by Kilburn Russo ’21, Guest Contributor
Enter The Gungeon is an exciting game that never gets old. It’s a part of the rogue-like (or Roguelike) genre which consists of extremely difficult tasks involving the player while taking a diving deep into a dungeon that wants nothing more than to see you fail.
Common similarities between roguelikes are endless corridors, multiple bosses, and permanent death; if you die, you have to restart at the beginning. However, Gungeon does things a bit differently. While death is still permanent, and the game is still ridiculously difficult.
Gungeon is a “bullet hell,” another genre of video game where the player is surrounded by hundreds (and in Gungeon’s case thousands) of bullets that the player must navigate through with speed and grace while shooting back with their own weapons. This game is nothing short of an energetic, high speed, bundle of fun that will kill you repeatedly and keep you coming back for more.
As for the main gameplay mechanics, Gungeon goes against all roguelike elements and decides that skill is the most important factor, instead of luck, by rewarding the player for being excellent at the game and punishing them for poor gameplay. The game does this in both subtle and also obvious ways, such as the “Master Rounds” items that give the player extra hit points and boost their stats, but can only be obtained if they kill a boss without taking any damage.
There is also a secret factor called “coolness” which increases every time the player clears a room without taking damage. This grants the player a chest or an item after a certain amount of rooms (decided at random) are cleared without taking damage.
Essentially, the game rewards you for your flawless playthrough and settles for nothing less.
As for the content of Gungeon, it is practically endless. With over 20 bosses, hundreds of enemies andguns, and its procedurally generated terrain, no two playthroughs are ever the same. On top of that, there is so much content in the game that even after playing the game for over 100 hours, I am still finding new guns and items in each attempt. That, combined with the witty humor and never-ending assortment of ridiculous weapons, and topped off with very detailed lore and comedic storyline, Gungeon is an unforgettable experience.
Overall the game is very solid, and I have no real complaints. It’s incredibly fun to watch your progress as you learn the basic mechanics of the game and get closer and closer to the final floor of the Gungeon. Fighting the ridiculous enemies like a “bullet kin,” which is just a human sized bullet with a gun, or some of the bosses like the “beholster,” a one eyed tentacle monster that uses its tentacles to wield guns. Meanwhile most of the guns are also following the ridiculous standard, like a literal peashooter, or a baseball bat named Casey that hits bullets back at the enemies.
My only complaint is that while the game is great at relaying information and lore about most of its guns to the player, it sometimes leaves out important details behind the guns and items, such as how to access secret floors like the sewers.
Entrance to a sewer involves dousing a fireplace on the first floor and then pulling a secret level which reveals a passage that leads you to the sewers. It’s excessive and the game refuses to inform the player, which ends up hurting the game because most people would have to look up information on Wikipedia to know how to access these areas rather than discovering them on their own. So, because of this one minor flaw, I give Enter The Gungeon a 9.5/10
MOOSE PRINTS 