Enter the Gungeon Review: Another review from the resident Rogue-Like/Lite junkie.
Growing up, I was a huge video game addict. I can recall spending over half of some days grinding for that golden chocobo in Final Fantasy 7, getting all 120 stars in Mario 64, and getting every medal for every stage in Star Fox 64. I am now closing in on 30, have a house, wife, work, school, and everything imaginable that a parent could contend with. My time is precious and I no longer have time to complete these meaty games.
Recently I have fallen in love with the rogue like brand of games. The Binding of Issac, Nuclear Throne, FTL, Spelunky, and many others that can be completed in 30 minutes to an hour, are hard as nails, and when I have time, compell me for just that "one more run". A new developer called Dodge Roll games seems to have taken together everything I love about this genre, and made a near perfect child called Enter the Gungeon.
In this game, a player chooses from 1 of 4 gungeoneers. Each one has a special ability. One has extra health and increased accuracy, while another gets cheaper merchandise and a lock pick mechanism. You're then thrust into a randomly generated dungeon that is cleared by defeating enemies in each room, and then a boss. There are five floors total, and takes about 45 minutes to an hour to complete.
The best way to describe the game to those familiar with this genre is take Nuclear Throne tight gunplay, with the exploration and key finding of Binding of Issac. There are over 150 unique guns in this game. Some are very strong like the Mega Hand that is a tribute to Mega Man, to the useless guns like the "Klobbe", which pays homage to the famous Goldeneye turd. Combined with the unique dodge roll mechanism that gives you a temporary invincibility frame(which you will need), you have a unique arsenal to tackle the the dungeon.
I won't mince words: this game is difficult. The rooms can turn into bullet-hell nightmares. The key drops border on unfair, leaving you to miss opening chests on levels sometimes more often than not. A rat NPC will steal items if you leave the room, and just like any rogue like, you start at the beginning with nothing if you die. The game does have a small sense of progression with a hub that has NPC's that will add new items and weapons to the gungeon pool. There are many secrets housed within the gungeon, and as you play, you do get progressively better at the game.
Because of the wild variation in the strength of guns, and the lack of "looping" in Nuclear Throne where the game can become endlessly more difficult, it's hard to consider this a game where you can compete on a leaderboard basis. And you cannot "break" the game by becoming overly powerful like you can on Isaac. But for fans of games that test their dexterity to its limits, who enjoy mechanics and gunplay that are nearly flawless, and who generally love challenging games, you cannot go wrong with Enter the Gungeon.
9.5/10