#gonner game

[artofelies]

　 　　 　 　　 Ｐｒｅｓｓ　ａｎｙ　ｋｅｙ

　 　　 　 　　 　 　　 ｔｏ　ｄｉｅ.

ᴀɴ ᴀᴍᴀᴢɪɴɢ ɢᴀᴍᴇ ʙʏ RawFury ᴀɴᴅ @dittomat! ɪ ʀᴇᴀʟʟʏ ᴇɴᴊᴏʏ ᴘʟᴀʏɪɴɢ ᴛʜɪꜱ ɢᴀᴍᴇ. ɪ ᴡᴀɴᴛᴇᴅ ᴛᴏ ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜɪꜱ ꜱɪɴᴄᴇ ɪᴛ ᴄᴀᴍᴇ ᴏᴜᴛ! and  if you like it!

[kidsgamesfun]

First 15: Gonner 2! Something Different... #Gonner2

[pixeledicarus]

GoNNER

Available On: Steam, Humble Bundle GoNNER is a rogue-lite platformer for the pc by the developer studio Art in Heart, the single member of which is a man who goes by Ditto, joined by sound designer Martin Kvale. I’m not known to enjoy rogue-lite/likes games very much. Permadeath and starting over from level one gets old for me rather quickly if there isn’t a sense of progression in some way. The only other rogue-lite I’ve ever been super into was Enter the Gungeon earlier this year, and even that came with a few problems. That said, I couldn’t resist the unique aesthetic that GoNNER was selling.

Art By far the most interesting part of GoNNER is it’s art style. The massive contrast and bright colours combined with the simple character and enemy designs join together to create a really eye catching design. I really enjoyed the way the ground forms under you as a bright blue while you walk, and under the enemies as a bright red. However, this did also create one real problem, though a bit of a minor one. More than a few times I found myself falling into a hole because I couldn’t tell whether there would be ground underneath me as I fell, and that means instant death. Then again, it could just be because I am extremely bad at the game, you can never quite rule that out.

Sound The sound design in this game is perfectly on point. from the music to the reload sound effect, everything feels weirdly stylistic in a way that relays the mood of the game perfectly.  Shooting and jumping on the enemies in GoNNER feels incredibly satisfying, and you can’t overlook the part sound effects play in that regard. Your actions really feel like they have a weight to them, making everything feel smooth and punchy.

Gameplay GoNNER revolves around one simple gameplay loop. You pick a loadout consisting of a head, a gun, and an item. Heads can affect the amount of life you have and your jumping abilities. guns, of course, affect your shooting style, giving you a range of options from a simple pea shooter type gun to a powerful shotgun spread. And lastly, your usable item. These can be used as many times as you like with a cooldown and can do anything from giving you a reload of bullets (otherwise found as drops from enemies) to blowing up everything in a radius around you. Your goal is to progress to the end of a room full of enemies and, eventually, the end of the level, where you fight a boss. If you die you can respawn on your current room at the cost of a purple currency picked up from enemies. The price of a respawn increases each time. Throughout your progress any heads, items, and guns you find are kept and can be chosen at the beginning of your next run.

Wrap Up Every action in GoNNER controls really well. Jumping is smoothe and the guns are all responsive. It’s a tough expereience for sure, but a doable one. The weapons and items you can find are really varied and interesting, they all really shake the game up. My main concern here is, while the game itself is fun and I enjoy it and its aesthetic, replaying the same thing over and over feels stale after a while. The lack of a real story (there is a bit of a tale being told, nothing worth mentioning) also bothers me, though that won’t be the same for everyone. It does have a leaderboard for those interested. Even with these complaints, GoNNER is a solid and fun title, and for only $9.99 I can’t really complain too much at all. Overall a very solid first title from Art in Heart, and I look forward to seeing where Ditto goes from here.

Pros-

Unique and interesting aesthetic

Weird theme, with equally good and strange music

Awesome sound effects

Responsive controls

Cons-

Lack of story

Gameplay gets stale

Difficulty curve isn’t for everybody

Final Verdict: Recommended