BPM: Bullets Per Minute Switch Review – Flight of the Valkyries

When it comes to the roguelike genre, first person shooters are not normally the type of games that initially come to mind. However, BPM: Bullets Per Minute is not only a roguelike dungeon crawler, but it is also a rhythm game where shooting, jumping, and other aspects are better if you are on the beat, hence BPM.

So does BPM: Bullets Per Minute fire off at the right time? Or does this rhythmic first-person shooter with roguelike elements an earworm? Let’s find out!

You are the mighty Valkyrie, and it is up to you to fight off the forces of the Underworld and prevent them from invading Asgard. You must fight your way through multiple areas, defeating bosses, as you make your way to the final boss. Each one is scary and challenging in its own rhythmic way, and it is up to you to take them out.

On your journey, you do unlock more characters to play as that have their own unique strengths and weaknesses, which reminds me heavily of The Binding of Isaac. Also similar to roguelikes like The Binding of Isaac are the randomly generated areas, random items to enhance your Valkyrie, and the vast variety of weapons, which are a series of guns here, to give you the advantage over the competition.

BPM: Bullets Per Minute is a fun idea for a roguelike adventure, and the story, albeit straight forward and simple, provides a solid backdrop for the overall experience. The playable characters and the monsters all match wonderfully to the theme and setting, which definitely helps to make you feel like you are genuinely defending Asgard from the Underworld.

Like many roguelikes out there, BPM: Bullets Per Minute presents you with a relatively small map that you must unlock one room at a time en route to the exit. Each map is randomized with enemies, special room placements, unlocks, and more, and it is a lot of fun. In the early stages, enemies are pretty mild-mannered and are not too much of a hassle, but believe me when I say, you will be dying a lot, which is a point I heavily want to make.

You see, BPM: Bullets Per Minute uses a unique filter that gives everything on screen a similar hue that does make seeing very difficult at times. I experienced this especially when fighting smaller bosses in certain maps, as they whip around the screen and blend in with the background or some of the decorations within the setting. When a normal room is full of smaller enemies, it can become a quest at times in larger rooms to find the last enemy bat or worm that may be stuck in a corner and cannot quite reach you. This continues the trend of similar color tones blending too much and making things harder than usual to advance.

Controls are pretty solid for the most part, although I did find some of the defaults controls to be rather interesting, particularly the right bumper for reload. Considering this is also a rhythm game, timing your shots and jumps will take a lot of practice, so again, you will be dying a lot. Thankfully, Auto Rhythm can be turned on within the menu, so that can take away the stress of needing to be on the beat while trying to focus on the enemies at hand.

Maps have places like gun rooms, banks to store money, health rooms where you can purchase potions, and arenas to test your abilities, among a plethora of other types of specialty rooms. Alters to upgrade agility, damage, speed, etc are also sprinkled around, even if they are hard to spot because they can blend in. And of course bosses close things out before moving on to the next map, and they can be an absolute nightmare due to the color patterns. Don’t get me wrong, they are a serious challenge and do not feel too unfair, but a better choice of color for some of the enemies and bosses could have made all the difference.

As for the overall graphical design, I honestly think BPM: Bullets Per Minute is a beautiful game that reminds me heavily of old games like Quake. The focus on religious iconography is awesome, as it reflects important images from Norse mythology and the gods. This combined with the more modern look of pistols and rocket launchers makes for an interesting display, but I still think that the color palette could be better as everything blends too much, especially in certain orange and yellow-colored maps.

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The music, however, is where things shine intensely. Holy cow! The soundtrack in BPM: Bullets Per Minute is outstanding, and I love how things do connect to the rhythm when played normally. Every stage is elevated thanks to the guttural crunch of the rockin’ metal playing and the sweet guitar solos, and it all beautifully fits with the action happening on screen, particularly the bullets flying and the enemies dying. I mean, this is a rhythm game at its core, and although it implements other genre ideas, it is in the music that BPM: Bullets Per Minute knocks it out of the park.

When it comes down to the wire, BPM: Bullets Per Minute is a wonderfully done rhythmic first-person shooter roguelike dungeon crawler (That’s a mouthful!). Does it do all areas perfectly? No, but that shouldn’t take away from its accomplishments. This is a solid first-person roguelike that is unlike anything else out there, and it is a challenge to boot. I do think that the overall art style and color schemes could have been done better to make enemies easier to see, but its still plays incredibly and sounds awesome.

It is difficult to say exactly who this game is designed for, as the hodgepodge of genres blended together may be off-putting for fans of any one genre. I know FPS fans may not like the roguelike dungeon-crawling, and the roguelike fans may not enjoy playing in first-person. And who are the fans of both of those genres that wanted a rhythm shtick mixed in? Well, that doesn’t matter, because BPM: Bullets Per Minute is here and it rocks!

If you are willing to join the flight of the Valkyrie as you protect Asgard from the Underworld and enjoy excellent tunes on top of blasting enemies with an arsenal of guns, then BPM is for you. Just remember that this game is tough as nails, but it will rock your face off throughout.

BPM: Bullets Per Minute Switch Review provided by Nintendo Link
Publisher: Playtonic Friends
Developer: Awe Interactive
Release Date: September 8th, 2022
Price: $24.99, £19.99, €21,99
Game Size: 6 GB