GUN KING

it's like nuclear throne and vampire survivors combined, very nice game for the price it's at.

[b]Gun King[/b] is a rogue-lite action game where you blast through chess-themed enemies with unlockable guns and randomized upgrades. The movement feels great, the king character is fun to control, and the upgrade system is intuitive even without a tutorial. Boss fights are charmingly designed to reflect chess pieces—Knights leap, Bishops charge diagonally, and I’m genuinely excited to see what the Queen will bring. The animation work is excellent, and the pacing of new upgrades and unlocks keeps things interesting from run to run. However, there’s only one map environment at the moment, which makes repeated plays feel visually repetitive. [b]Pros:[/b] [list] [*] Smooth, responsive movement and combat [*] Great enemy design based on chess pieces [*] Excellent animations and charming aesthetic [*] Tons of upgrade variety [/list] [b]Cons:[/b] [list] [*] Only one playable environment so far [*] Some guns (e.g., machine gun) feel underpowered [*] Background lacks visual variety [*] Boss victories could use more flair [/list] Gun King is off to a very promising start. With more variety in maps and weapons, it could easily rise to the top of the rogue-lite scene.

Gun King feels like a knockoff 20 Minutes Till Dawn, copying not only the core gameplay (as a Vampire Survivors-like game, but you control shooting), but also copying the skill upgrade trees. Burn damage giving the player healing, frozen enemies shattering on death, summon damage builds, getting hit yielding permanent stat upgrades, passive aoe damage, pickup range, auto weapon reloading.. it's all here, just with minor changes. They're even presented similarly, as a diamond with four nodes (also similar to how upgrades are presented in Nova Drift, which is probably where 20 Minutes got it from). And if you thought Back 4 Blood has an issue with enemy silhouette readability, Gun King might have that game beat. 99% of the enemies you will be fighting in this game are pawns, and while different variations of this enemy do exist, they are far too visually similar to quickly identify. There's a slightly fatter pawn, a pawn with a few green pixels behind it, a pawn with a small plus drawn on it, a pawn holding a gun that is the same color as the smoke and bodies on the ground... Imagine playing Vampire Survivors and every non-boss enemy was just some variant of a skeleton with a few pixels changed, or imagine Nuclear Throne with every enemy being a Bandit holding a different weapon, but all the weapons look almost the same. It would get old. Real fast. I don't know why the game has a chess theme. Replace the chess pieces with literally anything else and the game doesn't change. In a different game like Shotgun King the chess theming actually plays a roll as the pieces on the board still move in (roughly) the same ways that they move in chess. But here? Replace the character with a blue circle and the enemies with red squares, call it "Shape King", and you would never know that at one point it was themed around chess. Wait a minute... shot... GUN King? Hmm..

i met you at the ssu gaming confrence in the red hoodie

A very fun, simple twin stick shooter with a chess theme that is progressing well during early access. The dev is quick to fix bugs and is taking suggestions for possible additions and improvements. The price is fair for what you get.

Mindless fun that tickles the brain just right. If you like bullet hells/heavens and thinking only just enough to dodge bullets while you unload on things, this game is for you.

Great! Well worth the price and a few hours! Looking forward to updates also.

fun chill and just always fun to make weapons oppppp

i wish i could inject gun king in my veins

Quickly unlocked all the upgrades in one run, the summons are just too op, especially with the fountain and regen upgrades and spawning summons every minute. Otherwise I see great potential in this game and I am looking forwards to see what will be added next. Also haven't seen the queen, if it's in the game or no? She could be used as like the reaper at the end in Vampire survivors, but that might me just too much similarity with that game. Would i recommend you play this game? Yes and no. The are plenty of bugs, I mainly encountered some with the weapon upgrades. If you are willing to wait a bit for more polished releases, then yes.