A Japanese term that literally means ‘bullet curtain’, this subgenre label refers to the almost puzzle game style mazes created by intense arrays of enemy attacks in shoot em up games. A danmaku game seeks to get you into a zen state not unlike the ‘enemy hell’ aspect of horde survival games. But bullets are generally much higher paced and there’s rarely a reason to go near them. But not all danmaku games are high speed ‘manic shooters’. Some of them have slow paced bullets you’re challenged to calmly navigate. A game could be a survivors-like and also a bullet hell with danmaku aspects. See also: Bullet Hell, Manic Shooter