We are back! So let us get started right away. “Enter the Gungeon” is a top down rogue like bullet hell shooter. (Wow that was a lot of words to describe a genre) The player enters an ever changing randomized “Gungeon” with the goal of collecting the gun that can kill the past. The Gungeon is not for the weak of heart however. Full of dangerous bulletkins and monstrous Gungeon bosses, the Gungeon can prove fatal for many whom enter.
As with most rogue likes, “Enter the Gungeon” focuses on replayability. Every playthrough of the game will yield different monsters, different guns, and of course different maps. More items and guns can be added to the already large pool of possibilities by earning moolah and spending it at the acquisitions office between Gungeon runs. Add in multiple playable characters (including unlockable characters) each with different starting items and a unique past scenes to conquer, and you have the recipe for a very replayable rogue like. Oh and did I mention the game has tons of secrets including hidden floors and bosses? So yeah there are reasons to give this game lots of plays. By now you are probably like, wait I thought this blog was supposed to be about any% completion not replays. Alright you are correct and I did do a single any% completion playthrough for the purpose of this blog but “Enter the Gungeon” is a personal favorite rogue like that I had played through countless times prior to establishing this blog. Also please keep this in mind when looking at the “Time to complete” at the end of the blog as I already had a strong knowledge of the game going into it so the time it took me to have a successful run was much less than typical for first time players.
Alright so for your typical playthrough you will choose your character at the lobby which is shown in the above image. You will then enter the Gungeon… I suppose that part was given away by the title. In the Gungeon you will work your way through several floors chock full of enemies and mysteries. Every floor will have a store to explore, bullet kins to slay, and of course loot to collect. At the end of every floor you will be faced with a boss; as with everything else in the Gungeon the boss you face is different each time. There are several different bosses that can be faced on each floor. The bosses will put your skills to the test and have you dodging bullets like your life depends on it, because it does… As with most rogue likes you get just one life to conquer the Gungeon. If you fail you must start over but, as mentioned before, you will earn moolah which can add even more items to the ever changing walls of the Gungeon.
“Enter the Gungeon” is full of humor and references that will constantly make you chuckle. From referential weapons like the proton backpack, be sure not to cross the streams with this one, to plain goofy items like a bullet that shoots out guns. Of course the enemies and bosses have cheesy gun puns for names such as the Gorgun and the Beholster. The art style is fittingly cute with purposeful effort to not be realistic. Oh and the theme song is catchy, and will stick in your head for hours, this may or may not be a good thing I suppose…
Mechanically the game is also incredibly solid. Bullet patterns are challenging to dodge but with experience can be avoidable. The rolling system is suitably powerful granting the player temporary invincibility, but locking them into a long animation. Switching between weapons is easy and is encouraged to keep the game fresh and expose enemy weakness. The difficulty curve ramps up at an appropriate rate between floors that will keep the player progressing with experience but constantly challenge the player as well.
So what’s the negative? Honestly I cannot think of any negatives for this game. Admittedly it is right up my alley being a fan of bullet hell games and rogue likes. Not to mention the fact that I think humor and references are amongst the most important elements in making a game enjoyable to me. So yeah as I am sure you know by now, I love this game and as such it is going to the top of my Rogue List. Placing “Enter the Gungeon” above “Slay the Spire.” So if you like rogue likes and haven’t tried “Enter the Gungeon ” I highly recommend you check it out.
Platform: Sony Playstation 4. Time to Beat: 1 hour 46 minutes 45 seconds.
How to Play?
“Enter the Gungeon” can be purchased on the Xbox store, PlayStation store, and Steam.
Gaming Conquest 