Brotato

Brotato is another game in the recent boom of bullet hell Survivor-likes, and for my money it's the most concise and dense full release in the genre right now.
Falling more on the SNKRX hybrid deck-builder side of the spectrum, Brotato has a strong emphasis on loadout cohesion and character synergy, with each playable class being quite unique in optimal playstyle. Every mechanic is utilized at least once over with the large roster of unlockable characters, with each one focusing on a different aspect of the game. High dodge, luck builds, self-damage builds, turret builds, a character that tries to kill as FEW enemies as possible, the list goes on.
While the visuals are nothing to write home about, they get the job done and are clear as a bullet heaven can be. Every achievement is tied to an in-game unlock, all of which affect gameplay. Cosmetics as a whole are disregarded in favor of honing the mechanics, and that's a philosophy I can get behind. As of 1.0 the game is complete, and while I'd certainly like future content drops, the game doesn't need it. It's got everything it needs to be fun and engaging.

[pl] Przypomina flashowe gry z początku wieku, z ich słabymi (śmieszkowość, brak ogólnej koherencji) i mocnymi (doraźność, poboczność) stronami. Niewielkie plansze.

Brotato is a great hail to the past, back to the old flash games from Kongregate or Newsground, combining the appeal of old wave based horde shooters with the new conventions of roguelite bullet heaven popularized by Vampire Survivors. There is no attempt at a story in here, you just jump straight into the game.

The animations and cartoonish style really feels mid 00's, which means that it might look like its plain ugly for people that dont have that nostalgic fator. Not only that but the poor animations really take away from all the magnificent chaos that is happening with numbers, but the spectable aint all that enjoyable to look at. The pros is that it can run on a toaster.

What the game is great however is in terms of mechanical depth and breadth of character builds. The game offers plenty of unique characters, that incentivize or downright force different playstyles, and that gives the game a ridiculous amount of replayability. There are 5 different levels of difficulty to beat, as well as having the possibility to continue the game into endless mode, instead of finishing on wave 20. Characters have a lot of stats to be tinkered with level up and purchasable passive power ups, so there is a lot of agency in to how the build ends up shaping. At times it almost feel like a puzzle game, in the sense that you try to survive with characters that have very niche quirks or limitations.

Its a really entertaining game, and dangerously addictive as the short runs means you want to go straight back in, to see if you have better luck with loot or better skill in dodging the enemies. So far this is easily the top of the pile when it comes to bullet heaven games.

Brotato is a wave-based bullet heaven no wait come back.

Listen. Just let me pitch you on it. First and foremost: Brotato is vividly evocative of older, stat-driven Flash games from the likes of Kongregate and Newgrounds. Not a lot of that around these days, a rare treat.

Beyond that: hundreds of items, dozens of characters, all of which incentivize or outright force a different approach. Each character has its own unlock attached to winning with it, always an item. Other achievements unlock characters representative of them. Play, not time, is rewarded. No meta progression, with every run winnable right out the gate.

Know how so many bullet heaven games end up feeling samey run to run? The diverse itemization and the fact that pivots are both possible and encouraged sends that issue packing. No fusing different weapons, no items needed for evolutions. Level your weapons by combining like with like, or just swap them out directly.

Like your games crunchy? Brotato has so many stats, all of which matter, all of which are mechanically distinct. Increased through level ups or adjusted with items, almost all of which involve bumping one or more stats up, others down.

Feel like bullet heaven runs turn into a monotonous slog of running in circles? The shop > wave > shop rhythm breaks things up nicely, and the game encourages and enables diving through packs even if you can't kill them. You can even save and continue.

It just does so much to address so many of the core problems of the bullet heaven subgenre, solving what often feel like fundamental issues with almost callous ease. So much so, in fact, that it's made it into my evergreen games, the sort I play when I just want a bit of fun without the commitment of a new or longer game. No higher compliment from a mechanically-driven player, really.