Pronounced Like You’re Screaming Most of the Word
Today, children, we have a brief history of the roguelike genre. Inspired by Dungeons and Dragons, traditional rogue-likes focus on turn-based combat, procedurally-generated levels (typically dungeons), and permadeath. The likes of Rogue, Hack, Moria and other games you’ve never played established the genre. Games like the Binding of Isaac and Spelunky define the “rogue-lite” genre (or “roguelike-like” for my stutterers out there) which infused roguelike concepts with platforming, beat-em-up, or FPS gameplay. Although different in presentation, each roguelike/lite poses a steep challenge, requiring players to learn gradually as they die. And that, children, is how the genre led to the Education Genocide of 2015.
Like many others in the genre, GoNNER embraces several traits of a standard roguelite while experimenting with others to twist the definition of the genre. With its emphasis on high scores and simple gameplay, it even plays more like an arcade game compared to other roguelites like Dead Cells or Enter the Gungeon. In this sense, GoNNER does away with many of the archetypes that muddy gameplay and reduce accessibility. In doing so, however, it limits its own potential, presenting an experience that’s refreshing but ultimately fleeting.
What is it?
GoNNER follows a droplet of water, Ikk, who goes looking for a fantastic gift for his beloved land-whale-friend. As is standard for a water-whale romance, Ikk must kill waves of enemies (à la the run-and-gun side-scrolling platformers of old) across four procedurally-generated worlds. Along the way, he will find new weapons, heads, and items to aid his massacre. He will also die, over and over again because that happens to water droplets.
As Ikk, you begin each run by customizing your loadout. Each head provides a different amount of health as well as a passive ability like a third jump, hovering capabilities, or explosion immunity. Next, your guns range from rocket launchers to shotguns to your standard pistol and serve to alter the gameplay the most. Lastly, you have your activated items which can give you an additional jump, temporary invincibility, or even an extra life. Shops are sprinkled between worlds, allowing you to change your loadout, but most players will find themselves most comfortable rocking their original gear.
Your weapon will clear out the majority of your enemies, but Ikk takes inspiration from Mario and can stomp creatures to death as well. Using both methods can be key in stringing kills together, and these combos reward you with more points, ammo clips, and purple glyphs. Glyphs prove to be invaluable later in your runs because with enough of them, you can respawn, ensuring your death doesn’t result in a game over. It’s like how rich, sick people use their money to buy organs off the black market.
What’s good?
- GoNNER is one of the most stylistically beautiful games on the Switch. The game begins in monochrome, but vibrant blues, reds, and yellows later seep into the black background. Walls and floors are only visible if next to you, an enemy, or an item, and they appear and disappear based on everything’s movements. This effect creates a world that is constantly in flux, shifting and dissolving in response to your actions. If you achieve a high enough combo, the music intensifies, enemies become harder variants of themselves, and all visuals become a trippy multicolor masterpiece that tastes like rainbows. Achieve an even larger combo, and the world devolves into a stark black/white jittery metal album cover.
- GoNNER makes the paradox possible by being an easily accessible but difficult game. You don’t need to read an entire Gamepedia website to understand what you’re doing or how to improve yourself. Dodge better and shoot better; that’s it. Although GoNNER won’t break you like Crypt of the Necrodancer or Darkest Dungeon, you’ll still encounter a sizable number of game overs before you complete your first run.
- The daily challenge mode brings needed variety. It forces you to adapt to a random loadout and trek through unfamiliar level layouts. For those searching for a higher difficulty, this mode kicks you into the wilderness with nothing but a loincloth, a broken can opener, and two expired cans of Whole Kernel Fiesta Corn.
What’s bad?
- In streamlining the roguelite genre, GoNNER severely limited its own content. It sprinkles secrets and unlockables throughout its stages, but you can find all of these in less than 10 hours. Compare this to the Binding of Isaac which still holds surprises after fifty hours of playtime, and GoNNER looks somewhat emaciated.
- Due to the limited content, the game also grows monotonous quickly. Your items, heads, and weapons dictate how you play, but this is where the variety ends. Despite being procedurally-generated, the levels don’t change enough for runs to feel unique. As you attempt to edge closer to completing a run, the early levels blur together, becoming a sludge of mind-numbing running and gunning. Hi-score chasers and speedrunners will feast on this action, but everyone else will eventually tire of the tedium.
- Difficult games usually punish poor plays, but in GoNNER, a well-intentioned but ultimately messy damage system offers cruel and unusual punishment. Based on the head, you have a set number of hearts, but when you take damage, your head, weapon, and item are flung from your body. As a defenseless water droplet, you must pick everything up once again to continue the fight. If you’re damaged again while headless, you die. Because enemies tend to swarm your body, you’ll often be utterly obliterated or down two hearts before you can escape. Fun, I tell you.
What’s the verdict?
For those who have read my Neurovoider review, my opinion of GoNNER sounds much the same but a bit less positive. GoNNER is a good game, and its art style and combo-focused gameplay offer a straightforward rogue-lite experience which can appeal to newcomers and veterans alike. However, the game does not stand among the best the genre has to offer. If you have burned through all of the other games I’ve mentioned in this review, then you can certainly place GoNNER on your docket without regrets. For the rest, you have some rogue-lite history to cover first.
Arbitrary Statistics:
- Score: 7
- Time Played: Over 5 hours
- Number of Players: 1
- Games Like It on Switch: Enter the Gungeon, Tallowmere