One Btn Bosses Review

Developer: Midnight Munchies

Platform: Microsoft Windows

Genres: Indie game, Action game

Publishers: Outersloth, Midnight Munchies

As gaming has evolved, it is only logical that most video games are now more complicated than they were thirty years ago. I’ve lost count of the amount of times I’ve returned to a game after a few weeks and entirely forgotten how to play it, leaving me sitting there tapping all the wrong buttons in an embarrassing manner. Well, don’t worry if you’re looking for something more basic in your life; One Btn Bosses features all the fast-paced action and tough-as-nails boss fights you could desire from a game – and it’s all played with one button.

However, explaining how this works is not as simple as one might think. Each One Btn Bosses combat takes place on a track that surrounds the boss, and the little form you play as is located on that track. Your shape will move along the track and accelerate automatically, and the faster it advances, the more bullets it discharges. Unfortunately, the bosses will not take damage lying down and will shoot a variety of bullets, explosives, and forms at you in order to stop you. This is when your one button comes in handy, as it (by default) alters your course to dodge incoming damage. That’s all there is to the game, yet few games I’ve played this year have had me hooked so hard.

A lot of this is due to the boss design, which is simply stunning. Each enemy will use a certain pattern of assaults, ranging from forming sweeping bars that chase you down the track to shooting missiles that detonate in a huge radius. Learning how to dodge these assaults while maintaining your speed for maximum damage is instantly appealing, regardless of how many times you die, and lends itself to pursuing higher ranks of completion speed or even the top spot on online leaderboards.

It won’t be long until you start unlocking new ways to maneuver in One Btn Bosses, which completely transform the game. One of them is replacing the ability to turn with the ability to run forwards at high speed while taking no damage, effectively allowing you to dodge all bullets with the proper timing. Then there’s the reverse, which combines the two to form a dash that switches direction. You can employ whichever of these skills is most effective for you at a particular level, and there’s no shame in sticking with what you know.

As you progress through the campaign, you will acquire new powers and weaponry. Some of these aren’t too insane, like the laser, which can be powered up by collecting sparks that appear on the track. Other more difficult weapons have the ability to deal massive amounts of damage but are incredibly tough to operate, such as the juggler, which requires racing around the track to catch balls that you then launch at the enemy for added damage. Mastering all of these weapons was way above my abilities, but some incredibly dedicated and skilled gamers will use them to create magic.

The campaign of One Btn Bosses is a great method to understand how the game works while being beaten up by the titular bosses, but for replayability, you’ll probably stick with the Roguelike mode more. In this mode, you’ll be able to choose your path through a web of nodes to fight numerous bosses, who, after slain, will provide you with a variety of upgrades dependent on your initial weapon. With limited health and randomly generated monsters that gain additional attack kinds as you continue, this mode is always entertaining and adds an added layer of strategic decision-making to the twitchy shooting and dodging.

Both modes of One Btn Bosses will award you with grind points (because the entire game is based around a crazy robot capitalist nightmare), which can be used to unlock a plethora of items after you have earned enough of them. This method unlocks all of the weapons and abilities, as well as a selection of beautiful color palettes that may be switched between at any time. The majority of these are based on various LGBTQ+ flags, which create wonderful graphics while also warming my proud gay heart.

Above all, One Btn Bosses impressed me by making me love something I often don’t. Bashing my head on a boss fight repeatedly. Late-game bosses would frequently beat me fifty times in a row before I finally shot them down, but perfecting a technique and memorizing their attack pattern was so exciting that I didn’t mind. The fact that you’re given the actual percentage of health you took off after each effort helps since you can see the progress, but I’ll admit that when it read 98%, I yelled out loud in emotional misery.

One Btn Bosses is an excellent game, and I’d be hard-pressed to find anything negative to say. Some of the weapons and abilities were too finicky to even trying to utilize, and perhaps a few compulsory tutorial-style levels would have helped me appreciate their utility. There are a few color palettes that make the game difficult to view, but it’s a bit of a stretch in terms of drawbacks.

One Btn Bosses is a brilliant game that demonstrates that less may definitely be more. With insanely tight gameplay, some truly creative features, and the capacity to take hours of your life without you even noticing, One Btn Bosses is almost bloody hazardous in terms of its addictiveness. The notion that a game with only one button to play is currently at the top of my game of the year list is truly mind-blowing, but that is how wonderful this game is.

Review Overview

Gameplay: 79%

Controls: 85%

Aesthetics: 76%

Content: 74%

Accessibility: 88%

Value: 80%

Overall: 80%

SIMPLE YET ADDICTIVELY CHALLENGING!

Summary:

“One Btn Bosses” demonstrates that simplicity can be entertaining, reducing the action-packed boss fight experience to a one button task. The gameplay is straightforward, but it requires precise time and focus, resulting in a distinct, fast-paced experience that is simple to learn yet difficult to master. While the visuals are simple, they complement the action perfectly, allowing players to concentrate purely on rhythm and timing. With an easy setup and high replay value, One Btn Bosses is an excellent choice for anybody seeking a fun, quick, and gratifying challenge without the complexities of standard controls.