Always At Death's Door (Buckshot Roulette)

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Ok, I haven't watched Reindeer Games, I kind of wish I did. One of the most notorious concept that film is known for, is the Russian Roulette. Which involves shooter a revolver on your head with one loaded chamber. Now for shotguns, well, this is quite different.

A more sinister, deeply grungy version of the whole premise; Buckshot Roulette is just simply putting a guy waking up from the bathroom, to go in the backroom of a nightclub on the 3rd floor, and engage in some brutal gambling for life and death. It's an intense test of faith, and how much control you have over what faith places you in. All in the hands of a 8-gauge shotgun.

It's pretty addictive, like I was feeling this power surge, moving several steps ahead. But soon as the dealer gets the upper hand, I am left to his devices, and just studying his patterns alone sends shivers down my spine. Almost as if am battling death itself.

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What disgusting corner of the earth has a bathroom like this? Bleak Sepia toned, the color range looking toned down, is this what hell looks like? Something probably worse, because if anyone is going to put a shotgun on their heads, more doom and gloom in presentation.

Before our ensuing battle begins, I had to write my name in limited 6 characters. Sealed in a liability form through a machine pad, the contract is now his, and with that, the game begins. Starting with 2 rounds of blanks, and 2 rounds of actuals. All those rounds are shuffled by him. That isn't fair, there should be a third party involved with that. That's just him playing with the rules now.

It's simple, all I had to do was take a gamble of which is the live round or which is the blank. Simply shooting myself skips the dealer's turn, if I survive, the next possible round will be the live. The other 50% chance is now 66%, with that odds, only one blank, I take a shot at him.

Unfortunately, soon I heard the click, my turn was over, and so the shotgun turned to him. He didn't have to do anything, just aim and took a shot at me with the last live round. Out of two, I had one health charge left. Shotgun was refilled, this time with 6 rounds, 3 of them live, back to my turn.

I didn't screw around this time. So I took a big gamble, aimed straight at his face, before it finally hit him. Once he came back, his face kind of changed, his teeth is showing more. No longer smiling. His turn, and well, he thought he had it all figured out. Him trying shooting himself twice, the first being blank, the other finally took him out. Now, it's round two, and is where the game really starts.

In phase two, the fundamentals of the game changes, there's 8 inventory slots, and 2 random items from the box is taken out. I got handcuffs, and a pack of cigars. This round has 3 live and 2 blanks. I've managed to lower 2 health points of his without using any of my stuff.

Around loading with a full 8 shot, and 4 of the live ones shuffled. Now, the strangest thing I've picked out from the box is a liability form with god's name on it. So it is hell, and this guy played against the almighty himself. Yet he keeps taking the hits from me.

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Now the way I saw it, easiest way to win probably is to be super aggressive as possible with all I have. The magnifying glass he has, can be used to check the chamber round, various items given has their uses. I once fumbled over, and he had a blade that can saw off the head of the gun for one turn, which took two health points before finishing me off with.

Does any of the stuff here makes sense in reality? Obviously not. But what I've seen thus far tells me this is some sort of live broadcasted game, and it's one of those powerful ones. Maybe there are some cosmic entities involved, since after shooting the guy so many times, he doesn't easily die.

Then there's the doctor, he resuscitates me and we're back to the start. The taste of defeat isn't wearing off, so I go back to the room with full retribution, phase one should be easy, being familiar with phase two, out with the handcuffs where he watches me nearly destroying him.

He was cuffed for one turn, and since I didn't have the knife, two points was all I could take out. And lucky me, because I probably left more blanks in the gun, increasing my chances of him not killing me. But of course, he has the cigar, and the drinks to rack out one from the chamber. Odds be in my favor when it gets reloaded, and I receive two more random items.

For me, this game was about planning well ahead, and taking chances while making the best out of it. This is the normal mode, and there are three phases. Last one is absolute life and death, no resuscitations. And increase in amount of provided items.

And the health changes with the last two bars looking crackled and only outlined. This is sudden death state, meaning I won't be revived, and it'll start all over again. This one time I used everything I had, leaving the knife for last, I finally took him out. As the dealer was gone for good, I was presented with a briefcase, and a scoreboard for how well I played.

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Just a disclaimer, this game has rougelike elements. Right after winning, a double or nothing mode is available for option. But if I continue playing the normal mode and lose, the statistics computer is gone.

Felt the rush after winning against evil incarnate. But after coming back, there's two things I see, a computer that literally has a beating heart in the cracked side of it, and shows me my statistics of the last game I won. There's more, like world records, and comparison with my steam friends.

Now, the other thing is this pill, this is where a mode called "Double or Nothing" is enabled. Now, I thought the depth of insanity was reached in normal mode, this one is an adrenaline pumping, railroad ride to deepest of hells. Because, being crazy is wanting to do this more.

4 new items are introduced, like a clairvoyant burner phone, this dinky thing I inject into myself before stealing one of his items quick, an inverter that switches up all the rounds in the gun, and 50/50 healing medicine. 50% chance of healing one point, 50% of taking a damage.

Sheer madness has brought me here, as well as the gumption to face death one more time. All 8 rounds are shuffled every loading, and picking 6 items each time it is. No worries, there will be resuscitation, but after beating him in all 3 rounds, the last thing he'll ask is to give going to double my earnings, is anybody sane enough to take it?

If you're into lore, there's plenty to pick up on. I think after several plays, I believe I only got around to repeating this 2 or 3 times, and I called it quits. I don't find this that addictive, but it heightened my senses. Crazy concepts, and obscene premise are just the icing.

I don't get the horror part though, yeah it is scary, but that is attributed as a creep factor from the soundtrack, ambient sound design, and aesthetics. Doesn't really scare me much overall. But I did hear there's the afterlife ending where in the last phase if I died after losing all health, including the last two, I wake up to a twisted version of heaven with spikes everywhere.

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