[4/25/24]

I started playing this game on the 9th of January, 2020. It was the second ever roguelike I played. Cut to today, and I've finally killed the final past I needed to kill. Fuck you, legally distinct Sarah Connor.

As the most Pro-Second Amendment game of all time, the game does the most to drill the fact that the game's themed around anything with gunpowder in it into your skull. The Dungeon is the Gungeon. The in-game compendium is called the Ammonomicon. The enemies are themed after guns, you got normal bullets, shotgun shells, sniper bullets, walking grenades and all have names relating to guns. The screen clear is a blank. Cursed enemies are "Jammed". You get cursed for having melee-related items. This is another one of those "reference absolutely everything" indies games (referencing D&D the most) often, so if the novelty of everything being a gun starts to wear off, you'll have all of the references and jokes to fall back on.

The guns themselves are guns, obviously. You shoot them and the bullets hurt. Everyone talks about the bullet that's actually a gun that shoots guns that shoots bullets, but my personal favorite's the Rad Gun that goes "NOICE" when you time the reload. Even with all the different guns, items, and synergies, you're still just shooting guns where the only major difference is how far you'll probably have to be for maximum damage. To me, most of the fun comes from dodging all the attacks. Since all the enemies fire in small but set patterns, the different room layouts and enemy placement changes where and when you have to dodge roll in each room. The bosses are where they kick the bullet patterns up a notch. Coming back to this game after a few years kicked my ass, but I still remember all of them. Especially those Kill Pillars. Outside of combat, most of the variety comes from modifiers for the entire run.

If you like shooting things like a real patriot this is the perfect game. If you like gun puns this is also the perfect game. if you're here for a challenging bullet hell this probably isn't it but it's definitely a gateway to that kind of stuff. The time I had was very fun and very stressful. Now, I'll just be coming back to 100% the game and get the Finished Gun.

How do they keep making games this good?

While I was hesitant seeing Kiryu return yet again, this game was 100% necessary to give more context to the events of 6&7. Eagerly awaiting to see the conclusion of his story in Infinite Wealth.

My only complain is that the combat feels like a step back from Lost Judgement.