Minishoot Adventures review: The Legend of Bullet Hellda

Minishoot Adventures is a curious genre mashup that somehow works

Soulgame

When I was approached to review Minishoot Adventures, I had my doubts. A twin-stick shooter take on The Legend of Zelda with bullet hell bosses doesn’t sound like something that should work at all. Somehow, though, developer SoulGame has managed to stitch together these genres in a really satisfying way. 

There’s not a whole lot of story in Minishoot Adventures, so let’s just get straight into the gameplay. The premise is simple: what if you were playing The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, and Link was suddenly turned into a spaceship with twin stick shooter controls? That’s it, that’s the whole game. 

Minishoot Adventures has you exploring a world and fighting off enemies / Soulgame

You’re a spaceship, you shoot at enemies, they shoot back. You explore the open world, get blocked by roadblocks that require specific abilities or progression to get through, fight tough bosses in dungeons, and do all the stuff you would in a top-down Zelda game. You’re just a spaceship instead of a little elf boy with a sword. 

It’s honestly a blast. The art design is gorgeous, the enemy encounters are tough but fair, and the upgrade path feels smooth and well-considered. Pacing a metroidvania like this is a difficult job, and developers in the genre tend to either slow the pacing down too much, or race through things too fast. Here, everything feels just right, and despite making my way to the credits in about 15 hours, it felt like a truly epic adventure on an alien planet. 

The boss fights are probably the star of the show here, though. While most of the game has you fighting against a few enemies, most of whom can only fire off a few basic shots, boss fights throw you into decidedly difficult bullet hell sections that test every aspect of your abilities. I died many times in boss fights – thankfully, the penalty is basically nothing – but learning patterns, adapting to a terrifying amount of bullets on-screen, and finally winning was one of the greatest joys in gaming for me these past few months. 

Boss fights are difficult and very fun / Soulgame

There’s not a whole lot more to say about Minishoot Adventures. It’s exactly what it says on the tin, a top-down Zelda-inspired twin stick shooter, and it’s polished to a mirror finish. It’s hard to imagine any game that could do this concept better. 

Score: 9/10 

Version tested: PC via Steam