A Clever Game System with Bullet and Its Exciting Battles
Move, dodge, deflect, and clear a constant onslaught of projectiles as a unique heroine in the action-packed battles found in Bullet.
One of my more recent deliveries was the entire collection of Bullet. Whoa! This is a game system that offers tons of variety, and picking up everything might not be necessary. Yet here I am. Ha ha! I was impressed with the easy rulebook and promise of all sorts of unique matchups. But how would that all play out? I was about to find out as the battles began!
Game Overview
Game Name: Bullet
Publication Year: 2021
Designer: Joshua Van Laningham
Artists: Many (4 Credited)
Publisher: Level 99 Games
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
Although there are a few different modes of play, I chose to focus on battling bosses with a single character. Bullets come flying into sight, and the goal is to survive while clearing them to knock out the boss’s shields. Easier said than done! With so many matchups, strategies shift a lot.
First Play
May 23, 2026
Complexity
2
Latest Play
June 10, 2026
Expansions
7
Setup Time
5 Minutes
Lifetime Plays
7
Play Time
30 Minutes
High Score
N/A
Game Area
26" x 22"
Low Score
N/A
Sights and Patterns
I remember learning a little bit about the game over the years, but I wasn’t prepared for how easy it was to get into.
The rules were intuitive and I rarely had to look something up beyond an edge case here and there. So cool! The art was bright and interesting, complete with fantastic flavor text.
Heroines are double-sided, offering the same number of bosses. Excellent! I could see how many times I could play just for pure variety, but started off where I often do…
Alphabetical! Adelheid Beckenbauer composed musical patterns against a rather oversized boss. Time to battle!
An Unlucky Loss
Poor Adelheid! Owing to my inexperience with the system, I didn’t balance everything as well as I could have. Clearing bullets with patterns was less than optimal. Whoops!
On the final draw from the bag, it turned out to be an unfortunately high-numbered bullet that took out the last of Adelheid’s health. Not too shabby, but I could improve.
The speed at which gameplay progressed was also excellent. I didn’t have to parse a lot of information to make a choice.
Granted, it wasn’t like I could perfectly plan out every round, yet I didn’t feel like I left everything up to luck.
Crushed by Kewpitrix
Just shy of a victory, there was a single shield remaining on Kewpitrix Engine. Talk about a terrifying sight with her crushing Adelheid. My goodness! Very difficult, indeed.
I played multiplayer a few times before, so had a vague idea of the differences in the heroines and bosses. Each offers something unique that isn’t always apparent up front.
This boss was all about forcing a heroine to discard patterns, which meant I spent action points to draw cards.
These abilities and patterns might not seem wildly different, yet I loved how I adjusted my strategies each time.
An Exciting Victory
It only took me another attempt to defeat Kewpitrix Engine. Yeah! This wasn’t easy, though, and it looked a little rough.
Note the unique ability on the left, where I was forced to use a pair of patterns in succession. Getting the board in the right state took some effort… And a bit of luck.
This was why I had to draw and add so many bullets before trying to use my patterns. Coupled with the need to spend action points to draw pattern cards, it was a tough match!
So satisfying, though! I was quite proud of my victory and could envision all sorts of challenges with other heroines.
Variety and Asymmetry as a Main Mechanic
One thing that struck me about this system is its variety. But not just the standard amount: It almost feels like this is a main mechanic. Never will it be played exactly according to the rules, as each heroine and boss changes something up. I liked this a lot! There are general strategies to understand about managing the bullets, yet these are always nuanced.
I’m sure there are other solo games out there that offer a lot of different matchups. This one simply stood out to me, as I haven’t seen it as much lately. This does go back to the question of deciding how much content is actually needed. Would I be fine with a single box rather than every combination? I’m pretty sure that would have been a viable option.
Playing every possible heroine and boss encounter would take ages to get through, and I’m just proud of myself for deciding to not go down that route. Yet? Ha ha! I look forward to discovering what all of the other characters focus on!
Anne-Claire, Scientist
To move through the heroines and bosses, I didn’t want to simply go through a mathematical system of every single possible matchup. But I wanted to change things up a lot.
I decided to switch heroines whenever one lost, although I would battle away against the same boss to close that out!
And so I moved onto Anne-Claire Forthwith, who is actually a promo character, but alphabetical, remember? Ha ha!
She was entirely different with a pair of pattern decks. One shows the required bullets, and the other shows the bullets to clear. Stacking them offered unique combinations. Cool!
Celestial Cleaning Ltd.
As I moved onto the next boss, I thought there might be some sort of issue… A single shield and a single pattern? Oh, I was about to learn what I was looking at here quickly.
