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The roguelike genre is all about making choices. What kind of character will you play as? What types of upgrades will you equip? Which door will you open, and what will you do differently when said door explodes in your face?
But, you might note, there are no doors in space. No rooms, no winding labyrinths, and no toilets for miles. You should have used the restroom before you left for war. So how does one blend a vertical scrolling shoot ‘em up in the wide expanse of space with a genre all about confined rooms and exploding doors?
The answer is gates. Thesaurus.com tells me it’s a loose synonym for door, and that’s good enough for me! These gates happen to be of the warp variety. Warp Gates bookend each chapter of your battle against The Swarm and offer you multiple opportunities to choose where you travel, who you fight, and what rewards you get. Take on tougher challenges to earn rare rewards, or take the easy path, repair your ship, and risk falling behind later on. Each action packed segment seamlessly blends into the next as you make light-speed jumps, in real time, to the next deadly skirmish, showering you in loot as you arrive.
Said loot is another core element of the dungeon crawl experience. The original Gunlocked offered a variety of random upgrades drawn from a single pool. Level up in any area, as any character, and draw from the same selection of upgrades. Gunlocked 2 makes who you fight and where you fight them a factor in the kinds of upgrades you can find. Some destinations might even offer helpful allies with unique skills to further customize your build.
As you start to put together your exploding laser cannons or vampire drone army, you’ll want to seek out the locations, enemies, and non-player characters (NPCs) that offer you the best chance at crafting the perfect arsenal. Seasoned veterans can use the earned knowledge of what drops where and from whom to paint a beautiful picture of death across the starry night, and it won’t even cost an ear. Your life, maybe.
The best roguelikes encourage (i.e. kill) you to make different choices every time. But once you’ve mastered the art of making choices, you’ll still have to put your equipment to good (i.e. deadly) use. Gunlocked 2 ups the action with an active dodge ability called “Phase Shifting.” What kind of action-roguelike would it be without a dodge roll?
When you phase shift, your ship becomes temporarily invulnerable, capable of passing through enemies and projectiles without harm. It will be instrumental in keeping your carefully tuned ship in one piece. You wouldn’t want all that effort spent crafting the perfect build to go to waste, and be lost forever when you die.
Remember, a good roguelike tries to kill you. And Gunlocked 2 is a very good roguelike.