Roguelike tootpunk bullet hell Cavity Busters from JanduSoft and solo dev SpaceMyFriend is ready for you on PS5. Learn more about it in our Cavity Busters review!
Roguelike tootpunk bullet hell Cavity Busters from JanduSoft and solo dev SpaceMyFriend is ready for you on PS5. You’ll be taking on the role of one Gummy The Soft, who has fallen hard from the Great Gob. You must help Gummy climb up and battle his way through the many teeth enemy that will stand on his path. The Pearly Knights must be stopped at all costs. Given the game’s roguelike nature, there will be no permanent upgrades, and each run that you take on will have you exploring a different body. It’s one that certainly pays homage to games such as, for example, The Binding of Issac, with hectic, fast-paced gameplay that will not be for everyone.
You must, therefore, make the most of the upgrades and diseases that you collect along the way to extend your run. Yes, you read that right. Diseases. Those have some pros and cons for you to consider. You could get a boost to your agility but take a hit on the damage you deal. Or maybe you gain one that makes the floor slippery while granting a chance for enemies to become stunned. There’s one for making enemy bullets leave behind a poison trail while also giving them a 50% chance to start battle poisoned.
There’s a huge variety of stuff to add to Gummy, with 280 items in total, so there are plenty of different ways that your run can go depending on the combinations that you collect. This risk and reward system is expanded by the fact that you can cure a disease to remove the cons and only keep the positive effects. Do know there are some diseases that can’t be cured, so you need to be careful about what you get! If you leave a disease behind, then the body will consume it. This will, in turn, increase the overall difficulty of that run, so you’ll have to consider
You’ll control Gummy the Soft with the left analog stick as you aim his attacks with the right one, shooting with the ZR button as needed. But to do that, you’ll need to get your hands on some teeth! After shooting a tooth, you will need to recall it to your side. Perform a charged shot by holding down the ZR button. If you press the ZR button after shooting a charged attack right before it hits a wall to perform a boomerang attack. You can jump with the Square button, but jumping is on a cooldown timer while in combat. This is because after jumping, Gummy will soar high,
Gummy can roll over holes or bullets by pressing the L2 button. Roll into yellow bullets to deflect them. If Gummy rolls into a wall, it will start a wall run. Enemies on the wall can be defeated by wall running into them. When you start a wall run, you’ll gain brief invincibility, which is shown when bullets turn blue for a moment. Pressing and holding down the L2 button while performing a wall run will allow you to then dash. You can dig into rooms not connected to the main path to try and find some extra goodies. This is done either with a shovel or by spending some of your health. Shot gums can be launched with the R1 button. They’re fast and powerful but require goop to be used, so be sure to collect as much goop as possible. Pressing the Triangle button will allow you to heal.
Trophy-wise, Cavity Busters has a full trophy list with a Platinum trophy waiting for you. And with this one being a Cross-Buy title, your purchase will give you both the PlayStation 4 and the PlayStation 5 versions of the game, with each one featuring its own trophy list. That list includes 10 Bronze trophies, 15 Silver trophies, and 5 Gold trophies, and it’s one that will prove to be quite challenging. There’s one trophy for beating the game, another one for beating it in hard mode, defeating 100 enemies, finding a secret hole, completing a run without taking any disease, taking every single disease in a run, digging 30 times in a single level, and complete a run with the different types of variants for Gummy.
If you’re looking for a challenging top-down roguelike – tootpunk – bullet hell, then Cavity Busters will certainly scratch that itch on PlayStation. It draws inspiration from games such as The Binding of Issac, featuring a hectic and fast-paced gameplay loop that will thrill some gamers while alienating others. Cavity Busters is available as a Cross-Buy title, so your $12.49 purchase will allow you to download both the PS4 and PS5 versions of the game at no extra cost, with each one featuring a separate trophy list.
Disclaimer
This Cavity Busters review is based on a PlayStation 5 copy provided by JanduSoft.
