The bullet heaven craze, started with the astonishingly addictive Vampire Survivors, doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon. Among the several hundreds of titles already released, a few truly stand out as amazing alternatives – one of the most notable ones being Brotato, already a huge success on PC and mobile and now having arrived to Xbox and part of the Game Pass subscription service as well. Will this be the game to lose your next dozens of hours of gaming?
Potato Survivors
Brotato, unlike many titles in this relatively new genre, isn’t just a direct imitation of what Vampire Survivors does – indeed, a more fitting description would be said game meeting The Binding of Isaac somewhere in the middle. That other indie classic’s visual style has very evidently inspired this game, with its Flash animation style cartoony drawings with intentionally simple animations and wide black lines. Indeed, unlike most so-called bullet heaven shooters, Brotato also shares the small rectangular arenas with The Binding of Isaac, with short burst battles as opposed to one long barrage of enemies. It’s certainly an unusual approach to this newly popular genre, but at its core it still follows the formula by adhering to many fundamental rules.
The autofire of these games is certainly a feature here as well, with generally up to 6 weapons available in as many floating Rayman-style hands. There’s really all kinds of stuff here: shotguns, explosives, life-stealing guns, primitive bats, elemental items and more, all with their individual range, attack speed and more. As we gain XP by mauling foes, various kinds of upgrade paths are presented to us. First of all, for every level up the player can invest in individual statistics like movement speed, attack and so on. Likewise, killing monsters also gives money, which in turn can be used inbetween the 20-60 second burst fights to buy new equipment, such as weapons, useful items and so on. Some items are certainly straight-forward, but for the most part they employ some sort of sacrifice: a huge boost to the attack numbers in exchange for health, a decrease in mobility countered by better chances of dodging attacks and so on. Before long, players will have several dozens of items and weapons with varying stats, allowing all kinds of crazy builds worthy of the best action RPGs out there.
I’m classy
The start of said strategies already begins in the character selection screen, where players can use one of the several dozens of unlockable fellows with widely differing stats and perks. There’s a ludicrous variety, including some that completely change the gameplay loop by doubling the available weapons or removing them completely from the equation, subbed by a self-exploding status that keeps damaging enemies as we get hit. Many of these characters truly alter the gameplay and strategies, and some of them are incredibly difficult to create a competent build with, but the rewards for it can be tremendous amounts of effectiveness. Experimentation in Brotato is incredibly rewarding and exciting, as every couple runs it’s easy to find a combination that seemingly makes you a true killing machine. It’s also very funny to see these already wacky cartoony figures get increasingly grotesque, as their look gets changed by all these odd tools in the shape of glasses, wings, clothes, etc. that keep building this Frankenstein monster of a playable character.
On the flipside, the game’s incredible depth of customization and builds clashes with what is otherwise the game’s very low variety. Bullet heavens rarely have much story or lore, but Brotato in particular has literally none, with also no permanent upgrades and progression present aside from the new unlockable characters and difficulty levels. Speaking of the latter: a normal match of Brotato ends on level 20, after the player beats the boss. This then counts as a successful run and, if the player were using the highest unlocked numbered difficulty level, the next one is unlocked, which in turns features new enemy designs with different attack patterns as well. Players can also choose to play beyond level 20 turning on Endless Mode, but the incentives for it aren’t really there. And that’s about it: there’s no actual different stages, real decorations, varying locales or whatnot: the core of Brotato remains the same, with only the character builds ensuring that no two matches are identical. No co-op, no permanent upgrades, etc. – Brotato is a one trick pony, for better or worse.
Your next addiction
But ultimately, I find this to be Brotato’s strength. It aims to do a single thing, which is being a deep and addictive round-based bullet heaven shooter, with a ludicrous amount of items, weapons and upgrades that allow for quite literally infinite builds. It may lack the variety of Vampire Survivors, the production values of Soulstone Survivors and so on, but Brotato’s short-burst rushes of adrenaline make it one hell of a game anyway. And since it’s on Game Pass and otherwise only costs about 5 bucks… it’s hard not to recommend Brotato to anybody on Xbox.
Brotato
Played on
Xbox Series X
PROS
- Simple yet mindboggingly addictive
- Astonishing variety of builds
- Pretty much endless replay value
- Cheap and available in Game Pass even
CONS
- Doesn't have different stages
- No alternative game modes, co-op or anything
- Doesn't have the gameplay variety of certain other bullet heaven shooters
