Nuclear Throne

 PC
User Score
7.7

Generally favorable reviews- based on 240 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 164 out of 240
  2. Mixed: 48 out of 240
  3. Negative: 28 out of 240

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  1. raorian
    Dec 23, 2015
    7
    a nice small game. very fun. why 7? cause i hate the trend of making a game rouge like as an excuse for a small amount of content. a good rouge like should be like ftl. every playthrough is awesome and UNIQUE
  2. prossnip42
    Dec 20, 2015
    7
    WOW! This game doesn't deserve the 90 percent that the critics are giving it. All though it's pretty fun. So... on with they review then:

    Pros: -The pixel graphics. I don't know what is it about pixel graphics but they just suck me in. I love the graphical style and it looks great -Thankfully the most important part of the game (the gun play) is fun. It feels very good to blow your    WOW! This game doesn't deserve the 90 percent that the critics are giving it. All though it's pretty fun. So... on with they review then:

    Pros:
    -The pixel graphics. I don't know what is it about pixel graphics but they just suck me in. I love the graphical style and it looks great
    -Thankfully the most important part of the game (the gun play) is fun. It feels very good to blow your enemies to smithereens and to get just that right gun to get you a little further. But now on to the cons

    Cons:
    -The characters feel the same. I know each one has different special abilities but i want something more damn it. How about different speeds of walking, different bullets for each character, hell even different stages for each character. But no the only difference is their special ability.
    - As you guys probably know this is a rogue-like. And i am not a huge fan of the genre. It just feels like a cheap way to make games harder so that you can play them longer. I have the same problem with Binding of Isac and Rogue Legacy but Nuclear throne at least isn't very cheap.

    So yeah, if you enjoy this kind of game go right ahead but for me it's just a decent time waster.    … Expand
  3. Exoic
    Dec 31, 2015
    5
    Is fine but nothing exceptional. Is like The binding of isaac but more simple and more difficult, the characters are boring and the feel is similar. The secrets are impossible to discover by yourself, the game depend the internet to see more 50% of the game.
  4. eldumloido
    Feb 16, 2017
    6
    Seems like a fun game but can't really play it at 30fps, gives headache after 10 minutes. No dlc and loads of content, if you have no problem with 30fps I really recommend it.
  5. OberiousLocke
    Feb 16, 2018
    7
    The issue with games like Nuclear Throne, Crypt of The Necrodancer, Enter the Gungeon, et cetera, is that it's one of those games where you get crazy good at the first handful of levels. With rather unforgiving gameplay, the sheer amount of **** it'll throw at you at random times, and lack of any form of retaining progress means you'll end up really liking seeing Desert and Sewer over andThe issue with games like Nuclear Throne, Crypt of The Necrodancer, Enter the Gungeon, et cetera, is that it's one of those games where you get crazy good at the first handful of levels. With rather unforgiving gameplay, the sheer amount of **** it'll throw at you at random times, and lack of any form of retaining progress means you'll end up really liking seeing Desert and Sewer over and over again, or make the time commit to become psychotically good.

    Case in point, I was having a awesome run, encountered a whole crap ton of enemies huddled around something I couldn't identify. I open fire, suddenly the unknown diamond thing explodes, lights up, and cut to the Nuclear police (???) beaming in and murdering me dead regardless of Halo. All of that took place over the course of about 2 seconds. Maybe the Rogue-like genre isn't for me? Though I don't quite grasp the mindset that enjoys potentially having a amazing run ended by the slightest mistake, which can very easily happen as early as level 2-1 with frogs things that explode and ninjas that can and will take out all of your health in 1 hit with practically no warning.

    It's good, it's fun, but like other games like it, the lack of literally any form of progress retention breaks it a bit for me, and at the time of writing, I'm really getting sick of seeing the desert because I didn't notice the one ninja in the cloud of enemies and bullets that took me from 12 HP to 0 in 1 hit.    … Expand
  6. Soulsborne50
    Sep 9, 2020
    5
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I write reviews honestly, so I'll be honest about this one. As old as this game is, and as many hours as I've clocked into it as I have, i have to say it's very 'meh'.

