Gunfire Reborn Review
Release date: October 27th, 2022
Developer: Duoyi Games
Platforms: Xbox (reviewed), Steam
Price: $19.99
Gunfire Reborn mixes up several genres, gamers will see a bit of FPS, looter shooter, some RPG elements, and roguelike elements blended together. This ends up being an interesting game with some good concepts, and this game is best played with friends. Gunfire Reborn has some charm but The Gamer’s Lounge has to ask what's the hook?
Gunfire was released on Steam back in 2020 but has made its way to Xbox. My first thoughts of this game as I started to play it was how much it reminded me of Immortal Redneck, another roguelike FPS mostly due to the art style. In Gunfire, players will unlock weapons, new characters, and abilities as they gain levels. Save the currency and spend it after you die and players might become faster, live longer, or do more elemental damage. If you die, the run is over and it's back to the first stage. Well this is mostly true, but there is some sort of revive mechanic that's pretty handy but it's limited. There really isn't a hub world or alternative paths, something Immortal Redneck and Dead Cells both have.
Speaking of Immortal Redneck, as mentioned Gunfire has the same look of cell shaded graphics where enemies have a fun look to them. Gameplay wise, it's a shooter, players have up to 3 guns, which they can upgrade and swap for other weapons as they move through the levels. Each of the characters has two skills. The starting character who is catlike can summon an orb which pins enemies in place and has a damaging smoke gernade, these two skills and the frustrating dodge mechanic are on cooldowns.
The first character I unlocked also had grenades and could dual wield. The latter came in handy with several waves of enemies. Dual wielding a chaingun and lightning rifle was key, Speaking of enemies, many of them are shielded or have weaknesses to certain types of damage. It’s best to carry two different weapons, maybe one that has shock damage and one that has fire. I saw throwing knives, rifles, SMGs, crossbows, sniper rifles, rocket launchers and the list goes on and on. All of them have different mechanics, clip sizes and weapon effects (which can be modified). Boss fights are interesting and depending what guns you end up with, can be good and bad.
Plenty of guns and loot is dropping in each small level, very handy if you have a co-op buddy. I couldn't get the matchmaking to work on Xbox Series S, I wasn't able to find anyone. If this did work, it screams the fun of Borderlands to me.
Overall it's not a bad game, it can get a little stale as the first few levels are a slogfest. The weapons mechanics are good, I did have to shut off the head bob as it made me ill. The game doesn't have much of a story. Big thanks to the publisher for letting us review it.
Final Score
Pros:
Looter shooter
Rogue like
Cons:
Roguelike
Repetitive
Needs some sort of hook