Buckshot Roulette

I love Buckshot Roulette for what it is, and I’m extremely disappointed for what more it could have been. The basic idea is right in the title: Russian roulette with a shotgun. There are two things that make it more interesting. One is the use of randomized items that let you do things like eject the current shell or forego your opponent’s next turn. The other is the hint of supernatural goings-on behind the scenes. The original itch.io release was a thematically strong proof of concept, and the Steam version is widely being treated as the “real” one, but it still feels largely incomplete. To its credit, it introduces several new items and a more flexible endless mode that was sorely needed since the original can be beaten in ten minutes. Unfortunately, that’s literally all it does.

For starters, multiplayer is still a glaring omission. I understand it’s a planned addition for the future, but why the wait? This isn’t a functionally single-player game that would need to be completely reworked; it’s already balanced around two players following the same rules. Secondly, and arguably more frustratingly, the Steam release does absolutely nothing with the intrigue that it’s built up. Despite publicly inviting comparisons to Inscryption, Buckshot Roulette is more like what that game would have been if it had just ended after an hour of the initial deckbuilder gameplay.

I can’t stress enough that I am a fan of what’s currently on offer here. Games about manipulating odds are absolutely my jam, and now that the opponent’s AI no longer makes stupid anticlimactic mistakes (in the endless mode, at least) Buckshot Roulette scratches that itch. Its horror aesthetic is also perfect down to the slightest detail. The unreality of PS1-era graphics is played up to maximize the grimy setting, the muted techno soundtrack that swells as the protagonist is maimed and drugged parallels a heartbeat, and the sound effects are suitably harsh and brutal. I just have a hard time getting over how much effort was put into what still feels like a proof of concept.