I had a game fall through, and so it was the perfect time to play a game that has been on my backlog for some time. I like Wild West-themed stuff, and I like deckbuilders, so it was a no-brainer to play this week’s game. That was until I beat it on my first playthrough and haven’t beaten it since on harder difficulties.

This week is Barrel Roll.

Barrell Roll is a roguelike deck builder from Barrel Roll (fitting) and published by Rubika Supinfogame. The game was released on the PC in October 2025 and retails for $5.

It fits the bill that in Barrel Roll, a futuristic wild west-themed deckbuilder, the player takes the role of a bounty hunter. To your surprise, there are loads of gang leaders roaming around, not being taken alive or just plain dead. You, being the bounty hunter, gotta change that. Barrel Roll starts in the saloon that primarily focuses on selling bullets, upgrades, and peddling information regarding these bad machines. The player is always given a choice of what baddie to pick and a couple of special tasks that reward the player with an extra bullet or upgrade resources. Choose a baddie and set off on that dusty trail.

Instead of a deck to draw cards from, the bounty hunter has a cylinder of bullets to choose from. The first bullet is always chambered first, with a damage number located on the icon, and when the turn starts, the bounty hunter has a few options to choose from. Anywhere from 3-5 enemies can litter the screen at any time, requiring the player to understand the limited mechanics of Barrel Roll.

Each baddie has a number attached to their shield and health, and alongside that is a turn clock and an intention, so the player can appropriately plan for the turn they attack. There is a nice light layer of strategy in Barrel Roll when you have to prioritize and manage enemies that buff allies or an enemy that will deal massive damage. The boss enemies provide a meaningful challenge with their predisposed mechanics and behaviors. I have issues with the buffs as some of them are wildly overpowered. There were times that I would take 3 turns to deal a significant portion of damage to enemies to have them heal 27 total shield back in one turn. It would only have been possible to stop that if my deck was overpowered, BUT IT WAS ONLY THE THIRD ENCOUNTER.

Bullets come in all shapes and sizes, and it is imperative to understand what each bullet color represents. It doesn’t explicitly state what each type does, but I’ll do my best. Red deals the direct damage, Blue deals damage to shields, Yellow to control the field, and Green focuses on skill point generation. There are a ton of bullets to choose from that really impact the combat and can be slotted in any chamber in the cylinder. There are times when the player needs to stall, and increasing the enemy turn clock is critical or when an enemy is attacking, it needs to be dispatched quickly.

My first completed run was with a bullet that gave my next two bullets multi-shot and the next was a bullet that increased clocks by 2, needless to say the enemies never really attacked.

Regular shooting deals regular damage and offers half of a skill point to use later on. When the player wants to use their skill points, they have three options to choose from that range in damage multiplier with a little mini-game attached: Barrell Roll for when encounters get a little scary, and you need a specific bullet chambered, Draw to deal hefty damage, and Burst to deal more damage across more than one bandit.

Barrel Roll can be, and usually is, a very difficult game, which is why it is $5. There were times that enemies would restore their shields before I could break them, making rounds go on for what seemed like forever. There are clear paths to victory but when there are five enemies on the screen that buff and/or attack every 2 turns, Barrel Roll becomes a wash. It is a truly frustrating experience.

After cleaning up, Barrel Roll rewards the player with a fully regenerated shield, straight-up cash, and a choice of where to go next, which are the most critical areas of the game. Upgrading slots in the revolver, upgrading bullets, healing up, gambling, buying trinkets, and acquiring/buying titanium are a sight for sore eyes after a long-winded fight that left you battered and beaten. Bullet upgrades usually just add a +1 to whatever the bullet does/damage. Trinkets provide another welcome layer to how the player conducts themselves during combat, for example, increasing max HP, adding to the turn clock when the player breaks a shield, and passing on debuffs to another bandit when another one dies with a debuff. The trinkets and upgrades hold significant weight that can, sometimes, really allow the player to live out a rootin’ tootin’ power fantasy.

All of this is accompanied by a minimalist art style, with shadows doing the heavy lifting to give the player a sense of where they are. The UI looks really nice, and the color of the bullets and titanium pop even more on the black-and-light-colored backgrounds. Character models other than the players have minimal detail, while bosses have unique looks, sizes, and arenas. Baddies have stiff animations when they attack, but their attacks still have weight. Obviously, more work was put into the player animations, which are fluid, making for a well-oiled machine. The single song that plays during fights is great, and I want to listen to it all the time, as it really hits home the western theme.

Barrell Roll doesn’t end when you roll credits the first time. There are other bullets and trinkets to discover and baddies to hunt down. There are moments when the player should just give up, especially in fights against enemies who buff each other endlessly, which is a real feel-bad moment, but that is the bane of the genre. Barrell Roll looks and sounds good and the power fantasy that the player can achieve is super fun. Barrell Roll has some shortcomings, but for a $5 game, I think that it is worth the money.

6/10