after each leveling up is a natural occurrence here.
Now, enemies. If you think Brotato or VS have many, think again. There are literally zillions of them, from anthropomorphized mushrooms to armed skeletons. You’re gonna need some serious power-ups to end the game in one piece. Thankfully, there are so many of them that you will get analysis paralysis.
| Key features |
|---|
|
20 Minutes Till Dawn
| Release date: | 2022-06-08 |
| Genre: | Action Roguelike |
| Developer: | flanne |
An arch-villain of Deathstate: Abyssal Edition, 20 Minutes till Dawn also explores Lovecraftian tropes, and also employs heavily pixelated graphics.
Visually, the game is less vibrant, and ‘exudes’ much darker palette of probably 6 or 7 colors, what clearly stands out in a positive way. Another distinctive feature is an all-female batch of 12 characters to choose from. 8 evolvable weapons make a decent arsenal (our favorite – the bat gun 🙂 ). Upgrade trees do not suffer from embarrassment of riches, what really pays off for everyone who detests overabundance.
Let’s talk monsters now. These are pure Lovecraft’s pets, especially bosses: Yog, Shub-Nigurrath and Shoggoth and their one-eyed, blob-like, lopsided lackeys and malformed minions. Just lock ‘n load and let’s go!
| Key features |
|---|
|
From bat-winged abhorrence and crawling filth, to armed skeletons and blood-sucking vampires – that’s what awaits you in the five games like Brotato.