Screenshots & trailers
Review sentiment over time
Weekly positive-review rate (green) and review volume (bars). Dashed lines mark significant patches; the amber line is the start of the current scoring window. Hover the dots to see what drove a dip or a jump.
How this score was computed
The VGC Score is a weighted blend on a press-comparable 0-100 quality scale. Steam approval rates are first calibrated (95% positive on Steam ≈ 89.5 quality, since Steam approval skews high). Press and tracked creator reviews each count ~2x a player review and share one cap against player evidence (creator buy/skip calls pool into an approval rate, calibrated like Steam approval); all-time sentiment is capped and halved (it's context, not verdict); reviews of the current build carry the most weight when a fresh patch anchors the window; and a 'typical game' prior keeps small samples from pegging the scale. Because press reviews and Metacritic user aggregates describe the launch build, their weight decays as the game ages (3-year half-life after a 1-year grace). That's how a game that launched rough can outgrow its old reception once updates win players over. Reviews under 2h playtime (the refund window), non-Steam activations, and free copies are downweighted.
| Component | Positive | Quality (0-100) | Weight (pseudo-reviews) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Press reviews (OpenCritic) | – | 74 | 39 |
| Creator reviews (2 tracked) | – | 78 | 1 |
| All-time Steam reviews | 90% | 84 | 1000 |
| Metacritic user ratings | – | – | 0 |
| Post-patch Steam reviews (trust-weighted) | 99% | 95 | 7 |
| Calibration prior (typical game) | – | 72 | 50 |
Scoring window: last 30 days (no significant patch detected) · 21 reviews sampled · 18 total reviews in window · weighted 13.7 up / 0.1 down · computed 1h ago · full methodology →
Press & Creators reviews (56)
Individual verdicts from outlets we track: scored reviews first, most trusted outlets first among them. The small badge is each outlet's trust score: how well its scoring history aligns with players.
- 90
“Developers at team Awe Interactive managed to catch rhythm-shooter hype with a real finesse, and showing others how to make games in this new subgenre.”
read full review ↗ - 70
“BPS is a perfect choice to spend an evening. But that's all the game got breath for.”
read full review ↗ - 60
“We really like BPM; it’s a great game, but perhaps it’s one best experienced on another platform, especially if you play in docked mode.”
read full review ↗ - 80
“For the rest of you looking for a challenging 2020 game right off the bat and don’t mind investing 20 to 30 hours getting good, dig into BPM: Bullets Per Minute. You won’t regret it.”
read full review ↗ - 65
“A cool idea gets bogged down by a lack of visual clarity, an unfortunately casualty specific to the Switch”
read full review ↗ - 60
“I love the core concept of Bullets Per Minute, and I admire the developers for trying to bring it to life. But…it doesn’t quite work as well as it could have, or should have. It’s like they had this awesome idea, and then glued, taped and nailed a rough game around it. It has flashes of brilliance. Moments where it all comes together and your timing is perfect and your foot is tapping. Those moments are rarer than they need to be. Between them you deal with lack of musical variety, the aggressive colouring and the rogue-like structure that doesn’t quite work. It needs more fleshing out. But I think for some people it’s going to really click with them, and for around £15 you’re getting something different and interesting. Maybe that’s enough.”
read full review ↗ - 70
“On one hand, BPM: Bullets Per Minute is a neat mix of FPS and rhythm gameplay. On the other one, it's a terribly unbalanced roguelike that is also in dire need of variety. Throw all these in a bowl, and the end result is a soup with a couple of ingredients that shouldn't be here… but, somehow the taste remains pretty darn good. After all, how can you go wrong with a game where you are in control of a Valkyrie that blasts monsters in Asgard with her shotgun, in sync with some fine heavy metal.”
read full review ↗ - 70
“Despite its shortcomings, we were always drawn to come back for 'one more run'. It nails the roguelite gameplay hook and has a unique gameplay mechanic to support it all. While it at times feels as though the game's fighting against you when everything comes together, there's nothing quite like it. Clearing a room of monsters in time to the guitar shredding soundtrack never gets old and the constant progression of unlocking new characters and skills is an incentive to keep trying. It's not a home run, but those who buy into BPM: Bullet Per Minute's charm will certainly have a good time.”
read full review ↗ - 80
“Bullets Per Minutes is an absolute badass roguelike game with rhythmic shooting and traversal. The Nintendo Switch version did take a big hit in the graphics, but it still has its absolutely amazing fluidity and shooting style. The difficulty arc may make you call it the Aim Labs of the Nintendo Switch, but that is how the game was built to be. Only if you are up to the challenge, give this game a shot! To the beat!”
read full review ↗ - 75
“An unrefined rogue-like, but a hell of a rhythm shooter. A killer soundtrack and some striking visuals blend beautifully with frenetic shooting to produce pure adrenaline.”
read full review ↗ - 90
“BPM is a playable metal opera where the instruments are guns and that’s just awesome.”
read full review ↗ - 65
“Where does this leave BPM: Bullets Per Minute? As it stands, BPM is a solid idea that's well executed, but it's wrapped in some mediocre game design that ultimately drags down the experience. This may sound like a harsh deconstruction of the title, but I would still recommend it to the right person. If you're very much into rhythm games or intrigued by the title, give it a shot. Its gameplay is promisingly solid, but the rest of the experience feels either underwhelming or too repetitive to appreciate over time. I would have loved to see some more drastic gameplay variations, skill-based additions, or maybe a change of pace or music to mix things up.”
read full review ↗
GameMAG
3DNews
Nintendo Life
Kakuchopurei
Nindie Spotlight
Wolf's Gaming Blog
Cubed3
Pure Xbox
Gameffine
PC Invasion
Forever Classic Games
Worth Playing…and 44 more tracked reviews.
Patch history
- BPM: Custom Music UpdateSep 27, 2022
- Custom Music UpdateSep 27, 2022
- Minor Translation and other fixes.Nov 9, 2021
- Hotfix 2Sep 30, 2021
- Hotfix 1Sep 21, 2021
- BPM: Localisation & Performance UpgradeSep 15, 2021significant · resets scoring window
- Localisation + Performance PatchSep 15, 2021significant · resets scoring window
- BPM: OVERDRIVE UPDATEFeb 5, 2021significant · resets scoring window
- Overdrive PatchFeb 5, 2021significant · resets scoring window
- Patch #1 Patch NotesSep 23, 2020significant · resets scoring window