About

BLUE REVOLVER is a manic arcade-style bullet-hell shoot-em-up with a strong focus on resource management and scoring. It builds upon a strong inspiration from CAVE and Raizing titles, and was intended to be a beginner-friendly stepping stone into the subgenre – the idea being to give players overpowered, ammo-limited special weapons to power through difficult sections. BLUE REVOLVER was released on October 11th 2016.

BLUE REVOLVER DOUBLE ACTION is a large, free update to the game, which will be released on 14th November 2024. It refines and rebalances a lot of the game systems while adding a healthy smattering of new content. It was created out of a desire to give players the best possible version of the game.

BRDA was initially intended for release in 2019, however due to health issues, it was put on hiatus with no ETA. Even many faithful players doubted its release until a surprise announcement in September 2024 and a public beta launch. But after a little bloody-mindedness and a lot of healing, it is now finally available.

We currently enjoy a Very Positive rating on Steam (98% of 431 reviews), and were at one point the highest rated hidden gem on Steam 250. The game has been well-received by both hardcore STG fans and genre novices.

What’s new in BRDA

• New playable character, Dee, with 4 special weapons
• 120Hz mode for super-smooth gameplay
• Large-scale game rebalance
  • Seeking to make more loadouts feel viable, reduce the difficulty of Hyper (medium) mode and increase that of Parallel (hardest) mode
• Final stage rework
  • An exciting reverse-scrolling section breaks up the “mini-boss rush” structure
• XP-Mode – an “exotic weapon mixtape” where players score to level-up
  • Refined balance is deliberately put aside in this mode
  • Weapon examples
    • An explosive spread blast that converts enemies and their bullets into more explosions, self-replicating
    • A high-damage bouncing orb that bounces off the player, the sides of the screen, as well as other orbs
• Re-organized mission mode with some new content – super-hard bosses, a puzzle mission, a rank management mission
• A wealth of extra options, including cheats and legibility settings
• “Gadgets” fill unused widescreen space with extra useful information
• Low-level engine fixes, optimisations and improvements
• Completionist tracking for mastering every loadout, with a small reward for 100%
• And lots more

What’s unique about BR?

• “Flourish” scoring system is unique and easy-to-understand
  • Build up a short chain of enemies, cash-in with the special weapon
  • More about planning and resource management than constant raw execution
  • “Breaks” add trick challenges at certain points in the game, usually during bosses
  • Generous extends mean the player is rewarded with resources for mastering scoring
• Powerful special weapons
  • Lancers, arc lighting, hyper lasers, cluster missiles, defensive options
  • Most boss phases can be quickly beat using special weapons
    • The challenge is in sourcing the ammo and balancing this against scoring
• Adaptive difficulty system tries to match the skill of the player
  • “Normal” (easy) mode locks the adaptive difficulty to low levels and features “auto-bomb”
  • “Hyper” (normal) mode places no restrictions on the adaptive difficulty, letting it constantly self-correct during a run
  • “Parallel” (hard) mode locks the adaptive difficulty at highest level, but offers more resources and scope for high scores
  • While the game can get blisteringly hard, our philosophy is to encourage strategy by being generous with resources
• A Missions mode with 25 missions
  • Tries to invisibly teach STG fundamentals by putting players in an environment where said fundamentals are in focus
    • An example of this - an “invisible bullet” mission, where bullets disappear when near the player; forces players to look beyond their ship
  • Experiments with mechanics
  • Offers short, intense challenges
• Tons of unlockables and options giving the sense of a “complete package”
• Art and character designs by woof
• Soundtrack by Qygen
• Remixed DOUBLE ACTION soundtrack by Exemia and Hagane
• Strict 240x320 game resolution using restricted palettes for a cohesive look
• Online leaderboards and replays

Story

In this world, magic possesses a technological, code-like structure. Improper use of this powerful technology creates a build-up of hazardous “junk data”. Therefore, specialists called “technicians” are trained and instructed to monitor and police usage of this technology. One group of technicians has the codename BLUE REVOLVER, and are noted for their use of highly-advanced handheld devices that can create and control complex automated machines.

Recently, a data anomaly has been observed in the mountains. This is the work of the playable character Mae, a “genius-level” programmer with little regard for the hazardous potential of her own works. The group is sent to investigate, and the true power of Mae’s device, MF-7 MAPLEBERRY, will now be put to the test…

Val and Dee from the BLUE REVOLVER group are also available as playable characters, but their stories are more like easter eggs or what-ifs.

Screenshots

• 
• 
• 

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Screenshot archive, more images, various aspect ratios and scales

Character/Promo Art

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Art archive, more art

Trailer

Trivia

• One run of BLUE REVOLVER takes about 25 minutes. We were fairly exacting about this.
• In most cases, the game’s stages are built and paced to match the soundtrack, rather than the other way around.
• The system concept started life as a clone of Muchi Muchi Pork, but eventually became its own thing.
• The visual design for the “devices” of the various characters are inspired by plastic toys.
• 120Hz mode is a fairly novel innovation for STG – though we aren’t the first
• The game’s rank (dynamic difficulty) system is divided into discrete levels, inspired by God Hand.
• All bullet patterns are given code designations and names – generally punchy, emotive words like BLUSTER or OVERTIME.
• The game’s source code is unobfuscated and fully available for viewing/editing by opening the .exe in an archive editor.
  • We wanted it this way.
• Some time after release, players found a way to exploit the scoring system, using special weapons in a specific way to build a chain and cash in at the same time, which was not intended.
  • Instead of patching this out, we embraced it, called it “Zero Flourish” – the new weapons are designed in reference to this trick.