Enter the Gungeon

I've just finished this game to 100% completion, and feel that it's finally time to write a review for it.

Enter the Gungeon is easily best bullet hell game I've ever played. I'm not usually a fan of games that require good reaction time, as mine is normally terrible, but something about Enter The Gungeon manages to pull out the best in me. It's fast-paced, a roguelite, damage is *usually* your fault, has top-notch theming, and supports multiple playstyles to keep the game feeling fresh for a long time.

The general gameplay loop consists of entering a floor, shooting through rooms full of enemies, finding loot, and using it to defeat a boss before moving to the next floor. A standard run consists of five floors, after which one obtains the "Gun That Can Defeat The Past" with which to end the run. If one has collected all the "Bullet That Can Defeat The Past" components over the course of several runs, the final level opens where the character is sent back in time to their past with a specified set of items and a single bossfight. Each past is a reference to some famous piece of media, and they all feel unique enough to be fun to fight even as they remain the same every time. The real end of the game, though, comes after one has defeated all the pasts for the four main "gungeoneers," opening a sixth and final floor that is both long and absurdly difficult. Entering this floor is optional, but doing so allows for unlocking of secret characters and the game's "true ending" that I will not spoil here.

The difficulty is just right, though in typical roguelite fashion, RNG can and absolutely will screw you over from time to time. Luckily, however, it is usually clear within 3-7 minutes of starting the run, and the quick restart button on the pause menu means that you really don't lose THAT much time to bad first floors, even if they are annoying. It's a much bigger problem earlier on in your playtime, when you're not quite as fast at clearing floors as you should be, though even later on it still is probably the worst aspect of this game, especially if running a luck-dependent character.

Balance is pretty good, all-round. Enemy damage patterns are varied enough to not feel stilted, but learning how enemies attack is, like any other game of this kind, the single biggest thing you can do to "git gud." Most guns and items are useful in their own ways, and picking up something new usually adds that little change to your playstyle that run as you begin using it in new and creative ways. Almost nothing just adds a flat increase to damage or anything else that just makes enemies deader faster, though stat-altering items that do effectively just that do exist and are always a bit flat to pick up, even if they are universally helpful. Perhaps the most interesting thing done by the item system, though, would be the synergies. Synergies are a mechanic built into the game that changes how items work if another item is held. Most of these are references or jokes of some kind, oftentimes to gun-related media, but a simple example might be that a gun that was a simple rifle can start shooting three lower-damage shots that cause flame. Synergies are everywhere, and items that weren't great beforehand can easily become heavily sought-after treasures after picking up a synergizing item.

The game does have a co-op mode, though the second player is only allowed to be one co-op specific character. Mechanics work well during it, but the camera is obnoxiously terrible to the point of near-unplayability without a modded fix. The online remote-play suffers from the input lag that all steam remote play suffers from, which in a game where quarters of a second are vitally important, makes local co-op virtually the only acceptable solution. All that being said, though, I WOULD recommend the experience if one has a real-world buddy to pull over and the static camera mod to visualize the entire room rather than disorienting everything based on something the other player is doing.

I only 100% games I absolutely love. Enter the Gungeon is one of those games. Honestly, not that hard for a roguelike bullethell (speaking as somebody who has sunk nearly 1000 hours into games like Isaac), but immensely fun. I almost feel like this has a better pin on the fun/accessible balance level than games like Isaac (which, again, I have sunk nearly 1000 hours into).
I am not saying the game is easy, but getting a viable run going seems like less of a crap shoot, or at least something that can be discerned pretty early into a run.
I love moving in this game. I love shooting in this game. I love having fun with this game. You will almost certainly need to look up guides to 100% the game because finding some secrets requires either a lot of persistence or a lot of help. However, having fun is something anyone can do without much help (again, speaking as somebody who put almost 1000 hours into Isaac).
TLDR: If you like Binding of Isaac, buy this game. If you like this game, play Binding of Isaac. If you don't like either, then we can't be friends.

