Smashing the Battle review: a bullet-hell shooter fought with a blade, made by one developer

Nobody paid us for this review, and the game did not come from the developer.

In front of a bullet-hell shooter, we always ran. One tiny ship, a screen full of bullets, and a constant search for the gap where you would get hit a little less. Smashing the Battle flips that around. You dive into the bullets and cut down whoever is firing them.

A game one person made

Smashing the Battle was developed by one person, Han Dae-hoon of STUDIO HG. The design, the art and the building all went through the same pair of hands. Steam lists Action Square next to the studio name today, but when it first came out, this was one person's game.

A bullet-hell fought with a blade

The game takes the bullet-hell shooter and turns it into close-range combat. Enemies still fill the screen with shots and explosives. The difference is that you are not a ship. You are a fighter with a blade. You slip through the fire to close the distance, and the moment you reach them you sweep the whole crowd away. Dodging becomes the same motion as closing in, and it feels nothing like running away.

There are two heroines. Sarah O'Connell and Marie Lucy each have their own story and fighting style, so the same stage plays differently depending on who you pick.

Built like an arcade game

Inven calls it an action game in the classic arcade format. There is a wave mode where you hold out against crowds and a time attack mode where you race the clock, and every clear leaves a score behind. It has the rhythm of a short, dense credit at the cabinet.

Dodging becomes the same motion as closing in, and it feels nothing like running away.

Back then

The best bullet-hell players at the arcade were quiet. They kept one small dot in the middle of the screen and barely moved while the bullets slid past. We held our breath behind them and watched their hands. Smashing the Battle shows what happens when you put a blade in those quiet hands.

Playing it now

A future construction site where hacked building robots turn on the workers is not the look of the old games. But the moment you cut through the fire and wipe out a whole wave at once is the same rush the arcade gave us. Two genres one person loved meet in a single game.