With Enter the Gungeon hitting mobile devices last year and this year marking the game’s tenth anniversary, I figured it was a good time to go back and revisit a game that holds a special place in my heart (albeit not on mobile; most of my time with the game is on PC).
Gungeon might be a roguelite, but it has the soul of a twin-stick shooter. Dodge Roll’s dungeon crawler blends both halves of its personality to good effect, and the result is a challenging, often punishing twin-stick shooter that demands skill and patience in equal measure.
The pun-tastic title alludes to the many guns that appear in the game. Not all firearms are created equal, but for every pea shooter there are a couple of cleverly constructed weapons that will elicit a smile. These extend from fairly standard machine guns through to replica Nintendo Zappers that fire out bolts of light and the occasional duck.
It can get a bit daft, but in a good way, and the quest to unlock new guns is as good a reason as any to push on further into the depths of the dungeon. In fact, the ultimate challenge is to reach the end of the game and unlock a gun that can kill the past.
While Enter the Gungeon has had me pulling my hair out in anguish, the rest of the time I’m always very happy thanks to brilliantly implemented and intuitive controls, some lovely visuals, and the well-crafted rooms that are stitched together differently each time to keep repeat plays fresh. Best of all, however, are the quirky enemies and boss fights, which are brought to life with a playful sense of humour.
The tutorial usually only gets a mention in a review if it’s a bit crap, but that’s not the case here, and I found it to be a gentle way of introducing new players to the core mechanics. After that, however, I did find the early game a little vague, and more guidance on progression might ease a few onboarding issues and help more people get into the game.
There’s plenty to discover in this gun-themed dungeon, but don’t be fooled by the friendly graphics – it’s a tough nut to crack. While the projectiles move at manageable speeds and using the oh-so-handy dodge roll helps you avoid taking damage, it’s not long before you find yourself in bullet hell.
Along the way, you’ll encounter plenty of tricky adversaries and deadly environments. There are loads of cool enemies, all of them wonderfully animated, and each with its own distinctive attack pattern. They’re fairly straightforward to deal with on their own, but when they start turning up in larger numbers and/or different combinations, the challenge ramps up significantly.
It’s a good thing, then, that we’re given some interesting tools with which to dispatch the crowds of bullet-esque enemies. However, this also brings us to Enter the Gungeon’s biggest problem: you don’t get to play with the more exciting weapons as much as you should, in my opinion. Things get better the more you play, naturally, but I think it takes too long to warm up.
On the bright side, there’s a huge number of weapons and items to unlock, as well as the characters dotted around the place waiting to be discovered. This was enough to push me through the frustrating moments, and as I grew more capable and unlocked more items, I started to live longer and enjoy more success.
There’s just so much to admire here, from the brilliantly reactive environments to the quirky enemies and the game’s healthy selection of guns. I appreciated the attention to detail that has gone into every facet of its design. Enter the Gungeon is a well-crafted and moreish mash-up of bullet-hell action and roguelike mechanics, and fans of both genres will find plenty to enjoy in this delightfully constructed twin-stick shooter.
Enter the Gungeon is out now on Android, iOS, PC (Lin, Mac, Win), PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.
