Game Review: Enter the Gungeon

Zachary Hordynski
Apr 12, 2016
5 min read

Time to Enter the Gungeon, a pixilated top-down bullet-hell/rogue-lite game by a new developer aptly named Dodge Roll (you'll see why later). The controls are pretty simple: keyboard and mouse or controller. The game is available on PC, Mac, and Playstation 4. Although this game just came out and I haven’t gotten far I’m in love so far. I’ll try not to be biased on my first impressions but here’s a review of the game so far…

The Enemies

First off the enemies as a collective are called the Cult of the Gundead! It’s nice to know that they’re all

working together to kill you. The main enemy you’re going to face in the game are little sentient bullet guys known as Bullet Kin who use guns and shoot you with bullets. Now this sounds kind redundant but it’s pretty cool. You’re able to tell the type of gun the enemy is going to carry based on the bullet they are. For example, a standard bullet-looking guy will probably just have a pistol, however a shotgun shell will have a shotgun and a sniper round is going to use a sniper. Now I hear you asking already, “Just bullets? That’s boring…” Wrong! There aren’t only bullet enemies there are different kinds of enemies like blobs, books (I knew they could be evil), Gunjerers (little bullet conjurers, get it?), and other spooky-scaries. With each enemy comes different stats just to keep you on your feet. The variety and number of enemies you encounter will keep you entertained for hours. However the game brings nothing new to the tablet, just a typical load-out of enemies as fun as they are to kill.

Rating: 8/10

The Gungeon

Let’s take this level-by-level. You start off in a large chamber where you choose your character. In here you have the training room to the left, the entrance to the Gungeon in the middle, and a special shop to the right. The Gungeon itself is pre-determined however the order of the rooms is procedurally generated so they’re not always in the same area. The enemies are randomly generated with each play through, and yes that includes the bosses. So far I’ve faced the Gatling Gull and the Bullet King on my own, but with a friend on the second level we faced the Bullet Twins. The levels contain tables to be flipped, chandeliers to be broken, and all the barrels and books you can destroy to your hateful heart’s content. Additionally there are special rooms which contain chests and a merchant room where you can buy hearts, guns, blanks, armor, etc. Now the levels aren’t anything to really brag about considering this is similar to The Binding of Isaac they are still entertaining.

Rating: 9/10

The Gungeoneers

So we have multiple Gungeoneers to choose from: the marine, the hunter, the pilot, the convict, and the cultist. So let’s start with the marine. He looks pretty awesome. He carries a standard sidearm which is a pistol with unlimited ammo and an armor. Additionally he can call in a supply drop for more ammo and has a passive ability which is military training. It allows him to reload faster and have better aim. Next is the pilot,

who carries the rogue special as his sidearm. He carries around trusty lock picks which give him a higher success rate at opening a lock or chest when he doesn’t have a key. He’s also armed with a disarming personality which gets him a 15% discount in the store and a hidden compartment which grants him an extra active item slot and 10% increased ammo capacity. Next is the hunter who has her rusty sidearm, a crossbow, and a dog which helps collect items. Third is the convict who comes with a budget revolver, a sawed-off shotgun, Molotov, and enraging photo which grants her more damage upon taking damage. Finally is the cultist who is only available in co-op. The cultist has a dart gun, a friendship cookie which when used resurrects a co-op player with full health, and the passive item player 2 which grants the other player greater stats when the cultist is dead. Additionally the cultist is able to send out an energy blast which eliminates incoming bullets. I think the inclusion of multiple characters for multiple playstyles is great. Personally I’m really aggressive when I play games like this so I play the marine allowing me to be more in-your-face with the extra armor.

Rating: 8/10

The Items

So since this called is themed after guns it’s pretty clear that all of the weapons in this game are guns. There’s a whole list of guns in the game. Just to name a few are a sawed-off shotgun, an assault rifle, pistols, and a trident. Yup! You read that right, a trident. Not only does this game sport many guns, not all of the guns are actually guns. The trident emits a laser beam where the cactus gun behaves like an automatic gun. They designers have taken different objects and gun-ified them. In addition to the guns are other items such as blanks which eliminate all active bullets on the screen and prevents the enemies from shooting for a couple of seconds. Which brings me to my next point: Type of items.There are main types which as active and passive. Active items you must activate (no duh Zack) and passive items which can be constant or active upon some action like receiving damage like the heart of ice which activates when you take damage releasing a hail of frozen bullets. The variety of items in the game is pretty neat so far and I’m curious if the developers are going to add more as the game ages.

Rating 9/10

The Music

Finally we have the music. It’s intense almost all of the time. Especially when you’re fighting you can feel your heart rate increase and it makes you want to win and stand over the empty shells of your enemies. My only issue just like with any game is that the music is really loud at start, but that can always be adjusted! I don’t about any of you but the music in this game really puts me in the mood to go on a bullet killing spree.

Rating: 10/10

The Mechanics

The mechanics in the game are pretty simple, but fun. You have a dodge-roll which is absolutely necessary if you plan to make it past a few rooms. Next is the ability to flip and move tables in order to shield you from incoming fire. Then there's fun stuff like being able to kills enemies using the environment with exploding barrels and chandeliers. Sometimes you can even make the enemies kill themselves.

Rating: 9/10

Overall the game is pretty fun. It’s very reminiscent of Bind of Isaac so if you really enjoyed that game you will more than likely enjoy this game. That being said the game at times feels like a reskin of BoI and can fail to stand apart when broken down into its elements. However beside that I think the theming of the game really helps you forget the barebones style of the game and make you feel like you’re playing something completely unique. I wholeheartedly recommend this game. I personally have it on Steam where you can download it for $14.99.

Composite Score: 9/10