Every community I visited over the past few years was convinced Enter the Gungeon has been inadvertently designed to waste its time, or didn't respect its players as much as it perhaps should have. I never felt this way towards EtG myself; I think it's a very well-paced and well-designed game. In fact, it's the epitome of Roguelite game design - design that has not waned in the face of competition for over 8 years on the market now.
The unique presentation of EtG certainly played a big part in its appeal to me. In the pursuit of the gun that can kill the past, players are dropped into a dungeon where everything is gun or bullet-themed; the stages ("chambers") are all plays on gun-related themes or words. The elevators are big bullets, the enemies are shells or cartridges, even the bosses are made of guns or are named after guns, like the Ammoconda or the Dragun.
Currency is dealt in casings, cursed enemies are aptly named "jammed" instead of "damned"; this corny theme reveals a well thought-out universe with a sense of consistency to it, making you want to see more of what it has to offer. The spritework is downright gorgeous, and the game runs well. Significant effort went into making each stage feel like a lively micro-cosmos, as if the players have intruded on the inhabitants' day-to-day lives by simply being present.
Tables are laden with food and drink, getting scattered across the floor as shots whiz past them. Crates, pots, vases, barrels and armor stands outline each room, soaking up projectile damage if taken cover behind, or shattering if bumped into. The walls gradually fill with bullet holes when shot, characters leave dust clouds in their trail, and mayhem left in their wake further takes form in spent bullet casings, spilled liquids, and felled enemy corpses.
This is what sets EtG apart from other games in the genre - the attention to detail. The player and the enemies are not the sole focus of the stage; great effort went into making each firefight feel like it came straight out of a movie. Not all objects and particles are there just for show, though: there is purpose to the braziers, lanterns, liquid drains in each room, indirectly aiding in dealing with your opponents during the fight.
Explosive barrels can be kicked across the floor, then neutralized with a shot or a roll depending on the desired outcome. Levers can be pulled to drop chandeliers or rocks on top of unsuspecting foes. Barrels full of liquid gas or toxic poison can help deny entire areas from enemies if utilized to their fullest extent. There are holes in the floor that foes can be pushed into, or spike, fire, crush traps players must be careful not to trigger themselves.
Tables and coffins can be further used during battle to create temporary cover, or a means to gain invulnerability if slid across. The latter incorporates the dodge-roll mechanic, a neat multi-purpose design that takes after the dash from other games in the genre. Not only does a player gain invulnerability by dodge-rolling, they also neutralize hazards in doing so, and can leap over traps and pits as if they were jumping. On top of that, the roll is able to deal damage.
Enemies then appropriately react to these actions, taking cover behind tables themselves, or shooting where they predict the player will move next. The AI is competent - it telegraphs attacks well, and tries to shoot hazards near players if any are found within their vicinity. Some enemies might feature multiple attack patterns, or explode into revenge-bullets on death. Some can even be used to kill other enemies, in stark contrast to other Roguelites.
I would like to point out a flaw within EtG's design, and that is the health scaling used to strengthen the enemies in later game stages. In my eyes, it serves as an unnecessary gear-check of sorts, an artificial barrier that stems from the weapons becoming less efficient the longer you play. I'm glad new stages offer new enemies to face off against, however I don't appreciate old enemies gaining more health and resilience to my guns.
That said, the weapon selection aiding in dealing with these foes is so vast, their health often doesn't matter. Some weapons take after their real-life counterparts, such as the M16 or the AK-47, others are completely imaginary or abstract. As with any other good Roguelite, there are plenty of references to other videogames, and weapons can even synergize with others in your loadout, empowering one if another is picked up.
You'd think that with hundreds of weapons on offer, the roster would feature lots of filler, but most weapons are surprisingly unique and efficient. Some fire in bursts of varying degrees of accuracy and rates of fire, some are semi-automatic or require charging, others fire in a spread or in a beam configuration. Many interact with the debuff system, causing enemies to burn, freeze, get slowed, poisoned, or even turn into harmless chickens.
More important - and this is something I’ve never seen another game do - is their interaction with the reloading system. Many weapons will switch phases upon reloading, changing the behavior of the weapon to a more damaging mode with less ammo, or a burst-fire mode, or one with a different projectile entirely. This forces you to adapt to the weapon you’re carrying, and gives it a unique personality or quirk.
I believe the main issue players have with this game is the amount of drops initially being very limited, forcing them to face the first boss with sub-optimal weaponry, making for a very tedious fight. I do also believe over the course of the game’s lifespan the devs actively attempted to address this issue, and as far as I'm concerned, they did so successfully.
Players start with one key for one out of two chests that spawn per level, and during the first floor they further gain enough currency to buy another key or another weapon, with both guaranteed to spawn in the first shop. This can potentially get them rolling (no pun intended) provided luck plays in their favor. There are other means with which players can get weapons, such as discovering secret rooms or playing minigames.
I personally compensate for this design by playing one of the two characters who sport two starter weapons; all the characters would have been given the same treatment if it were up to me. Switching weapons and using an Active diversifies each engagement and adds to the decision-making aspect of combat. In that, the design of the other characters remains lacking, but provided how easy it is to obtain new weapons I never felt this was too detrimental.
The Actives and Passives are somewhat forgettable, I assume intentionally so. They take a back seat to the weapon selection the game puts on offer. Many of the Passives raise max health or improve damage and accuracy, which is boring. Many Actives are about throwing or setting down explosives to temporarily boost damage output. It will mainly be the weapon selection that will draw player interest and provide them with a reason to keep playing.
EtG is a very accessible game, and does many things right that its predecessors do not - for example, teleporting between explored areas, which I believe this game pioneered. Currency magnetizes to you when you finish a room, you can drop, sell, or combine weapons you don't need, and gain health ups by defeating bosses flawlessly. If not for its other strengths, it's also a highly replayable game, thanks to its strong meta-progression system and roster of NPCs.
It's quirky and it's humorous, I honestly don't see a reason not to recommend this - provided you can stomach the slow-burning runs and the occasional run-in with bad RNG.

