The list of bullet heaven roguelites continues, as this is one genre that isn’t losing any steam on Steam. Honestly, it can keep at it, with Deep Rock Galactic Survivor and BALL x PIT still occupying a ton of playtime for me in 2025. Another genre slowly but surely making a comeback is the creature collector, so combining these two novel concepts into one is the name of the game for Shard Squad. Can these two ideas mesh into a chaotic slice of fun?

Shard Squad starts with a short expose on the lore, with some rough voice acting and static screenshots. However, we’re not playing for a grand tale; we’re playing because of the screen-filling insanity that bullet heavens bring about. You’ll start in the typical forest level, and find that your starting character is restricted to just one form of attack, with upgrades being relegated to stat boosts instead of a cavalcade of shifting weaponry standard for bullet heavens.

While Shard Squad‘s one-weapon approach may sound off-putting, you’ll find that after clearing a few bosses, you’ll have a formidable team of friends at your disposal to take on the hordes of baddies coming your way. Whether it’s bouncing bubbles, a cone of fire, or revolving musical notes, each of these summon-based attacks forms a strong resistance to enemies. It’s your call if you want to opt for high damage, high utility, or optimal cooldowns. They are all powerful in their own respect and can be tuned to several playstyles. Timed minigames throughout runs, like collecting flowers and defeating a specific enemy, can give you an edge like a clutch heal or a currency boost, as well.

One of the most important aspects of a bullet heaven is its difficulty – you need to feel like a powerhouse stacked against impossible odds, a deceptively-balanced scale. Shard Squad needs some adjustments here, as enemies match and even exceed your base movement speed, taking off big chunks of health with each hit. The roguelite meta-progression between runs costs a heap of currency, meaning you’ll have to chug through more than a handful of runs just to keep pace on the game’s “intended” difficulty, merely purchasing defensive upgrades. You can have a strong kit far into a run, only for it to get absolutely derailed by seemingly artificial difficulty.

With the challenge being lofty at launch, it’ll be tough to recommend Shard Squad amongst the crowd at this time, even at its low price point of $7 USD. Balance upgrades seem inevitable, as this is the chief complaint across Steam reviews and one I can echo here. For those that persist, though, there’s a boatload of characters and abilities to unlock, and the game could be another fine addition to Steam Deck on-the-go gaming. We’ll see if Shard Squad can stick the landing with its inbound first patch, as the potential for a great game is surely here.

A PC review copy of Shard Squad was provided by Nuntius Games for this review.

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Shard Squad

$6.99

7

Score

7.0/10

Pros

• Lots of Content
• Nice Price Point
• Great Pixel Art

Cons

• Poor Difficulty Balance
• Awful Grind