One BTN Bosses Review – A Must-Play One-Button Bullet-Hell Indie Game With a Brilliant Soundtrack
One BTN Bosses is a thrilling one-button bullet-hell indie game with roguelike mechanics, retro visuals, and intense boss battles. Check out my review to see why it’s a must-play indie game.
Hello everyone, and welcome to the Good Game Lobby review of another great release published by Inner Sloth: One BTN Bosses.
ON Button BSSS
What could a game called One BTN Bosses be? Well, exactly that. You are a ship controlled with one button, battling intense bosses. You travel through a campaign collecting GP (grind points) that help you unlock rewards like new colorways for the game, different types of weapons (like lasers), or ways to control your ship (like dashing). Each level gets you closer to one of the five bosses you’ll battle to complete the game.
Early in your run, you are introduced to your right-hand, Ace, who assists you with witty banter between themselves and the bosses you encounter. Ace is trying to get a raise from the company you work for and edges out a percentage of your winnings along the way. It’s a nice break between sometimes easy one-run level attempts and one level that took me over 20 attempts (I don’t even want to talk about it)
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The ship follows a line that automatically orbits the bosses. You can either move back and forth on that line, dash, or charge up, depending on what you select in the menu before starting a level. The longer you go without altering the direction, the more damage output you have, so you are always tempted to push it to the limit in fights, just edging out the boss’s last life before you take a hit. You start with three lives and need to restart if you exhaust them.
This is all for the main campaign. Let’s jump into my favorite part of the game: the roguelike mode called R&D.
Research & Development
You unlock it by playing through the main campaign, and once unlocked, it can be chosen from the main menu. You can also dabble in the roguelike gameplay while on the main campaign when you get to what looks like fireworks on the level selection map.
Here, you are met with randomly generated bosses, with upgrades unlocked at the completion of each level. You can increase your health, have a one-hit buffer before you lose health, increase speed, acceleration, bullet speed, damage, and many more upgrades that give you a new experience each run. Like any roguelike, once you have exhausted all your lives, it’s back to the beginning to start fresh. And like many roguelikes, it can become very difficult.
You would be surprised how much I love the roguelike genre, considering how poorly I play them. Like I said earlier, I’m not going to get any deeper into that 20+ attempts I took on one level.
Grind The Corporate Ladder
The campaign is packed with 50 handcrafted levels and bullet-hell boss fights. The bosses taunt you as you struggle and fail, but persistence pays off as you unlock new gameplay options and progress through a mean but satisfying narrative. The boss fights give you a best-of-three, best-of-five, or best-of-seven mechanic to push you to your limits, and you can switch between these options if you're having difficulty beating one.
Retro Pixel Arcade Shooting Fun
The game’s visuals have a clean, retro aesthetic with neon colors and dynamic designs. Each boss battle feels larger than life, with intricate bullet patterns and vibrant effects that create an electrifying atmosphere.
The visuals are pixel-perfect, retro-styled, with different neon colorways depending on the theme you unlock. Some of the colorways were too much for me, but not to worry—you have color settings you can adjust in the accessibility menu. The bullet-hell style can sometimes be overwhelming, but the clean design makes it easy to distinguish enemy bullets from your shots being fired.
James Evans Killed This Soundtrack
The high-energy soundtrack is a great complement to the high-octane gameplay. The soundtrack shifts in tempo, and the chiptune-inspired sound gives it a nice retro style. The drum thumping on most of the songs will make your body move. Here is one of my favorites—it’s not as fast-paced, but I love the style. Enjoy Schismatic Circuit.
🎶James Evans | One BTN Bosses Soundtrack Bandcamp
Must-Play
One BTN Bosses is a deceptively simple game that packs a punch with its one-button mechanic, the depth of the roguelike customization, and adrenaline-pumping gameplay. It’s perfect for players seeking a challenging but rewarding bullet-hell experience. It took roughly 3+ hours to complete the main campaign, and I plan on jumping back into the roguelike gameplay to see how far I can go before losing my mind.
It’s a great game with tons of replay ability, with the ranked level completion and the roguelike section of the game. If you are looking for a challenge with fun, colorful graphics and intense gameplay, it’s a must-play. I highly recommend it—Inner Sloth is now two-for-two for me with the games they publish: One BTN Bosses and Clickholding. I am excited to check out more of the games they have coming soon.
🎮One BTN Bosses | Steam
🗓️Release Date | Out Now!