6 Best Bullet Heaven Games, Ranked

The term has been around for a few years now, but Steam finally made Bullet Heaven an official genre on May 18, 2026. The inverse of Bullet Hells, Bullet Heaven games feature auto-attacks and require players to focus on their movement and positioning. Basically, we are talking about Vampire Survivors and the successors that arose from its explosion in popularity.

Nowadays, these games are more common than the classic Bullet Hells, and they have a habit of hitting it big, primarily thanks to their simple but addictive gameplay loops and the fact that they tend to be pretty cheap. Let’s celebrate this “new” genre by highlighting the very best bullet heaven games.

6

HoloCure – Save the Fans!

A Bullet Heaven Heavily Based On The Hololive Fandom

• A great tribute to the Hololive fandom
• Players can fight as their favorite Hololive idols throughout the game

Developed in collaboration with Japanese VTuber agency Hololive, HoloCure – Save the Fans! lets players enjoy the game as their favorite VTubers, also known as Hololive idols. Each idol has unique abilities that they can use to fend off hordes of mind-controlled fans who’ve been programmed to attack them. As the game’s name suggests, the idols’ job will be to save their fans and free their minds from the trance they’re in.

Players will have to collect powerups and upgrade their abilities to survive the swarming fans and emerge victorious. As the game progresses, new idols will be unlocked, allowing for more play styles and endless possibilities. All in all, HoloCure – Save the Fans! is a great tribute to the Hololive fandom and the idols that help keep it relevant and with a strong fanbase.

5

Boneraiser Minions

A Necromancer Using Their Undead To Fend Off Enemies

• Friendly unit management and strategic combat
• A unique approach to bullet heaven games

While most bullet heavens focus on shooting projectiles at incoming enemies to deal with them and try to survive, Boneraiser Minions, as its name appropriately suggests, uses undead as a form of defense. Players will take on the role of a necromancer who can raise undead from their graves and use them to fend off waves of enemies. The risen undead can serve both in offensive and defensive strategies, as they can be commanded to attack or to simply form a wall that allows the necromancer to upgrade or recover.

The game features a very pleasing pixel art style that, when combined with aggressive incoming hordes of enemies, results in a very enjoyable experience. Players looking for a bullet heaven game that relies heavily on strategy and friendly unit control should try Boneraiser Minions at least once.

4

Brotato

Action-Packed, Fun, And Very Starchy

• Simple controls that everyone can quickly understand
• Humorous designs and incredibly fun combat

As players might expect, there’s really nothing serious about Brotato, and that’s exactly what the game’s developers were aiming for. As a top-down arena-based shooter with a comedic twist, Brotato will have players control an incredibly skilled potato who must fend off waves of alien invaders by using a variety of weapons, items, and upgrades. With many roguelike elements and a thin line between bullet heaven and bullet hell combat, this title has everything players need to have hours of action-packed fun.

While other Bullet Heaven games sometimes have complex controls that require a learning curve, Brotato simplifies things, allowing even newcomers to feel comfortable and get the hang of the game quickly.

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3

Soulstone Survivors

A Bullet Heaven That Looks Great And Works Well As An Action RPG

• Action RPG-style progression
• 3D visuals that look great

Bullet Heaven games are generally synonymous with low-fi, 16-bit visuals that don’t really attempt to impress, but not every release aims for this type of presentation. Soulstone Survivors is one of the prettiest games in the genre, delivering 3D visuals that are consistently gorgeous. Except for something like Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor, Soulstone Survivors might be the best-looking game in the genre, which isn’t the be-all, end-all, but it does make a difference in a space dominated by projects with near-identical gameplay loops.

Fortunately, this 2025 release isn’t just a looker, as it also brings an RPG edge that is lacking in traditional Bullet Heaven games. Characters have skill trees, weapon crafting is part of the equation, and you can even slot in runes like Diablo. These mechanics grant a stronger sense of progression since you are character-building rather than just selecting a survivor and a weapon. Even the gameplay loop deviates from the norm, with the goal being to kill enough minions to get a Lord of the Void to show up, who holds the Soulstones needed for progression.

Honestly, I had gone off Bullet Heaven games by 2025, as it just felt like I was playing the same game with minor tweaks. Soulstone Survivors was refreshing, and it is the main reason I am still into the genre nowadays.

2

Halls of Torment

Diablo 2 Bullet Heaven

• Fun loot system
• Throwback graphics

If Soulstone Survivors took inspiration from Diablo‘s mechanics, then Halls of Torment just wants to be the Bullet Heaven version of the classic entries in Blizzard’s franchise, at least visually. The most striking thing about Chasing Carrots’ game is just how well it replicates the look of Diablo 2, an aesthetic that is simultaneously of its era but also timeless (although that might be my nostalgia talking).

The combat loop is generally the same as other entries in the genre, but Halls of Torment‘s uniqueness comes from its progression and class synergy. You cannot invoke Diablo without incorporating loot, and Chasing Carrots does that by letting you pick up temporary items that can be sent back to camp if you throw them down a well during a run, allowing you to then buy them permanently. The base game has 12 heroes (or classes) that hearken back to old-school RPG roots, including archetypes like Cleric, Shield Maiden, Sorceress, and Bard. That would already be good, but you can also mix elements of different classes, although you will need to reach level 100 with that class first.

1

Vampire Survivors

The Definitive Bullet Heaven Game And The Best

• Easy to play but hard to master
• Basic but charming presentation
• So much content

While not the first to ever use this gameplay format, as that was likely 2019’s Magic Survival or even spiritual predecessors like Crimsonland or Nation Red, Vampire Survivors is the main reason Steam created “Bullet Heaven” as a new tag in May 2026. Poncle’s 2021 game became such a cultural phenomenon that it is still widely popular half a decade later, a fact proven through the successful launch of a spin-off set in an entirely different genre, Vampire Crawlers: The Turbo Wildcard from Vampire Survivors. Fundamentally, Vampire Survivors is the quintessential Bullet Heaven game, with its gameplay loop being pretty much exactly as you would imagine it.

While plenty of imitators have risen from the ashes to try to sit alongside this masterpiece, Vampire Survivors still manages to stand far above the competition, thanks to its Castlevania-style Gothic aesthetic and a constant stream of updates featuring new characters or even collaborations that are completely free (a few exceptions aside). The 30-minute escalation curve is not only incredibly addictive but also arguably flawless, resulting in runs that feel substantial without overstaying their welcome. The gameplay might be relatively simple, but Vampire Survivors is absolutely stuffed with depth thanks to all the choices players have to make before starting a run and during it.

FAQ

Q: What is Bullet Heaven?

Games that feature auto-attacks and don’t require players to input them directly.