Time to clean everything up with the Celestial Cleaning Ltd.! Rather than having a small bag to draw from, the entire set of bullets acted as my current. That’s a lot of projectiles!
But I could see the trick: This was a quick match where I would have to clear 12 bullets in a single round to win.
Oh, and don’t forget about the boss’s pattern, which needed to be present so I didn’t automatically lose. Too clean. Ha!
Workshop Success
I really had a nice time with Anne-Claire’s pattern decks. It might not be obvious here, but one deck is mostly clear so it can stack on top of the other card. Voila! A unique pattern.
For fun, this also created awesome card names and flavor text. As far as I know, this is the only character who uses decks like this. Such a great time without going overboard!
The real trick was to make sure I maximized the cleared bullets. I got lucky with lots of star bullets, too.
In a flurry, Anne-Claire kicked the cleaning company to the curb and created a right awful mess, as you have to. Ha ha!
The Case of the Cat
Moving onto the next boss, I couldn’t stop laughing. Beethoven is normally a character, but the boss side is one absolutely angry feline. Steer clear of that cat!
All of the pattern cards featured flavor text with cat-like noises. Angry, of course. What happened, Beethoven?! Ha!
Many elements looked rather standard, until I looked at the unique ability. That’s right: My heroine had a new action that involved petting Beethoven to reduce her bullets.
So thematic! The high action point cost made this tricky to incorporate, but it helped reduce the danger many times.
Forth without Fourth
Beethoven was a tricky boss for Anne-Claire, mostly because there were so many bullets to draw each round! A few pets helped a little bit, but an angry cat is still angry.
It all came down to the very end when there were no action points left and I had to risk drawing the last couple of bullets with no way to help out… And so little health left!
By sheer luck, low-numbered blue and green bullets came out. Beethoven was calmed! It was a very close call.
Yet what fun! Some of this came down to luck, but I felt like I had a lot of control over the risks I took.
Mems, the Best Boss
With another victory, I kept Anne-Claire out and moved onto the next boss. Meet Mems! I immediately laughed at her flavor text and ability. She clearly loved to talk!
Actually, I focused so much on the main quote near the top right, I missed an almost hidden form of entertainment.
Every boss features an orange bit of vertical text I wrote off, thinking it was just an indicator for the boss side. But there’s more flavor text to enjoy. Mems sounds like me. Ha!
The trick to Mems was how she always had an effect with a boss pattern. But it was either known, or a surprise effect!
Session Overview
Play Number: 1-7
Expansion 1: Bullet: Anne-Claire Forthwith Promo
Expansion 2: Bullet: Paw
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
Play Details: Boss Battle Mode
Outcome: 4 Wins & 3 Losses
Alas, in a rather comical twist, Anne-Claire was defeated by the chapter about… Cats. Beethoven, you returned! Ha ha! It took a few tries before Mems was defeated in an exciting finale. That means I’ll have a new heroine and boss to discover next time. Can’t wait! I loved playing this so much!
%
1 Play
Affordability
Price & Value
10
Functionality
Challenges & Mechanics
10
Originality
Design & Theme
8
Quality
Components & Rules
10
Reusability
Achievement & Enjoyment
9
Variability
Distinctness & Randomness
7
+ Pros (Positives)
- Gameplay is straightforward and easy to understand with a clear rulebook and helpful reference cards for the icons.
- Each heroine and boss introduces something unique to change up the decisions and strategies in clever ways.
- Although some matchups are more or less difficult in general, puzzling through the patterns is challenging and fun.
- The play time is filled with exciting moments and continuous action, which is rarely bogged down by upkeep.
- Humor can be found in a lot of the components and flavor text, adding a bit of entertainment in unexpected places.
- There is a ton of variety within the base game and while expansions offer new ways to play, they don’t feel required.
– Cons (Negatives)
- Some luck is involved, particularly towards the end, although this is pretty minor and bullets can often be moved.
- The boss’s sequence of play is mostly clear, but it can be easy to mix up the steps around shields and patterns.
- Occasionally, the wording of an ability is a little unclear and requires looking up answers online to fully understand it.
- The bags are a decent quality, yet it would have been nice to have flat bottoms to make drawing tokens a little easier.
Victory Conditions
Defeat the Boss
- Overall Goal Progress 9%
Goals and Milestones
Play as each heroine at least 1 time. (3/39)
Win against each boss at least 1 time. (4/39)
Continue the Conversation
What are some of your best moments from Bullet? Is there a heroine or boss who’s surprised you the most? I had a wonderful time with all of my shifting strategies! The core mechanics seem easy enough, yet the twists that are introduced offer all sorts of options. There are tons of matchups ahead, and I’m excited to see what else I’ll find in this solo puzzle!
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