    First of all, this is a roguelike game. I.E meaning you have permadeath. When you die you start over from the beginning with any selection of characters for you to choose from. There's 15 in total, 3 of which are hidden characters. Now you might be thinking "OH! That sounds very diverse and interesting!" Wrong.

    Here's my biggest pet peeve with this game, and it probably resonates with a lot of other people as well. This game is a roguelike BULLET HELL. Every enemy in this game fires bullets at you nonstop. The enemies that don't fire bullets will charge at you and deal contact damage. Of course, each character will usually have an ability called a 'Throne Butt' which will give them that extra edge, unfortunately only a handful of characters actually have a USEFUL throne butt.

    Now on top of all of this, the level design is procedurally generated. Meaning everytime you restart and try again, the layout of each level you go through is different. It's all got the same theme, with it's own little secret areas, but the levels themselves are random. As far as I can tell, the enemy spawns are also randomly generated.

    So let me get to why this game is a pain in my rear end more than most. The fact that your SKILL has nothing to do with your success in this game. You can put over 100 hours into this game and still be just as newbie as you were when you started, and the REASON for this is because for the most part, due to the random enemy spawns and level layouts, you could spawn in, and immediately be thrusted into a corner with 5+ enemies, all of which shoot a ridiculous amount of bullets. And of course, if you chose the wrong character, it's going to mean you either die instantly, take massive damage, or just barely escape. This can be a problem on EVERY consecutive level you go through, as each level is randomized like the last. Therefore, it becomes this war of attrition, waiting for your luck to shine through so you can get a decent run and maybe make some progress.

    And before anyone tells me to "git gud". Consider this, I have over 150 hours in the game, I usually spend 2-3 hours playing at a time, and I have NEVER ONCE beaten the final boss. The reason? Bad luck. No, not because I didn't "find a golden gun" or "dodge the insane bullet-hell" the final boss spews out. NONE of that. It's because I get backed into a corner, through no fault of my own, due to the incessant lack of dps, luck, and bullet patterns.

    Now that I've gotten the rant out of the way, I'm gonna explain why I rated this a 5 instead of a 1. This game is cutesy, don't get me wrong. The art style is fun, (though the pixel art gets tiring after a while) the bosses are interesting in their own right, regardless of difficulty, and the overall level design, as far as theme, is pretty cool. The characters, the levelling up and progression system is also kind of cool, but some of the characters are borderline stupidly hard to unlock, and their throne butt abilities are just so mediocre, you don't even want to bother trying to unlock them. Despite all it's flaws yet cutesy details, I can't recommend this game. If you get it on sale for like $5 bucks, sure. It's a fun game to sink a few hours into without pulling your hair out. That being said, I am relatively disappointed in this website's user critiques, given that NONE of the positive reviews I overlooked seem to mention any flaws whatsoever.

    No game is without flaws, guys. Sometimes it's helpful to be critical, and save people time & money.    … Expand
  7. Moo-vies
    Sep 25, 2016
    6
    My first review was excessively harsh relative to the amount of time I spent on the game.
    It does not mean the game is accessible and will stay a source of frustration put aside and forgotten by most.
    And the ZERO support and communication from Vlambeer post release still puts me off to buy any more of their products in the future. When you express yourself so obnoxiously, don't expect    My first review was excessively harsh relative to the amount of time I spent on the game.
    It does not mean the game is accessible and will stay a source of frustration put aside and forgotten by most.

    And the ZERO support and communication from Vlambeer post release still puts me off to buy any more of their products in the future. When you express yourself so obnoxiously, don't expect people to be nice with you afterwards and go pout in the corner because people were mean to you.    … Expand
  8. Bumblebugbee
    Jul 16, 2016
    7
    Vlambeer is one of my favorite indie developers for several reasons. I've seen the devs quite a bit in various videogame documentaries and so to some small extent I feel like I know them. A consist level of quality, along with their unique retro-style, can be found across their various titles. Its in the aesthetics that there games really shine, from the beautiful art to the superbVlambeer is one of my favorite indie developers for several reasons. I've seen the devs quite a bit in various videogame documentaries and so to some small extent I feel like I know them. A consist level of quality, along with their unique retro-style, can be found across their various titles. Its in the aesthetics that there games really shine, from the beautiful art to the superb sound design. Yet, as much as I like the studio for some reason I have yet to really fall in love with any of their games. This is not to say Nuclear Throne is bad by any means but there just isn't quite enough there to keep me coming back.

