Holy Shoot is a fever-dream roguelite that shoots, laughs, and somehow keeps you coming back.
A chunk of the players had low expectations when Holy Shoot first booted up. They decided to play it for about an hour, make some notes, and go on with their lives because the title made them snicker a little, and the trailer appeared to be a fever dream.
Here they are, however, with double-barreled shotguns, hooked, and lines. Holy Shoot, a fast-paced roguelite first-person shooter created by Take Era Interactive, is as chaotic, ridiculous, and truly strategic as it sounds.
You play as a celestial warrior ordered to rescue items from the flaming pits of hell itself. Holy Shoot has a very solid base and blends speed, chaos, and charm in a way that is hard to explain yet simple to appreciate.
A little backstory is given to you when you first enter the Holy Shoot universe, and who doesn’t enjoy a little backstory? In summary, you, the Sanctum warrior, must make amends because the gates of hell have opened.
You start in a massive Hub space that resembles a mythical Olympus, a hall filled with sculptures and little marketplaces where Zeus or a figure resembling him sits on a huge dais, and other characters socialize on the floors.
The Hub seems like a living, changing base between runs and connects advancement to the world in a gratifying way because interacting with Zeus allows you to apply skill points, and other characters you encounter around the Hub may eventually become playable.
The fundamental job description for Holy Shoot is to run, shoot, and avoid dying. Holy Shoot‘s procedural design and the way that perks, weaponry, and class skills work together to force you into new playstyles make each run feel unique, and the first-person perspective adds an additional element of intensity and challenge.
You begin in the Hub, enter the center portal, and select one of three auto-skills (imagine thunder, frost, or a necromancy-related option). This selection is then included in your run’s construction. You have two character abilities when you first enter Holy Shoot, which are often assigned to E and Q by default.
The environment then rapidly introduces challenge popups that, upon completion, award you with useful temporary companions, such as a fairy who gradually heals and fights you. A healing well that boosts your HP slightly, a shop, an upgrading bench, a level-up station that functions similarly to the orb-pick systems in many roguelikes, and chests that produce three weapons for you to select from are just a few of the basic but significant choice points that rooms offer.
You may zip between cover, run past enemy fire, and unleash a variety of divine weapons in combat, which is a violent, DOOM-inspired blend of violence and agility. Every weapon, including the AK, Tommy gun, flamethrower, rocket launcher, pistol, shotgun, SMG, and sniper, has a unique feel, so no two firearms play the same.
The gunplay itself feels smooth and responsive on PC. Runs are interspersed with challenges (kill a certain number of foes without dashing, for example) that grant you temporary companions and perks that significantly change the current combat.
By adding a longer test of the build you have put together, boss chambers alter the tempo. If you kill a boss, you advance to the next run level, and if you die, you are sent back to Olympus to try again.
The way the systems interact to produce emergent moments is what works so well; a desperate hallway may be transformed into a work of art or mayhem by combining your weapon’s peculiarities, auto-skill, and a strategically placed fairy or perk.
Even when the screen is on fire and you are just one hit away from starting over, the humor and visual direction maintain a light tone while the pacing promotes aggression and rewards improvisation.
You might see a small damage scaling problem in other writes, and some of that in their play, but nothing that ruined the entire experience. On the other side, Holy Shoot still has a few balance anomalies that can somewhat ruin a run.
Because you may not always be able to determine how specific objects used to unlock permanent benefits were gained, a slight opacity around the earning process of some meta unlocks can also irritate the inquisitive completionist.
By giving you perk options that influence your build for the rest of that run, the level-up station in rooms allows you to level up within runs, simulating the well-known roguelite orb selection system.
There is a meta layer to progression between runs where you can engage with potentially playable characters and spend money or skill points with Zeus to strengthen or unlock talents. By avoiding lengthy periods without significant benefits and making sure that the run rarely feels like a waste, the upgrading speed feels fair and appropriate.
Instead, you frequently depart with new options or a better understanding of potential synergies. Aside from how fulfilling the main loop of risk, gain, and reset felt on PC, you might run into a detail you will be unable to properly trace: how some unlockable bonuses are being awarded.
Holy Shoot, this shouldn’t look this beautiful visually. Bright backgrounds, snappy weapon effects, and silly foes who somehow manage to be both cute and menacing are all part of the loud and lively art approach.
The strong design gives Holy Shoot its unique flavor and keeps each zone readable during intense fighting, demonstrating its entire devotion to the bit. With a few issues you might find during your time, the user interface is clear and simple to comprehend, and overall performance feels smoother than anticipated across a variety of platforms.
A few users have pointed out minor technical issues, but nothing that seriously detracts from the excitement of racing through rooms and witnessing the absurd visual mayhem.
Beyond its striking aesthetic, Holy Shoot‘s images help you focus during intense firefights by cleverly utilizing color and contrast. Power-up effects, environmental dangers, and enemy projectiles all stand out against the background, making it simpler to follow the action without sacrificing the chaotic appeal of the game.
The art direction feels both playful and meaningful thanks to this harmony between flair and clarity. With gratifying weapon thumps, explosive collisions, and a soundtrack that embraces the ridiculousness without ever coming across as obtrusive, the sound design keeps up with the fast-paced action.
Voice lines, silly enemy noises, and the victorious sound of a well-timed perk activation are just a few of the small details that add to the appeal. Gunfire has weight, and hostile cues are apparent enough to allow tactical options. Even during stressful runs, the game maintains a lighthearted tone by making fun of both itself and the genre through both its audio and visuals.
You’ll find yourself wanting to go back in time repeatedly as Holy Shoot plays like a blast and sounds like a joke. With a basic loop that is quick, equitable, and brimming with emergent joy, it perfectly embodies the “just one more run” formula.
The improvements seem significant, and the assortment of perks and weapons promotes exploration. Holy Shoot can stand out in the roguelite shooter market if Take Era Interactive keeps improving upon this self-assured, entertaining base and fixes a few minor balance and transparency problems.
