This game just doesn't hit the same as top-down roguelikes like Nuclear Throne and Hades do for me. The guns don't feel as punchy and satisfying to shoot as something like Nuclear Throne's, and the dodge roll feels like a shitty middle ground between the pure "just dodge it" of that game and the actually good dash of Hades. Also the starter characters are all REALLY boring and are basically only different in what guns they start with. I really thought I'd like Gungeon based on its similarities to other games I've enjoyed, but for some reason or another, it just didn't stick with me.

"shoot the shopkeeper for a free gun!"

my rating for this game is what it is for me, not what i think its objective score is. I like this game but I'm so bad that 90% of my time is spent on the first floor. it gets so difficult at a point that it feels impossible for me. it doesn't help that the rng system is just fuck you levels of unlucky. the odds of getting anything decent before your starting gun is worthless is laughable. one day if I 'get good' I will update this review, but for now? a game that's too hard and unfair, not my fav combo.

Enter the Gungeon is a bullet hell rogue-like made by Devolver studios. It has you go through a 5 floor gauntlet, later 6, and your main way of fighting is through the power of guns. This is probably one of the best rogue-likes I have ever played. There are 243 guns and almost 300 items to collect in the entire game! A lot of guns have unique properties and gimmicks as well, such as the tetris gun where you can stick a bunch of pieces on an enemy and they all explode once you land a line piece on them. There are also synergies, where if you have a certain combo of two guns and/or items, they get a boost in power or they can just change entirely! The amount of pop culture references in the game is also amazing, one of my favorites is with the item Nanomachines, and right underneath it when is a quip that says "son", an obvious reference to Metal Gear Rising. Another reference actually involves with a synergy called "Pulp Gungeon" where you need an orange and M1911, the name referencing Pulp Fiction, but the M1911 is also the gun that the two guys also used in the movie! Then there are the enemies and bosses in the game, and man there are a lot. There really isn't much to say about the enemies, but the bosses are super fun to fight! There's the Gatling Gull, a ripped bird that wields a huge minigun, the Beholster, a 6 armed cyclops with laser vision, and even an insane cultist known as the High Priest, who is literally just a gun with arms but damn is he hard. There are 8 characters to play as, not counting the co-op character, 4 of which you have to unlock. They all start off with different weapons and items, so it all comes down to play style for who you want to play as. One last thing to mention, there are also secret floors to go to, that way you can obtain extra guns and items! So it's actually possible to go through 10 whole floors in a single playthrough! 100%ing this game took me about 200 hr. but it was well worth it.