I see pieces of Binding of Isaac everywhere, and let's be honest...
Much like Rebirth, this game seems to be at odds with itself. It seems, in fact, to HATE itself.
There's a part of the game that wants you to feel rewarded. It tries to instill in you satisfaction for clearing out a room with clever gunplay at a fast pace. It tries to reward you with guns it thinks will interest youI see pieces of Binding of Isaac everywhere, and let's be honest...
Much like Rebirth, this game seems to be at odds with itself. It seems, in fact, to HATE itself.
There's a part of the game that wants you to feel rewarded. It tries to instill in you satisfaction for clearing out a room with clever gunplay at a fast pace. It tries to reward you with guns it thinks will interest you or get a laugh. It's rogue with potentially high rewards with your high risk, and it plays on that with Hegemony Points that, instead of locking unlock behind hidden random objectives, you may be able to unlock the item for a slim-to-none chance of it appearing in your run. And the dodge roll? It tries to make you feel like a total bad-ass being able to just leap over things and shoot. And blanks? Totally smart for timing those, right?
It falls spectacularly on it's face with those elements. The game moves at a glacial pace, throughout the entire game. The guns don't nearly make much of a different compared to the infinite ammo weapons it gives you, really. Occasionally does it make a difference, but as DPS rates, the gains are negligible, and even the smallest negative difference can get you killed.
Let's address the dodge roll:
Just like exploring more of the map, it punishes you for doing this exact thing. Those of you who are reduced to hiding in a corner of a big room with pillars after killing an initial wave of enemies just to be severely outnumbered armed with almost nothing (or TOO MANY OF THE TIMES, carrying X amount of guns that basically make no difference), you know exactly what I mean. Dodge roll or not, you are f*cked. You are more than likely to land yourself in a WORSE position than before instead of getting to safety. You might as well just give up and die. Whatever hope you have, when you get 2.5 hearts destroyed in a single barrage simply because of a reposition from rolling, the game might as well stick a fork in your controller.
Blanks:
What's the point of these? They throw enemies at you in an unreasonable rate to necessitate these maybe 3 times a floor. When they throw a Lead Maiden at you in a cramped room? You come back and tell me you didn't need to use one of these. Go on. I'm waiting. See how useful they are when you have to face the Bullet King on 3 hearts and a bad gun. Using them makes almost no tangible difference in the positive direction, and not having them punishes you by depriving you even the slimmest chance of prevailing. Why even have them in the game? They feel so unrewarding.
No online co-op? Are you for real?
Oh, let's actually address the co-op.
Can you imagine yourself playing this game, with it's negligible gun collection, dodge rolls that seem to punish you the more you use them, a map and room system that has exponentially diminishing return per room ventured into, and an outright terrible safeguard that are the blanks...with someone who is just as good as you...and not rage? You might not even rage against the person who is putting up with this game for/with you, but the let-down itself will make this game a very unpleasant experience, let alone rage.
Add-bosses are a failure of game design.
Now, there's a lot of potential here. The comedy is on point, and the art is cute. In fact, I loved these elements. But let's emphasized that I used "loved", not "love". After the glacial pace of the game, and the constant "more bullsh*t than difficulty" barrage of enemies that feel less inspired each run of the game, I started to resent it. Why? Because it feels like they rubbed bacon salt on a wound. It's like they said, "The game hates itself, and it punishes you for playing it, but at least its adorable, right?" That's as worthless as saying "The salt might sting, but at least it tastes like bacon!" Cold comfort.
Now, I'm giving it a 6/10, because there's still a lot of potential, and it's =NEW=. As amazing Shovel Knight or the Binding of Isaac or Risk of Rain felt, they were just sloughs in the beginning, and nostalgia somehow got you through. I will admit, nostalgia did strike me in the heart and allowed me to put in more time than I otherwise would have. But nostalgia and attempts to be cute doesn't save the game that just feels extremely unrewarding. I'm not exactly excited or interested in getting new guns. I don't exactly take the risk of dodge rolling much as the i-frame makes no difference whatsoever, if not landing me in a more compromising position. I wasn't exactly jonesing to explore the map to the maximum potential either. It didn't feel like it rewarded skill at all, but rather luck. The game feels underhanded and Sisyphean...
But there is a LOT of potential. Maybe with more balance, such as reducing the amount of particles the enemy fires, or increasing the cooldown of the enemies, while reducing the cooldown/reload of our items/guns, would make it a lot more fun. But as it stands right now, I can't recommend this game for anyone.
Wait a year and come back.… Expand
Enter the GungeonYour Score0 out of 10User Score
