The Therapist Gamer

Enter the Gungeon

Enter the Gungeon is a roguelike dungeon crawler, somewhat like The Binding of Isaac, but more difficult.  You play as an adventurer who ventures into the gungeon to find an ancient artifact that can turn back time.  (Almost) all of the enemies of the gungeon are based off of bullets, and the bullets they shoot are generally based off of the enemy itself; for example, a shotgun casing shoots a shotgun-like burst of bullets.  The objective, of course, is to survive the gungeon and retrieve the artifact.

 

You start the game with three hearts, and each time you get hit you generally lose half a heart.  You can find health in the gungeon but it's rare.  You can choose to play as one of four characters, and most of them start out with a weak weapon with infinite ammo - if you want something better you'll either have to find it or buy it.  All guns have limited ammo, so you'll want to prioritize how you spend it.  For example, you may want to save the Ghostbusters-style Proton Pack for the boss and take care of the regular enemies with the shotgun.  The bosses are no joke - the odds are that the first time you encounter one it will end your journey and you'll have to start again.  The Cannonballrog is about as tough as an actual Balrog!

 

All of this to say that Enter the Gungeon is a difficult game.  Each time you play the stages, enemies, bosses, and items are all randomized, so the only real way to progress further is to improve your skills.  If you defeat a boss you will earn a few pieces of currency that can be used in the world hub; however, the things you buy only unlock the possibility that they'll appear in the gungeon, so it's not too big of an advantage.  Even so, it gives the game a sense of continually being fresh because you'll regularly find items and weapons that you've never seen before.  There are also secrets the game holds that I didn't find until my thirtieth run, and I'm sure there's plenty I haven't found.

 

The game can be played in co-op, either in person or online.  I never got a chance to try this out, but hopefully it makes the hordes of enemies more manageable.  The bosses are so difficult that I wonder if they were designed with multiplayer in mind - especially the final boss.

 

Enter the Gungeon is a unique game that may not appeal to everybody, but if it sounds like your type of game then I think you'll be pleased.