While on the shorter side, the gamble of aiming a loaded shotgun at yourself and others is so viscerally enticing it makes Buckshot Roulette worth the risk.

There are few things more anxiety-inducing than a loaded gun. Particularly one aimed at yourself. Buckshot Roulette takes that anxiety to an insane degree, skipping Russian Roulette’s usual six cylinders of luck for a Remington Model 870 and a cluster of shotgun shells. For such a short jaunt into a lethal gambling game set in a rusted warehouse nightclub, this game of chance determines whether you leave with a suitcase of cash or in a body bag. It’s a blast, in the best and worst way possible.

Bang For Your Buck

When I say this game is not for the faint of heart, I absolutely mean it.

Ah, the tantalizing allure of cold, hard cash. It’s what drives you to this seedy, rusty nightclub where you get the thrill ride of a lifetime. Russian Roulette’s for wussies; we go hard in the deep urban sprawl. You get to play a game simply called Buckshot Roulette. Things kick off with you and the dealer, face to face, with a pump-action shotgun hanging out right in the middle. Every round, a certain amount of blanks and live rounds are presented and loaded into a random order. It starts solely as a game of chance, just like Russian Roulette. When you pick up the shotgun, you can either choose to aim it at the dealer or yourself. Aiming it at yourself comes with its own risks and rewards. If the shell is blank, you skip the dealer’s turn and go again, potentially getting closer to a live shell. The thing is, you could also wind up taking a blow to the brain in this gamble. Aiming it at the dealer is no less risky, as you can flatten the poor fool with a round of buckshot or waste the turn thanks to a blank, where the dealer will then make the same fatal decision. If either of you get blasted, you get woken back up with the good ol’ shock paddles.

When you first start, it’s a straight-up gamble, as you have no way of knowing what’s loaded and have to rely sheerly on statistics and luck. Things change up when it’s the next round though. You get to collect a list of different tools and power-ups that turn this from a game of chance to a game of strategy. You’ll have simple stuff, like cigarettes that restore a bit of health or handcuffs that cause the unlucky victim to skip their next turn. The most vital ones, though, are things like the magnifying glass that lets you look into the chamber to see what’s loaded or the pocket knife that saws off the barrel of the shotgun and double the damage. It’s high risk, high reward, and all wrapped up in a very tight package that’s simple to learn but lets you make as complex of a strategy as you can get. You get more items every round, and there are always change-ups to how many blanks and live rounds you can get, up to a maximum of eight shells a round. You can’t get a relook at how many of each there are, so you need your wits about you the whole time that this is going on. One strategic slip-up will land you in a bodybag, assuming you even get that luxury. The anxiety this game generates is 100% not for the faint of heart, and even once you get into the groove, it’s still viscerally shocking anytime the gun goes off, letting out a meaty roar that’s undisputedly jarring. Humans are naturally predisposed to be absolutely horrified at aiming a gun near themselves, and Buckshot Roulette weaponizes that in the most sharp and violent way possible. And for all the shock and terror of it, it’s absolutely mesmerizing as a game of chance and strategy. The music is always hyping up and toning down perfectly on cue, creating a tense environment that’s complimented perfectly by the grungy and gritty PS1-esque graphics, reminding me a bit of games like Iron Lung and Lost In Vivo. I swear, I can almost feel myself getting tetanus just looking at the environment, but that’s where its atmosphere shines best, down to all of the tools and even the dealer himself looking like they were fished out of a dilapidated bayside warehouse.

Racking Up The Kill Count

Playing shotgun roulette under the influence of drugs? Sounds like a pretty typical New Jersey warehouse rave.

When you finish the main three rounds, you’ll be rewarded with an endless mode accessible via drugs, and where, I’d argue, the real game starts. Every time you beat three rounds, you can double the money you’d win by doing another three rounds, with no cap on how many times you can do this. There’s even a leaderboard so you can see how lucky others have gotten in this game of chance. The way all of this is set up, though, only leads me to believe that, with some time, it wouldn’t be hard to add even more game modes and mechanics down the line. What’s here is such a stable platform that I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s more in store for Buckshot Roulette in the near future, but for now, the endless mode, called Double Or Nothing, is more than enough to keep people playing.

With the endless mode, you are given a plethora of new tools with which to change your strategies. You’ll have things like an inverter that can change a live round into a blank (and vice-versa), a burner phone that reveals what a certain shell in the order is, and even a shot of adrenaline that lets you snatch and use one of the opponent’s tools. Just be warned that while this can give you an edge, you can have this happen to you as well. Even when the odds are stacked in your favor, or even against you, victory never truly feels assured, and the dealer’s AI has a lot of flavor just in how it plays the game against you. It’s rarely frustrating to deal with it, and, hell, it even winds up being funny when, after a long streak of grisly failures, you see the dealer’s luck check out for the night, and he gets himself killed. Even when I think I’ve seen it all, there’s always some new, interesting combination of tools that make for unique strategies. I will say, after a while, the novelty will probably wear off, as this really is the extent of what the game has to offer, but just like some of my other favorite roguelikes like Inscryption and Slay the Spire, all it takes is a bit of time off and you’ll be wanting to tempt fate and luck again. It is admittedly a bit sparse in content for the time being, and it will probably wear out its welcome sooner rather than later, but that’s perfectly fine. What’s here is succinct but potent, polished, and refined to just the right amount of content and variety. A multiplayer mode is apparently already in the works, and that’ll definitely up the longevity by taking the gamble with friends. That said, the one thing that I could really see spicing up Buckshot Roulette would be a VR mode. I think that’d easily hit the very top of the list of anxiety-inducing games, as it would be utterly heartstopping to have to hoist the gun up to your head with your own two hands and pull the trigger. Until then, though, what’s here is more than enough, even if it’s on the leaner side.

Betting On Red Has Never Been More Nervewracking

Buckshot Roulette proves itself another strong case of the old adage that less is more. The simplicity in its design hides an addictive gamble that will keep your heart rate up the whole ride through, turning a game of chance into an effort to learn how to rig odds in your favor. The PS1-style graphics mixed with the gritty coloration and shading keep this a dark and somber affair that only adds to the visceral feeling of playing this fatal game. While the boomshtick might wear out its welcome with enough rounds spent, it’ll always have a place for those with an attraction to trying their luck, proving that a good concept, when fleshed out just enough, can say all it needs to leave a lasting impression. If you’ve got an itchy trigger finger and are craving a fatal game of chance, Buckshot Roulette serves its purpose and shows promise for so much more down the line.

Final Verdict 4/5

Available on: PC (Reviewed); Publisher: CRITICAL REFLEX; Developer: Mike Klubnika; Number of Players: 1; Released: April 4th, 2024; MSRP: $2.99

Full disclosure: A copy of Buckshot Roulette was obtained by the reviewer.

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