[section_title title=Introduction and Gameplay]

Enter The Gungeon

Developer: Dodge Roll
Publisher: Devolver Digital
Price (US): $14.99 (on Steam)
Price (UK): £10.99 (on Steam)

Introduction

Enter the Gungeon is the latest title to hit the ever booming scene of indie rogue-lites on the market. For the uninitiated, a rogue-lite is a game in which you are trying to make it through various stages of increasing difficulty (normally picking up items), trying to reach an end level and win. Any death starts you back at the beginning but a winning run is normally less than an hour. Also for doing various things or beating the game with certain -characters you can unlock new characters, items, and even additional levels. The biggest example of these games is Binding of Isaac, which has a dauntingly large fanbase. From what I have been seeing on youtube for this game, Gungeon seems to hit a similar niche and has been a big hit with Isaac fans. As a warning before we begin this review, I have not beaten the final level of this game, not once, it’s super hard and I am enjoying the challenge.

Gameplay

Case – Antec 300
CPU – AMD FX-8150 3.6 GHz
Motherboard – MSI MS-7640
RAM – Corsair Vengeance 16GB DDR3
GPU – EVGA GTX 760 2G 
PSU – EVGA 600B 600W
CPU Cooler – AMD Stock
HDD –Seagate 1Tb

This game can be described as a top-down shooter style with basic controls (WASD for movement, mouse for aim) very similar to Nuclear Throne. It also has some very nice controller support, which – thanks to some aim assist – can be used just as effectively as mouse and keyboard. This is another game with a dodge roll, which you can roll through damage with in order to keep your health, which is a very precious commodity in this game.

The gameplay is quite difficult (the game does not have difficulty settings) and it takes a good bit of work to get to the stage where you can beat even the first level consistently. Although with each run only lasting 5 levels (as far as I know) this makes the game last even longer. Each run you are trying to get items which make you more powerful, these items come in the form of weapons, passive items, and active items (not to mention just plain money (shells), health, ammo, and blanks). Each level has 2 chest rooms, a boss room, a shop, and some other randomly assorted special rooms. There are 4 characters with each having their own starting equipment and passive items (my current favorites are the marine and the huntress).