GAME REVIEW: Enter The Gungeon (Series X)

 (Always - Owl City)

The term 'Bullet Hell' means something very specific to gamers that have been around for awhile. It's synonymous with a genre of games -- usually 2D -- that involves moving a hilariously under-equipped character through a maze of ever-shifting bullets while trying to fire back at your target. The earliest iteration of this game can be seen in 1970's legendary 'Space Invaders', but a little-known Japanese game called 'Batsugun' modernized what is now commonly known as the Bullet Hell genre. 

Over the years, Bullet Hell games have arrived in a variety of forms.  Some of them include a forced scrolling environment, some with no defensive mechanics at all beyond sheer dexterity. Some contained light RPG elements. Some contained unique controls, such as the now well-known Twin Stick scheme. Twin Stick games relied on the use of two sets of directional controls, allowing you to move your character in any direction while also firing in any direction. 

The last ten years have seen many genres undergo refinement as well as advancement. 2016's 'Enter The Gungeon' promised exactly that, and proceeded to deliver through both its initial gameplay and a number of expansions that dropped for it post-launch.

2022 is here and 'Enter The Gungeon' is out there on Game Pass for XBox Series X. I picked it up and took it for a spin.

Six years later, does it still hit the mark?

THE SHORT VERSION: 

It's a solid bullseye. 

THE LONG VERSION:

Okay, so, I hope it goes without saying that if you don't dig on the whole Twin Stick Shooter thing, this game is probably not going to be for you. If you -do- dig Twin Stick shooters, 'Enter The Gungeon' may be one of the most perfect examples of the breed that has ever hit the market. For what it attempts, it's pretty much a perfect game.

No, I'm not exaggerating. 

Let's start with the cover of the proverbial book. Visually, Gungeon is done in a pixel art-style. For me, this is a HUGE gamble. Good pixel art takes a tremendous amount of talent. A lot of people don't actually like real, honest-to-God 8-Bit pixel art. It's ugly. That's old-school Nintendo Entertainment System, mid-1980s graphics. One of the advancements that 16-bit graphics brought us was a much wider color palette and sprite complexity. Good pixel art leverages BOTH of those things, not just one or the other. A lot of people think that they can get around this by simply making their sprites larger, or by simply using more colors in their art. The artists in 'Gungeon' were clearly masters of their craft, combining both excellent sprite complexity with color use. The result is a game with some of the most gorgeous pixel art graphics that the world has seen since 1994's 'Final Fantasy 3/6' on the Super Nintendo. (For the uninitiated, FF3 is widely regarded as a masterclass in what's possible with pixel art, and remains the definitive example of just how far graphics on the SNES could be pushed.)

The visuals of 'Gungeon' are only matched by the sheer audacity of the audio. The game falls back on 16-bit sound and music, another huge gamble. The sound effects are all pretty much flawless; they're present without being annoying, informative without being gauche. There are so many cute little noises that fill this game, and the extent to which it doesn't reuse effects is shocking when you stop to pay attention to it. 

Not to be outdone, the soundtrack is another outstanding display of artistry. For the pulse-pounding style normally associated with bullet hell games, 'Gungeon' doesn't go cheap with its soundtrack. It's really easy to make a chip-tune soundtrack annoying. Beeps and bloops can get out of hand SUPER fast, but with 'Gungeon' it's wonderfully managed while also being incredibly varied and complex. Music flows from slow and relaxing while exploring to dynamically ramping up to exciting and fast-paced when you get into a firefight.

And now we finally come to those firefights.

The advantage of Twin Stick shooters is that you have an incredible amount of maneuverability while also being able to effectively put fire downrange. Controlling your Gungeoneer is somehow both buttery smooth and razor sharp, which is good. This game is HARD. It's not unforgiving, but Bullet Hell games aren't known for being forgiving and 'Enter The Gungeon' is no exception. You'll spend your time dodging waves of bullets from a whole variety of enemies, all while you fire back. That's where the whole 'No Exception' thing ends though. Pretty much the rest of 'Gungeon's success is built off of a game full of exceptions.

For starters, you aren't on rails in this game. Instead, 'Gungeon' dips into another genre -- the Rogue-Like -- for its world building. Each time you enter the Gungeon, you'll find a randomly generated world of roughly square rooms to explore. Within most of those rooms, you'll find a variety of progressively more difficult enemies to defeat while you dodge their incoming fire. Every one of those enemies in the game is gun-themed somehow. Some enemies look like bullets or shotgun shells. Some of the enemies have names that are plays on words, like 'Gunjurer' instead of 'Conjurer'. What they all have in common is that they're usually equal parts cute and lethal. Regardless, they're all memorable, and that's good. Each one has its own style of attack, from simple bullets to fans of bullets, to randomly spitting wads of bullets all over the screen. Managing those enemies -- and their attacks -- is critical to survival. Such a wide, colorful variety of enemies also helps the game avoid becoming stale. That's super important because you'll die. A lot. A WHOLE LOT. A WHOLE, WHOLE LOT. And each time you die, you start all over, without any money, any fancy weapons, or any power-ups.

Eventually, if you wander far enough and survive long enough, you'll run into a variety of shops where you can purchase health, keys that allow you to plunder treasure chests scattered around the world, tools to help you survive, or weapons to help you more effectively kill the opposition. There are just as many combinations of weapons and power-ups available to you in this game as there are ways to die. Like...hundreds of each. Each one is unique, each one has its own strengths and weaknesses, and most of them have synergies with other weapons or items. 

And there are four different starting characters that you can explore the Gungeon with, each with their own unique weapons and power-ups. Aaaand there are four other characters with THEIR own unique gameplay that you can unlock. And guns you can unlock. And power-ups that you can unlock. And shop-keepers that you can unlock that sell you MORE fun stuff. And tests of skill that you can unlock as you explore the Gungeon's five different levels.

And its two different secret levels.

And its final ending level.

And its eight different special levels, one for each character.

And its many optional side-quests.

And. 

And.

And.

And if that wasn't enough, every single piece of this game's design is absolutely drenched in love and nostalgia. This game takes so many design cues and ideas and references them in a variety of ways, from navigation and graphics that feel reminiscent of 'The Legend Of Zelda: A Link To The Past", to actually HAVING LINK IN THE GAME. Ever seen a famous gun in a movie or video game? It's probably here somewhere. Familiar enemies from other games, be they video games or table-top RPGs, it's all here. One of the main characters that you can play as is pretty much a direct clone of the Doom marine. Every last inch of this game is absolutely slathered in homage to what came before it. This game could not happen without standing on the shoulders of so many other games, movies, books, and television shows, and it is appropriately grateful.  The game would probably be an absolute triumph because of this reverence, but then you wrap up perfect gameplay, gorgeous design, and a bangin' soundtrack and...

Well, you get 'Enter The Gungeon'.

Oh, and you can play it for free on Game Pass right now.  Don't have Game Pass? It's a measly $15. That is absurd.

As an example of the genre, this game represents it at its most refined. It is almost completely without fault.

Go. Play.