Bullion: The Curse of the Cut-Throat Cattle

Welcome to EXPlay, (Explain & Play) the review series where we care not for scores but tell it how it is when it comes to every game we get our hands on, whilst also taking the time to include some lengthy gameplay, to give you the reader, the chance to shape your own impressions and views whilst watching and reading.

In this explanatory review, we’re covering Bullion: The Curse of the Cut-Throat Cattle by developer Leda Entertainment:

Bullion: The Curse Of The Cut-Throat Cattle (The Explanation)

Ahoy Mateys! Ger ready to go on an epic voyage to find glorious treasure in Bullion: The Curse Of The Cut-Throat Cattle. Developed by Leda Entertainment, this fighting slash party game challenges players to walk the fine line between working together and reaping the rewards for one’s self to become the ultimate victor. We had the privelige of playing a demo of this game back in 2022 at WASD while it was still in development and now the game is finally released and we are simply over the MOOn.

In Bullion: The Curse Of The Cut-Throat Cattle, you and yer friends are invited to join Captain Long-John Silverside and his crew to sail around the Isle of Ser-Lloyn and plunder and pillage as much as yer blackened hearts’ desire whilst fighting fearless foes who will stop at nothing to protect their treasures. Silverside and his fellow buccaneers have come under the wrath of the heathen gods and a curse has been placed upon them. In order to free themselves from the curse, they need to bring as much loot as they can to appease the gods. However, with all nasty curses, only one pirate can be set free from the curse so you will have to betray your friends and your crew in order to free yourself while everyone else is doomed forever.

The objective of Bullion: The Curse Of The Cut-Throat Cattle is to ultimately be the pirate with the most treasure at the end of the match. Up to four players can play together but should you be less than four, the remaining spaces will be taken up by CPU players. You will then be able to choose between one of six bovine buccaneers, each armed with a different melee weapon and have their own strengths and weaknesses. For example, one can have quite a lot of health but is slow to move and another can be really fast but lacks strength in their attack. Once everyone has chosen a character, it is off to pilfer some treasure.

Treasure can be found in chests and must be attacked to open them. Trinkets will fall out in the form of gold coins and bars, jewels and crowns. To hinder your efforts, there are enemies like chimps, alligators, and zombie bovine that you will need to fight off. You can defeat most with a few swings of your cutlass, sword fish, cannon, etc. but they can easily swarm you and kill you.

Should you die (and you will, a LOT) death is not the end and you can ressurect yourself be hurrying over to your grave stone. You will then be respawned and can get back to pilliging once again. While filling yer pockets with loot is the aim of the game, be warned. you may be one of the crew but it is every pirate for ’emselves. Your fellow crewmates can turn against yer and cut yer down and take yer hard stolen loot for their own. Even with that said, players will still have to work together to some extent because should the game only continues as long as one character is a live. Should all players fall, it is game over.

There are three game modes in Bullion: The Curse Of The Cut-Throat Cattle; Averice, Defiance, and Voyage. In Averice, it’s every pirate for themeselves and you have to grab as much loot as you can. Who ever holds the most loot when the timer is up is deemed the victor. In Defiance, you must work together with your crewmates to take on the champion of the island. They are extremely tough and it will take team work to bring them down but you still have to fill your pockets if you want to come out on top as well. The last mode is Voyage which combines the two previous modes and will have you visit three different islands to gather gold and defeat a champion on the final stage.

The Isle of Ser-Lloyn is made up of six areas that serve as the game’s stages and have their own general theme. There is your typical deserted island, a tropical jungle, a swamp, an outcrop on the side of an active volcano, an island home to the undead, and Davy Jones’ Locker itself. Each area has its own obstacles, hazards and enemies like boggy swamps to slow you down, viscous lava that will kill you instantly upon contact, or underwater air vents that you will need to frequent in order to stay alive underwater.

Like with all good fighting and party games, you can collect items to help change the tide and set the sails in your favour. There are bottles of grog to bring you back to good health, spices to make you move faster temporarily, some good ol’ greenery to make your attacks stronger for a period of time, and other items that we shall leave for you to discover on your own. These items can be found in chests just like treasure and you can only have one in your possesion at any one time. Try to use them whenever you can, especially when they can be more effective for you. The grog and the spices are handy to keep hold of until you need them to quickly flee enemies or your fellow crewmates and the grog provides a nice pick me up when your health is looking low.

When all is said and done, Bullion: The Curse of the Cut-Throat Cattle is one of those games where you have to play it to really get the feel for it and understand its appeal. Simply talking about it and showing off gameplay is probably not going to get you off the fence about this game (if you were even on the fence, that is), but we hope it will at least give you some insight into the game at least. I very much enjoy the game and it is far more entertaining to play with friends than it is on your own with CPU opponents. At least with friends, you can come to an accord to concentrate on dealing with a boss and taking it in turns to attack whereas you can’t do that with CPU crewmates. They will suddenly turn around and attack you, risking everyone’s chances of winning as they immediately get wailed on by other enemies.

Still, with that in mind, If you enjoy Fighting/Party games that dare to do things differently and not try and be another “Smash Clone” you may want to look into picking Bullion: The Curse of the Cut-Throat Cattle. It’s pricing is a little steep and it does make recommending this game much harder but you’d be surprised with how much fun this game can be and I do hope it gets more content in the future.

Bullion: The Curse Of The Cut-Throat Cattle: (The Gameplay)

Game Specifications:

Developer: Leda Entertainment
Publisher: Leda Entertainment
Platform: Nintendo Switch (eShop)
Category: Multiplayer, Action, Fighting, Party
No. of Players: 1-4 (Single System)
Release Date: NA| EU: February 10, 2023
Price: $24.99
File Size: 982 MB
Nintendo.com Listing