I feel like I got to this party a bit late. I'm an avid fan of the roguelike genre and Nuclear Throne does have a very solid minimalist design, but I can't help feeling it's a bit limited even by the standards of its day feeling more like something suited to the gameboy.

NT is one of the earlier twin stick roguelikes containing the skeleton of the genre. The gunplay is fast paced, tough, and simple. Upgrades come in the form of mutations which vary by character, and each level is a minimal, tiny, blocky arena that can be expanded via explosions.

Gameplay is centred around the guns and character specific gimmicks. Survival is achieved by learning how to wield the different weapons without killing yourself and familiarising yourself with the different enemies, how they react to being shot, and how to dodge their projectiles. The small resolution and tight spaces combined with large explosions and enemy attacks provide most of the difficulty here.

It has a lot of charm in it's simplicity but the gameplay lacks nuance so it becomes repetitive fast. I can see why people might grind this one for hours at a time but it's not substantial enough for my taste.