One Btn Bosses masters its simple premise

One-Btn Bosses lives up to its name: you only need one button to take on the chaotic bullet hell bosses.

Released on August 6th by developer Midnight Munchies, One-Btn Bosses looks simple: On a 2D plane consisting mainly of shapes and lines, you control a small spaceship (essentially a tiny dot, à la asteroid), which automatically fires its own bullets at the enemy while simultaneously returning fire – lots of bullets, deadly “the floor is lava”-like shapes, and lasers.

With its top-down view One-Btn Bosses brings everything to the same level, restricting the ship’s movement as you try to dodge bullets. The ship moves forward or backward on a fixed track, usually shaped like a circle, square, or curved line. The one button affects the ship’s movement. When you first start the game, the button changes direction; if your ship is moving forward, pressing the button reverses its course, which is helpful for dodging enemy attacks. But changing direction slows down the rate at which your gun spits bullets.

As you progress through the game, you’ll unlock various abilities. For example, an early upgrade changes the button from a switch that causes direction changes to a one-off sprint that quickly hurls you through enemy bullets. There are also attack upgrades for weapons, such as adding lasers to your ship, which can be swapped between levels like abilities.

The art style and design are clean and polished. The gameplay is straightforward. The attack mechanics are of course limited to one button. But within these limitations, One-Btn Bosses shines – it turns a single button into a bastion of possibilities in a world full of rules.

There are two modes you can play through. The first is a short (around four hours) campaign where you, as a lowly employee, literally face off against corporate bosses who attack your ship. You quickly unlock the second mode – the roguelite portion of the game, called Rifts & Developments, where you fight your way through procedurally generated levels. You can switch between modes at any time, but your campaign unlocks do not apply to the roguelite mode. That’s because One-Btn Bosses‘ Roguelite is fairly traditional in its structure: you start with nothing special and collect upgrades and abilities that change with each new round. It’s a fun way to try out a whole range of different skills as you fight your way through fast-paced, genuinely challenging levels.

One-Btn Bosses keeps things interesting level by level by slightly adjusting boss attacks or the playing field. One-Btn Bosses is never slow, but it starts off simple, with enemies firing their bullets straight at you – no complex patterns to dodge. But it quickly ramps up to add more and more complexity, leaving less and less room for error. Sometimes the level has a quirk – there’s a curved line that has portals at each end to mimic the constant movement of a circle without being, well, a circle. It takes a mix of reflexes and strategies to keep your balance When You have to press the one button. As I mentioned before, pressing it slows down the attack speed, which means you have to fight the boss longer – and stay alive! (The attack speed actually slows down every time you press the button, regardless of the skill you choose.)

So what do you prioritize? Well, that’s up to you. I’m the nervous type of player who always mashes the button to avoid the boss; I don’t mind staying in a level longer as long as I play it safe. But the speedrunners out there want precise jabs that keep the attack rate high to complete the level quickly. That’s the beauty of One-Btn Bosses – it allows for complexity and different strategies even within the strictest rules.

One-Btn Bosses was released on August 6th for Windows PC. The game was tested on a Steam Deck using a download code provided by Midnight Munchies. Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These have no influence on editorial content, however Vox Media may earn commissions for products purchased through affiliate links. You can find Further information on Polygon’s ethics policy can be found here.