Screenshot: Orbital Bullets
I appreciate a good roguelike, especially if the developers attempt some outside-the-box type ideas.
Orbital Bullet has certainly put its own spin on the subgenre, with all actions taking place on a 360 degree cylindrical platform. It sounds a little strange, but it’s really a novel concept that turns the action platformer on its head.
Orbital Bullet is an action platformer with some roguelike elements. In it, you jump, shoot enemies, and avoid projectiles while dealing with the curving nature of your cylindrical battleground. See, each “room” in
Orbital Bullet is really a circular platform, and it's due to this spinning that
Orbital Bullet get its most unique mechanic. It might not sound like much, but it’s surprisingly how much a slight curvature can change how you approach certain situations. Your projectiles, and those of your enemies, will curve around the platform on which you are fighting. It’s a bit mind-bending having to compensate for bullets going around a bend—and sometimes, there are bullet hell-like situations to avoid. It has almost 2.5D mechanics, since enemies/items can be in multiple rings in the cylinder, and you have to use a jump pad to navigate between them.
Screenshot: Orbital Bullets
Other than its curving nature,
Orbital Bullet is a pretty standard rogue-lite. Each run is different, as the levels are procedurally generated, and there are dozens of weapons to find. As you acquire more experience, you advance in levels and can distribute skill points into dynamic skill trees. The skills are handled in an interesting way: during points in a run, you can access different skill stations that will allow you to choose a configuration of skills. Essentially, you get to choose how the skill tree branches out—but only between a set of randomized choices.
Orbital Bullet is in Early Access, but it feels pretty polished. It has tight controls, and fun gunplay. According to its Steam Early Access page it will be in Early Access for at least a year, maybe more, depending on community feedback and development progress. Right now there are three different biomes to explore, four different classes, and bosses at the end of each biome to defeat. There is potentially something special here, and I look forward to how
Orbital Bullet shapes up through its development.
Screenshot: Orbital Bullets
You can check out
Orbital Bullet in Early Access on Steam now.
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