Gunhead demo playthrough (Steam Next Fest Oct 2023)
1I’m glad the Next Fest live stream covered this game, because I ended up liking it a lot more than I thought I would.
I came in wondering if Gunhead's visual style might make it hard for me to discern objects of interest, but it actually distinguishes them quite well for the most part. Interactibles and targets typically have clearly-colored highlights, and you'll eventually learn to recognize things by their shapes as well.
Movement is surprisingly fast-paced but feels extremely easy to get used to, and your jetpack is alarmingly effective - it's pretty hard (but not impossible) to run out. Gunplay seems satisfying, though some weapons feel more impactful than others.
I didn’t realize going in that this is a successor to Cryptark by the same devs. I haven’t played Cryptark but I’ve seen gameplay, and I can tell that Alientrap absolutely know what they’re doing with Gunhead. Initially I felt a little overwhelmed by all the systems to keep track of, but the map does a good job at illustrating dependencies.
The map _was_ a bit frustrating to use - for some reason you have to use the movement keys to move the map incredibly slowly (you can't use mouse for this). You can zoom the map with the mouse wheel, but the interval it zooms by is extremely tiny, requiring a lot of effort to make any meaningful difference.
Overall, this seems to be a very promising FPS roguelite. If you're a fan of that combination of genres and/or liked Cryptark, give this a look. Full release is slated for November 8.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/704000/GUNHEAD/