Buckshot roulette is an ugly, nasty game that pits players against a sinister, shotgun-wielding dealer in a no-win scenario. The game is a solo effort from developer Mike Klubnika and blew up on itch.io after launch, partly because it became popular on short video platforms. The game has since launched on Steam and has now sold over a million copies. In a world where beautifully crafted, big-budget games can fall off the radar without causing much of a fuss, it’s interesting to question the unexpected success of a small game, especially one designed to be so viscerally unpleasant .
“Buckshot roulette It was never intended to be a commercially viable product, or anything beyond my usual audience. Although the initial release had a price tag, no actual calculations or accounting took place,” Klubnika said in an email interview with Polygon. “Besides the basics, I didn’t know anything about game marketing, community building and the like, so I just put it out there in the hope that other people will have fun with my idea.”
Klubnika has released other, similarly experimental games in the past. The other side is a bite-sized game about escaping from an underground shelter that is closed off from the outside world. The player must set up a clumsy, hair-raising exercise and make it work long enough to escape. “Personally, I think horror games offer a lot of room for experimentation compared to other genres,” said Klubnika. “If the main goal is to scare the player, the rest of the game can basically be anything, so you can do pretty much anything you want.”
Image: Mike Klubnika / Critical reflex
Buckshot roulette was partially inspired by Encryption, a similarly sinister card game, as well as other horror titles. Klubnika wanted to focus on an industrial horror aesthetic: rust, pounding music, dirty bathrooms, gritty sound effects. The central game of Russian roulette is already terrifying; Complementing it with the surrounding context and the addition of shotguns pushes the boundaries even further. “The eerie atmosphere of industrial horror always resonated with me on a deeper level compared to supernatural themes that are often explored in various projects,” said Klubnika.
Klubnika’s next intended step ahead Buckshot roulette is to expand it into a multiplayer game, where two players compete against each other. “One of the key factors for expanding to Steam was the ability to work on the feature using existing tools to support the online component,” says Klubnika. “I have a lot of fun ideas to make this mode feel unique and challenging, but also fair. There is certainly a lot to discover when it comes to multiplayer-only items and match rules.” From there, Klubnika plans to launch the game on consoles and mobile stores.
The success of Buckshot roulette is enough for Klubnika to be able to work full-time on game development, while previously he worked on projects parallel to his work or university. “This isn’t something I ever expected to be part of quite an underground indie development scene, so it’s very important to me, and I couldn’t be more grateful,” said Klubnika. He also cited his partnership with publisher Critical Reflex as incredibly helpful in launching the game to a wider audience.
The horror scene is going through a modern golden age, and while there are many brilliant big-budget games in the genre, indie games are the ones that have pushed weirder, more experimental, and horrifying new frontiers. Buckshot roulettesimilar to smaller games like Iron Lung, shows how these games can pop up unexpectedly and reach a large audience.