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Parry the Bullet is a top-down, hyper-fast action game. And when I say “fast,” I’m not exaggerating. You either drop enemies instantly, or you get one-shotted and sent straight back to the checkpoint.
Your objective? Slash and shoot your way through hordes of gunmen and knights.
Fair warning to anyone with a short fuse: this game will absolutely make you want to throw your controller through a window. But man, is it a blast.
You can wishlist the game on Steam right now and request playtest access to jump into the beta. The official release window is currently slated for November 2026.
The premise is short, sweet, and to the point. According to the official description: “You play as a chicken knight in a medieval avian kingdom. Firearms have suddenly appeared. The crows used them to plunge the kingdom into chaos. You must stop them.”
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When I first saw the key art, the gorgeous visuals tricked me into thinking this was some cozy RPG. Getting my hands on the actual game shattered that illusion immediately. This is twitch-reflex gaming at its absolute finest.
Because I’m a keyboard-and-mouse player who’s still adjusting to a controller, grappling with the game’s default top-bumper layout (LB/LT/RB/RT) meant I got absolutely body-slammed during my first few runs. Thankfully, the keybindings are fully customizable.
Still, the sheer addictiveness of this genre lies entirely in that trial-and-error loop. I spent my runs learning enemy telegraphs; after all, AI patterns are relatively fixed and easy to read.
But as you progress through the levels, the game cranks up the density of the mobs, and the difficulty spikes hard. It reminds me a lot of Cuphead—a game that filtered me pretty quickly, but one I still respect as an absolute masterpiece.
The magic happens after you bash your head against a wall enough times. Muscle memory takes over, your brain clicks into the zone, and suddenly you’re gliding through stages.
For a high-speed action game, Parry the Bullet feels highly responsive, and the art style is really well done. Personally, I’m a sucker for this kind of hand-drawn art style; beautiful aesthetics are usually the first thing that sells me on a demo anyway.
If you rush through the stages, you might miss some of the cooler mechanical nuances under the hood. For instance:
Beyond standard slashing and shooting, you can chuck your sword or pistol to stun enemies, setting them up for a lethal jump-attack follow-up.
Sword strikes aren’t a guaranteed one-hit kill. Enemies will occasionally parry your attacks, though a single clean hit usually gets the job done.
The current demo is on the shorter side, featuring just five levels (though the Steam page hints at roughly 45 stages for the full release).
Factoring in the learning curve and time spent recording gameplay, my total playtime clocked in at around 26 minutes. If you manage a deathless run, you could probably blitz through all five levels in about two minutes flat.
Each stage grades your performance—from C-tier up to an S-rank—which should give high-score chasers plenty of replay value.
That said, this is still a beta, and I did notice a curious little detail during the stage transitions. In one run, with only a single enemy left on screen, I dashed to avoid an attack and accidentally crossed the finish line.
The game triggered the victory screen and handed me a B-rank, locking my character in place. However, the game doesn’t actually pause in the background. The remaining enemy kept walking up and attacking my frozen character while the menu was still up.
Interestingly, you can actually close the victory screen quickly to unlock your character and escape, but you have to act fast. If you hesitate for even a split second, you’ll get killed right there on the screen. Thankfully, even if you do die, it doesn’t affect your progress at all, and you will still proceed to the next stage as normal.
I’ve tested this across multiple stages: if you cross the finish line by dodging instead of clearing the room, you have to be ready to spam the “Continue” button to avoid getting hit.
I’m not sure if this is an intentional quirk, but from a player perspective, it might feel a bit more seamless if crossing the finish line instantly cleared any remaining threats, or simply paused the game world behind the menu.
Alternatively, locking the exit until every enemy is defeated could also be a straightforward way to handle it. Either way, this was a unique little episode during my playtest, and it’s always interesting to see how different games handle these post-stage transitions.
Bottom line: If you lack patience, this game might push you to the brink of gamer rage. You might find yourself wanting to yell at your monitor.
But if you live for brutal challenges and the dopamine hit of finally overcoming them, keep this on your radar. It’s definitely a challenge, but it doesn’t cross into modern-day bullet-hell misery. Spend a few runs learning the ropes, and you’ll be clearing rooms in no time.
Note: This preview is based on an early demo build; features and content may change by the full release.
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