Genuinely the best Roguelike ever made, sure there are rivals but nothing plays like Gungeon, progresses like Gungeon, or hooks you and gives you a reason to stay like Gungeon. Worst part about the game was playing it as my first Roguelike, nothing else competes. Got 100% completion after 200 hours and it was fun every second, fantastic modding scene too. Do yourself a favor, play this game. You'll have yourself wanting to kill your past so you could've played it sooner. 10/10.

This game is a true 10/10. A masterpiece in the true sense.
I keep coming back to it over and over again throughout the years.

The ageless art style, the ridiculous yet deep lore, the crisp recognizable sounds, the snappy gunplay, the number of characters/guns/items/SECRETS (and symbiotic combinations of all mentioned!)... I can't name it all in one review.
All in all combined I have played this game for over 200 hours for sure, and I will probably play that much more still, since I have yet to defeat the actual boss boss (no spoilers :)) and unlock everything.

The game is a true work of art and a rare gem in a sea of mediocracy.

Absolutely love this game, the style, the game play, everything really. But I will forever hate the Ammoconda.

This game is the perfect blend of difficulty and fun. It is easily among the best pixel games ever made.
There are hundreds of guns, several of which have there own sense of humor.
there is a barrel that shoots fish, a peashooter, a gun that shoots planets, a crown of guns that shoots in all directions, a ghost buster proton pack, a unicorn horn that shoots rainbows, as well as so much more.

I mean...the developers went all out in paying respects to numerous cultural movies and games.
For example the blue armored marine is lip service to doom, and there is another character that is based off of starfox.

It is a bullet hell game, so be aware of that before you buy.

10/10