Game review: Enter the Gungeon (Nintendo Switch)

Do you like a side of punishment with your games? Are you a masochist? Do you long for the 16-bit era? Do you like gun puns? What happens when you smash together a hardcore roguelike with a brutal twin-stick shooter?

You get Enter the Gungeon.

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In Enter the Gungeon, you take control of one of several playable characters and descend into deeper and deeper levels of the dungeon to see how far you make it. The game is presented in 16-bit overhead style that has shades of Zelda Link to the Past in its design. Each character has a different starting loadout, from the hunter who starts with a gun, crossbow and canine companion to the marine that can call in ammo supply drops and begins the game with an extra hitpoint thanks to his armor.

After selecting your character, you descend the stairs of the dungeon and enter the first level. Stages are randomly generated, so every time you descend into the dungeon you’ll have to explore thoroughly to make sure you don’t miss any goodies, which keeps the experience fresh even after the 50th time you’ve played a level.

Everything in this game is gun-themed. EVERYTHING. Many of the enemies are bullets or shotgun shells, the elevator is a giant bullet, the warp rooms symbols are in the shape of a revolver’s chambers; your health is even represented by “hearts” that are formed by overlapping two bullets. Each of the bosses are puns on firearms like the Medusa inspired “Gorgun” or the giant snake named the “Ammoconda”. The imagery and puns work because they’re pushed to such absurdity and often used in really clever or creative ways.

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Combat is the main draw of this game, where you control your movement with the left stick, the direction you’re aiming with the right stick and you fire using the shoulder trigger. Most guns need to be manually reloaded, which requires you to count shots sometimes to maximize your efficiency and to avoid being stuck reloading when you need to fire.

Other than moving and firing, about the only other think you need to know is the dodge roll. The dodge roll lets your character dive and roll in whatever direction you’re moving and makes you invincible for a short time. You can pass through a wall of bullets using this technique, though using it haphazardly can put you in the path of a bullet as you exit the dodge roll. You will have to master using this technique if you want to get very far in this game.

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The enemies in this game are relentless and aggressive. This is a bullet hell shooter, after all. While it starts out fairly easy, the game throws a solid challenge at you by the first boss. There are a lot of enemy types, including basic bullet soldiers, slimes that split and multiply when you shoot them, mages that throw waves of bullets at you, kamekazi bombs and sticks of dynamite and lots more. Dealing with rooms full of mixed enemies really tests your ability to think quickly about who to deal with first.

One of the big draws of this game is the absurd number of weapons and items you can find in the dungeon. While you start with a basic gun, you’ll eventually find chests that award you with massive arsenal of crazy guns. I’ve heard there are about 200 guns in this game, each with unique effects and uses. There are shotguns, machine guns, rocket launchers, guns that freeze enemies, a demon’s head that starts enemies on fire, guns that shoot poison, lasers, crossbows, a gun that literally shoots out its own guns that spin and fire their own bullets. Its absolutely insane and diving back into this meat grinder of a game is worth it when you find a new gun that you love or which makes you laugh.

There’s also a huge array of items you can find, both active (stuff you can use, which has a cooldown timer before you can use it again) or passive items that give you abilities like making your bullets bounce off walls, letting you spread poison when you dodge roll and extending your life bar.

Maintaining cover is vital to surviving in this game. Big rooms with nowhere to hide are the worst places to find yourself in this game. Thankfully most rooms do have pillars or architecture where you can hide from the constant barrage of bullets coming your way. Many rooms are filled with tables that can be flipped over and used as cover, until they’re destroyed by gunfire.

One last technique is the use of ‘blanks’, which are in short supply. Blanks allow you to kill every basic enemy on the screen, but more importantly they will wipe out every bullet headed your way. These are a lifesaver in boss fights when you have no cover and the bosses spray bullets in every direction at once. You begin each stage with 2 blanks (I believe), but they’re refilled on each level of the dungeon.

_{^{Image source: Enter The Gungeon Wiki}}

To aid you on your adventure is the shopkeeper who has a store on each level of the dungeon. At the shop you can exchange bullets (of course, the currency of this game is bullets) for guns, items, extra blanks, ammo or keys. Keys are used to open chests that you discover in the dungeon, which drop more guns and items. Sometimes you’ll find keys as item drops, but usually you’ll need to purchase them from the shop.

In addition, you’ll eventually find prisoners in the dungeon that you can rescue. One enemy on the level will be holding a cell key, which will free these prisoners. Once freed, they will appear outside of the dungeon and give you various perks, let you purchase gun and item unlocks and grant you other benefits.

Word of warning, this game is not for the faint of heart. It is extremely challenging, but not unfair. You begin with three hearts, which each account for 2 hit points. Finding health drops in the dungeon are rare, so you either have to buy hearts from the shop or get refilled after you defeat a boss. I’m a very capable gamer and no stranger to bullet hell games and in 30 runs, I still have yet to make it to the 5th level of the dungeon. This game is really, really hard. But also very rewarding and the randomly-generated maps make all those runs through the same levels fresh each time.

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Enter the Gungeon is a great looking game. While it has a 16-bit pixel art style, it suits it very well. Sprites are very well drawn, colorful and full of character. Backgrounds look great and are filled with details like crates, barrels, stacks of books and other item you can walk through to see them break and scatter bits and pieces all over the place.

Music and sounds are very good as well. Music ranges from atmospheric to high energy and even epic when you’re facing off against a boss. The guns each have a unique sound, from girthy shotguns to high pitched lasers.

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I've played this game for a few weeks to get a good feel for it in preparation for this review and I'm happy to report that its as addictive after 30 dungeon runs as it was the very first time. Enter the Gungeon is the perfect mashup of roguelike and bullet hell shooter wrapped up in a beautiful 16-bit package. Its hard, punishing, cruel and sadistic at times.

But I keep coming back for more.

Thanks for reading. As always, upvotes, resteems and comments are appreciated!

^{Cover Image Source: MyNintendoNews}