    So from what I understand this game takes place after a nuclear fallout and the mutated creatures that spawned from the event are competing with each other to be the best in order to eventually reach the illustrious heights of the Nuclear Throne. That is all the story you're getting because this game is clearly focused on gameplay. In Nuclear Throne you're simply dropped into a room where you have to kill all the enemies. Once thats done you're sucked into a warp hole where you'll teleport to the next level where you'll do the exact same thing. As you progress you'll be rewarded experience and every time you level up you'll get to choose between four random upgrades to aid you in the increasing challenging battles.

    As you can imagine, with such a simple concept there must be a variety in the means of which you clear these rooms. There is a handful playable characters each with a unique special power and passive trait. Thankfully, you'll find a good selection of weapons as you fighting for your life. There are five different ammo types including bullets, shells, bolts, etc which leads you find different kinds of machine guns, crossbows, shotguns, and so on. For the most part they all feel quite good and its easy to quickly find your preferences. This is an intense, fast-paced game, and you'll need to be able to adapt quickly as the enemies will be shooting right back at you. With the cross-hairs a fair distance from your character aiming can be quite a challenge in itself.

    Its the visuals and sound effects that really make this game worthwhile. The guns in this game sound like they really got some nice kick to them. All the playable characters and enemies look great. There is a lot of charm in the theme of this game. This is really important because the gameplay can get quite repetitive. Even though the maps are procedurally generated you're basically always stuck fighting in fairly cramped arenas. Every two or three levels you will face a different group of enemies but after you've played several times the battles tend to all feel pretty similar. That being said you'll always being on the edge of your seat trying to make every shot count while at the same time trying to avoid the onslaught of enemy fire.

    The fact is this is a simple shoot-em up. There is nothing wrong with that if thats what you're in to just don't expect much more. Since this is such a though game the hope is that you'll keep learning as play and just get a little bit farther after each attempt. Since this is a rogue-like once you die thats it, you have to start right at the beginning and there is nothing to carry over from one run to the next. This is a game the requires a lot of dedication for mastery. Although I personally don't have the patience to get really good I did have fun while playing this game. I would only recommend it to those who really think they're up for a challenge.    … Expand
  9. Demonicstab
    Jun 5, 2016
    7
    Nice Soundtrack.
    Nice Gameplay
    Difficult.
    A really big weapon chart.
    Bullet Hell.

    Well, I really love this game, It's addictive, and really fun, something I noticed about enemies is that they love to rise the game difficulty, that's something I really like about.
    -Fish Can Roll-
  10. PanMrkvicka
    May 23, 2020
    7
    pretty hardcore but its still the same level layout and weapons not enough content.

Awards & Rankings

7
#7 Best PC Game of 2015
68
#68 Most Discussed PC Game of 2015
47
#47 Most Shared PC Game of 2015

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
89

Generally favorable reviews - based on 15 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 15 out of 15
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 15
  3. Negative: 0 out of 15
  1. TheGamer
    Dec 15, 2019
    100
    While Nuclear Throne might at first appear to be another difficult bullet-hell or punishing roguelike, a little practice quickly reveals a system that is meant to make the game accessible by a broad range of players. Thanks to the procedurally generated levels, weapon drops, and opponents, the game has virtually endless replay value and is an outstanding free game from Epic Games this week.
    Read full review
  2. games(TM)
    Apr 8, 2016
    90
    It’s wonderful, evil, gorgeous, horrible, satisfying and merciless. You might hate its lack of checkpoints, or bad levels spawns that almost instantly kill you. It doesn’t care. Screw you. It hates you. But you’ll love it.
    Read full review
  3. CD-Action
    Mar 4, 2016
    80
    Vlambeer’s game is difficult, repetitive and ugly but it doesn’t stop it from being unbelievably addictive. [02/2016, p.64]
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