this post was submitted on 19 May 2026

56 points (98.3% liked)

Gaming

4888 readers

102 users here now

The Lemmy.zip Gaming Community

For news, discussions and memes!

Community Rules

This community follows the Lemmy.zip Instance rules, with the inclusion of the following rule:

No NSFW content

You can see Lemmy.zip's rules by going to our Code of Conduct.

What to Expect in Our Code of Conduct:

Respectful Communication: We strive for positive, constructive dialogue and encourage all members to engage with one another in a courteous and understanding manner.
Inclusivity: Embracing diversity is at the core of our community. We welcome members from all walks of life and expect interactions to be conducted without discrimination.
Privacy: Your privacy is paramount. Please respect the privacy of others just as you expect yours to be treated. Personal information should never be shared without consent.
Integrity: We believe in the integrity of speech and action. As such, honesty is expected, and deceptive practices are strictly prohibited.
Collaboration: Whether you're here to learn, teach, or simply engage in discussion, collaboration is key. Support your fellow members and contribute positively to shared learning and growth.

If you enjoy reading legal stuff, you can check it all out at legal.lemmy.zip.

founded 3 years ago

MODERATORS

Demigodrick@lemmy.zip

Sami@lemmy.zip

GamingBot@lemmy.zip

Valve make adjustments to Steam tags, and they settled the Vampire Survivor-like argument with Bullet Heaven (www.gamingonlinux.com)

submitted 1 week ago by GamingBot@lemmy.zip to c/gaming@lemmy.zip

12 comments fedilink hide all child comments

top 12 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old

[–] Coelacanth@feddit.nu 20 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Some of the removals are great (you shouldn't be able to tag your game "Well-Written" or "Masterpiece") but some I don't understand. But I can't say I have encyclopedic knowledge of all the tags that exist so maybe most of the removed ones are already covered elsewhere.

Also yes, Bullet Heaven is a great genre name.

[–] Havatra@lemmy.zip 4 points 1 week ago (3 children)

I thought the genre was "Bullet Hell"? So Bullet Heaven is now a new genre? And I wonder if the game called Bullet Heaven will be affected by this?

[–] eleijeep@piefed.social 32 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

Bullet hell is where enormous amounts of bullets are fired at the player by relatively few enemies, requiring lots of memorisation and twitch reaction skill to avoid the fast and complex patterns that fill the screen. It is intentionally extremely challenging. eg. https://youtu.be/zT-p6Ju67l4?t=976

Bullet heaven is where enormous amounts of enemies swarm a player who has ridiculous firepower to take out dozens of enemies at the same time, requiring little more than circle strafing and holding the fire button. It is intentionally casual, and the gameplay is about the RPG/roguelike upgrading aspect much more than the actual game mechanics. eg. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8TiJY3lXmQ

If you want a critical take of the difference between the two, and the direction of the games market from a shmup-fan's perspective, I found this review by The Electric Underground really interesting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSS_3iTIgA4 (it obviously predates this Steam label change, so there is some hand-wringing about what is being classified as bullet-hell).

[–] Korhaka@sopuli.xyz 5 points 1 week ago

Bullet heaven is often more about making good builds than skills in pressing WASD

[–] Coelacanth@feddit.nu 10 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Bullet Hell is a thing already, Bullet Heaven is the new genre pioneered by Vampire Survivors. It replaces "Vampire Survivors-like'.

[–] DdCno1@beehaw.org 2 points 1 week ago

This reminds me of the gaming press transitioning from calling action games with a 3D first person perspective "Doom clones" to "first person shooters" (although "corridor shooter" was also a thing for a while, for obvious reasons).

[–] mnemonicmonkeys@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 week ago

Vampire Survivors and games inspired by it are the inverse of the bullet hell genre. Hence the the name "bullet heaven"

[–] tiramichu@sh.itjust.works 10 points 1 week ago

Actually a perfect name, no complaints

[–] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Can we still not do an "AND" search with two or more tags? So dumb.

If I wanted to search through a list of games with both X and Y tags, I cannot do that. Only X or Y. Makes no sense.

[–] Sv443@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

This might be exactly what you're looking for: https://steamdb.info/instantsearch/

[–] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 1 week ago

Might be, thanks. I've used SteamDB to check price history, but never thought to use it this way.

Just makes no sense to me that you can't do it in Steam. Seems like it would be arbitrary to allow it.

[–] sp3ctr4l@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Ahaha, and Kenshi still defies meaningful classification.

Oh yeah sure, sure, its an open world sandbox survival rpg.

Sure, yep, just like all the others.

Hahahah!

You could apply Wuxia and Samurai and Cult and Animals to it, arguably also Xianxia.

Oh and they've apparently reworked some older tags, so we would also have Consversation and Difficult.

I believe they coined their own aesthetic as 'Swordpunk', but it's currently just got 'Steampunk' and 'Post-Apocalyptic'... sure, that's kinda close, why not.

... ain't nothin quite like Kenshi.