Enter the Gungeon Impressions

From -Alpha

Enter the Gungeon, by Dodge Roll Games, is a thrilling rogue-like dungeon crawler full of guns, lightning reflexes, and awesome enemies.

Starting by selecting from one of four starting heroes, each unique with a small tale of their own and starting sidearm, you first start by completing a tutorial that has you mastering the basics of dodging, shooting, and rolling.

The object of the game? Enter the Gungeon. Reach the bottom of said gungeon. Find the gun that can kill the past. Make no mistake, it's a game that takes a couple of retries to improve, but in this sense, it feels very much like an old-school video game. This rogue-like element is similar to games like The Binding of Isaac, and like that game, Enter the Gungeon brings modern designs of procedural generation to always keep you on your toes.

And you will ALWAYS be on your toes. The gameplay of Enter the Gungeon (abbreviated henceforth the E.t.G) is fast, responsive, and allows you to chain input after input to create seamless chaos:

you will weave in and out of dangerous hails of bullets, explosions, and enemies by dodge-rolling: a core mechanic that has you rolling around all over. Cleverly designed cover can be created on the fly, as tables can be flipped to act as temporary shelter. Of course, if you're not dodge-rolling, you're shooting, and there is a lot to shoot. Enemies come in the shape of robots, some of them are slow and dumb, others are lightning quick and explosive. Successfully merging the shooting and dodging creates a frantic game of offensive and defensive strategy and skill, and it's truly zen-like to enter a room, raise hell, and walk out alive.

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In fact, it's really badass! Rogue-like elements that force you to start at the very start of the dungeon ensure players that every battle counts. There is a lot on the line when you maniacally cause all hell to break lose and charge a room, but the mechanics work so perfectly that nothing feels cheap. If you enjoy games like Dark Souls, there is something to enjoy in E.t.G's unforgiving, but fair corridors.

Visually, E.t.G is crisp, and clean-- an important feature that helps you in the thick of chaos. It's important to visually see bullets hailing past your screen, as you will literally have to dance and dodge around them to survive. Procedural generation is also never so random that you feel lost in the flow of exploration: the procedural generation is actual a hybrid of crafted level design and randomization that feels familiar, yet still manages to throw something at you that you wouldn't normally expect.

All the sounds you expect to find merge together in the ensuring chaos: bullets whiz, enemies buzz, and explosions go boom. Certain guns come to life: a powerful rifle feels powerful because it visually has a kick, and thunders convincingly. A cheesy 80s opening soundtrack lets you know that E.t.G is never meant to be taken too seriously, but it's also meant to be cool and feel like an 80's badass movie. And it certainly does feel that way when you burst into a peaceful room, shoot sh*t up, and take cover behind tables to reload.

Exploration is rewarding, but immensely dangerous. On one hand, any damage you take results in fracturing of your hearts (think Zelda). Killing enemies grants coin that can be spent in the store, which can be found somewhere in the level. Spending money on a health refill is not ideal (as there are tons of useful goodies ranging from map layouts to armour that you would rather spend your money on), but sometimes necessary.

The real benefit of exploration is finding weapons. Weapons are the centerpiece of Enter the Gungeon, and you can expect to find an inhumane number of cleverly designed weapons. There is a crazy amount of distinction with power, rate of fire, design, and style with the kinds of weapons you find. Everything from a M1 rifle to a water gun, to truly insane weapons like a mail shooter and a toothpaste laser...yeah, that's right. Over 200 guns exist, with developer Dodge Roll expecting to add more that freeze, burn, and god knows what else.

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It took me a good 5-6 replays of the same 1-1 level to finally get my rhythm going, but I felt really powerful on that 6th playthrough. Enough so that I was ready to face the boss. It's important here to note that bosses are presented with such fanfare and excitement, that it really helps make the introduction and fight feel special. There are a lot of similarities to top down Zelda games here: the dungeons, the health, and the items all feel like important staples that bring E.t.G together, but the boss fights have their own little entrance-- a massive gold head that open up ceremoniously-- a warning that “this is it”, and that there is no going back once you step in.

The first boss was truly a sight to behold. A giant purple bird of some kind flew down and strapped on one hell of a machine-gun, posed for the screen, complete with a Borderlands-like cutaway that included a comical quote.

And with that, the fight was on. A boss fight in E.t.G truly feels like the culmination of everything else that has come before you. In doing this, they feel like truly old-school tests of your knowledge.

Your skills in dodge-rolling, your dedication to exploring and collecting great weapons, your perfection in coming to this moment unscathed and health, and maybe prepared with some items from the shopkeeper stands testament to the fight in front of you. This particular boss followed a pattern that required expert rolling (that machine-gun was no joke), and carefully timed shooting.

As the fight progresses, the attack style changes, as one would expect in a boss battle. No longer content with mowing me down, bird boss decided to send his minions after me. Provided that you are confident and able in your skills, you will eventually defeat the boss and move forward in the dungeon.

I personally walked out with such little health, that I did not get too far, forcing me to start again, and master my abilities. Much like a really good racing game, every lap in E.t.G has you shaving off more and more of your imperfections and flaws. Every time you reach the boss, you are walking in a little different: at first you have barely any health. Then you have a good amount of health because you bought a health pack at the store, but then you run out of ammo. Then, you play skillfully enough that you have a good amount of health at the boss, and you don't even need to buy health, so you instead spend your money on armour or ammo.

This kind of slow progress has you always learning something, and pushing yourself forward. Wonderful exploration, varied guns, and new enemies and boss fights to discover will have you inching your way forward. I was reminded often of how I felt exploring games like Dark Souls and Zelda: while the dungeons are where I'd hone my gameplay skills, it was always the bosses that I wanted to see, because of how well designed they were. Enter the Gungeon replicates that kind of excitement.

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Once again, fans of old-school games will find a lot to love in Enter the Gungeon. Perfectly tuned controls, the variety of guns, and the expert level of offensive and defensive mechanics have you doing a song and dance all through the game's well designed rooms and corridors as you hone your reflexes and prove them in boss fights. Everything you have come to love about dungeon crawling comes together in such a fantastic way, that it's hard not to recommend Enter the Gungeon to fans who adore playing games to challenge and better themselves.

Day 15 | Dodge Roll