Ever since playing Vampire Survivor on PC, I've taken a liking to reverse bullet hell / survivor genre of games. But I thought that it's more convenient to play it through mobile than sitting in a desktop. That's why I've tried several games and concluded that Pickle Pete: Survivor is one of the top titles in this genre.
The first thing that caught my attention with Pickle Pete is the equipment system of the character. You get to choose and collect the sets that you want and try to upgrade its tier. A nice additional detail is that the avatar on screen actually shows every piece of equipment that you put on your character.
Gameplay
The standard game mode consists of nine mob levels, each spanning two minutes, and a boss battle on the tenth level. You get to pick a random buff at the end of each level as well as access to a weapon and gear store. The currency for buying stuff in the store is pickle. You can pick up pickles whenever you kill a mob, But there's always the risk of getting overrun by mobs if you try to get them so strategizing is the key.
Aside from weapons and armor sets, you can also collect different characters with various abilities. You are also incentivized to upgrade them all as each unique character gives a stat boost to all other characters.
Other Game Modes
Aside from the standard reverse bullet hell survival, there are also other game modes where you can farm items and gold. There's a boss battle, golden chicken chase, exploration, etc. But by far, my favorite is the side-scroller shooter. Getting a different game inside a bigger game is a nice touch.
Conclusion
Pickle Pete is a fun and addictive game that's perfect to play when you have time to kill. And while going premium gives you an advantage, you can play it for free and still enjoy the game, especially if you don't mind the ads for a little in-game bonus. Grinding will reward you with better stats and there's enough content to not feel like it's getting repetitive. I'd say Pickle Pete is a great example of a survivor game done right and you can feel the love and effort that the developers have put in the game.
