Title: Silver Bullet
Developer: 1CC Games
Publisher: Flynn’s Arcade
Available On: October 30th, 2025
Platforms: PC, Nintendo Switch 1 & 2
Reviewed On: Nintendo Switch 2

Introduction

Silver Bullet is a twin-stick, horror, rail shooter, action game that gives you plenty to aim for and loot to collect. Can you overcome the odds?

Synopsis

Take on the role of Van Helsing as you try and stop a vampire named Reggie. Reggie has been kidnapping puppies, and you must travel the globe to rescue them and bring them safely home.

Analysis

Van Helsing embarks on an adventure to blast his way through all sorts of ghouls and ghosts through a variety of areas such as carnivals, graveyards, museums and much more. How do you extinguish them all, with weapons with various upgrades as you push your way through each stage to take on the enemies and eventually the boss.

The gameplay

Silver Bullet is an arcade horror gallery shooter that places you in the role of Van Helsing. The story is basic which consists of a Vampire named Reggie who has dognapped some puppies, for what reason, who knows? All we know is Van Helsing must travel to different locations to rescue these pups from the hands of this blood-sucking man bat.

The game sets you in a third-person perspective with a fixed camera. You will move one thumb stick to move back and forth at the bottom of the screen, and the other thumb stick controls the sights of your weapon. If you stop at any point, you can dodge oncoming enemy attacks or hazards.

There is a wide variety of locations over 12 levels that grow in intensity as you progress. The enemies you encounter such as paranormal entities and spiders, are generously abundant and varied with many different patterns to their routes and the projectile spread and type will keep the player on high alert as the player must choose between avoid taking damages and trying to aim and make the kill shot.   

Boss battles are more intense, and the fun is trying to balance your timing and making a strategy to take out the enemies as quickly as possible with minimal damage. As a player once you run out of life it is game over and you will need to start over. What is also fun and allows for some strategy is the weapon upgrades you get in game to take out enemies much more efficiently.

The game layout has you play a smaller level where you can get some currency and allow you to potentially buy something at the store to aid in your quest. After hitting up the shop you will play a larger level and then a boss. This of course is an arcade game, so points are tracked, and scores are tracked at a local and online level. Also, besides the arcade mode you can unlock a Terror Blocks mode which is puzzle based. I also like that they have a shop/upgrade menu that allows the player to use gold coins for upgrades and power-ups. This makes for some fun replay value.

Final Score

Silver Bullet has plenty to offer though a short game once you start obtaining the upgrades. The gallery style shooter with horror esthetics, makes the game simplistic, yet a good chaotic on screen and sequential game play. The sound effects and music make the game more lifelike and really submerse you into the world and create that state of focus while trying to obtain a high score. You cannot go wrong when picking the game up for a few playthroughs.

The issues I mainly had were when the intensity of a boss battle would pick up faster, I would try to use the twin stick setup quicker. This resulted in a more awkward execution for a clean getaway from enemy fire, but not only just in that scenario. I also experienced, at times, periods of which the art style clashed a bit, and I couldn’t tell what could hurt me or what was safe. For these reasons it was sometimes I would hesitate which left me vulnerable to damage.

The game is great, especially for those who love high scores, quick shooting action, and limitless quarter play throughs. If you want some quick and strategic twin-stick fun, check out Silver Bullet. Stop Reggie the vampire from stealing innocent puppies.

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Shane Kelley is a Senior writer for Boss Rush Network, as well as a writer for Another Zelda Podcast. His favorite game is The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. You can find him on X or Bluesky to talk video games, Marvel, cribbage, and axe throwing.

Images: taken by author