Buckshot Roulette

Submission 8,739

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About

Buckshot Roulette is an indie horror video game by Mike Klubnika in which you play rounds of Russian Roulette with a shotgun against a "crooked AI dealer" depicted as a humanoid monster with sharp teeth and dark eyes. As the player progresses through rounds of the game, a variety of items are made available to both the player and the dealer to give them advantages, such as skipping a participant's turn or gaining increased life. The game was released in late December 2023 and became the viral subject of Let's Play videos leading into 2024, garnering the game a significant fanbase and inspiring fan art and content.

History

On December 28th, 2023, indie game developer Mike Klubnika released the horror game Buckshot Roulette on Itch.io,^[1] described as "a tabletop horror game that attempts to re-design the infamous game of Russian Roulette, replacing the traditional revolver with a proper 12-gauge pump-action shotgun." The game has you play a variation of Russian Roulette played with a shotgun against "The Dealer," a shadowy, monster-like character. The game is played in multiple rounds, with the player being revived from death each round that they fail to survive, until the final round (full gameplay walkthrough shown below).

BUCKSHOT ROULETTE is a tabletop horror game that attempts to re-design the infamous game of Russian Roulette, replacing the traditional revolver with a proper 12-gauge pump-action shotgun. This extra firepower, and more importantly the different mechanics in handling a shotgun compared to a revolver, offers a fresh take on the classic and deadly game of chance.

The game takes place at the top of an underground nightclub, where the metal railings tremble to the pulse of long lost drum machines. A crooked AI dealer is waiting for you. Will you meet them?

Let's Plays

Buckshot Roulette became a popular subject of Let's Play videos on YouTube following its release. One of the earliest Let's Play videos was uploaded by YouTuber^[2] ManlyBadassHero on December 29th, 2023, garnering over a million views in two weeks (shown below, left). On December 31st, YouTuber^[3] 8-BitRyan played the game, garnering over 500,000 views in a week (shown below, right).

On January 7th, 2024, YouTuber^[4] special edd posted a video playing the game, garnering over 690,000 views in three days. On January 9th, YouTuber^[5] Markiplier posted a video playing through the game, garnering over 2.4 million views in a day (shown below).

Online Presence

Buckshot Roulette became notably popularized throughout December 2023 and January 2024 on sites including YouTube, X (Twitter) and TikTok, also gaining some media attention as it went viral. On December 31st, 2023, YouTuber^[6] GamerSault published a video explaining each of the game's endings, garnering over 400,000 views in a week (shown below). On January 3rd, 2024, TikToker^[7] @seaniedew posted a similar video, garnering over 694,000 views in a week. On January 4th, TikToker^[8] @wondrfk posted a gameplay video that gained over 3.9 million views in six days.

On January 9th, Polygon^[13] and Destructoid^[14] reported on the game.

Fan Art / Memes

The game also inspired fan art and memes as it went viral in December 2023 and January 2024. On January 8th, 2024, X^[9] user @alyok8510 posted fan art that gained over 1,500 likes in two days (shown below, left). On January 9th, X^[10] user @juerucj posted fan art that gained the same number of likes in a day (shown below, right).

Later that day, X^[11] user @neinmuse posted a screenshot of the thumbnail and title for Markiplier's Let's Play video on the game, which is simply "Buckshot Roulette," writing, "I misread this horribly," garnering over 2,900 likes in a day. The joke is that they misread the title as "backshot roulette." Later that day, X^[12] user @FunnyHulkButt quote-reposted @neinmuse, adding a mocking caption, garnering over 15,000 likes in a day (shown below).