Ooh!
Look at that cutie pie bullet with the giant fez*! Aww... SPLOT!
Don’t be fooled by the abundant pixelated cuteness as you
Enter the Gungeon, for this puppy’s punishing. It’s all about
the bullets. Well, it’s also all about the guns. Either way, behind
the unwavering waves of adorableness there’s the kind of serious
deadliness that any card-carrying NRA member likely wanks off over –
endlessly, of course, as they use their big guns to make up for
their impotence...
Anyway, don’t let visions of such folk
discourage you, for what we have here is a slick hybrid of pure
arcade twin stick shooter and somewhat more grey-matter demanding
dungeon crawler that’s infinitely more worthy of your time.
Back to those bullets. As you plough through room after room
searching for each level’s big bastardly bad, you’re assailed by all
manner of shooty-shooty villainy – the ‘gundead’. Many are varying
smiley-faced assassin bullets that beget littler bullets. Don’t stop
to think about that – anyway, if you do you’ll likely be endeadened.
Luckily you’re scarcely armed with a peashooter. While weapons
do start out fairly mundanely, your arsenal (hi Moz!) can eventually
boast weird and wondrous weaponry that spews forth everything from
rainbows to bees – just like Homer imagined Mr Burns’ hounds, but,
erm, without the actual hounds.
You’ll also meet the odd
(literally) ally on your travels. Plus you have other helpers like
the ability to do a quick duck and roll when things get hairy, or
flip tables for cover (or just for fun).
It’s all randomly
generated, so each time you enter the breach with one of four
protagonists, all of whom are seeking absolution by reaching a
megagun that can kill the past, things will look relatively shiny
and new. Or at the very least doors will be in different spots.
Rampant weapon worship has never looked this cuddly. Or sounded
so good, or played so challengingly well... Happiness is a warm
Gungeon.
* Yeah, we know they’re
actually cutesy shotgun shells.
