Game:

Enter the Gungeon (2016)

Duration: 24:39

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JUST IN CASE there are those around who would prefer to consume media in the same fashion I myself typically would!

But the FULL version of events with all the incessant yammering is over here:
https://youtu.be/ElcJfD-jNDY

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If I ever see you around here again, I'll lock you in my fungeon!
twitter.com/yuugijoou
discord.gg/bKT9pRW

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Anyway, the whole premise of this gameplay happening at all, as one might imagine, is the promise of cooperative play. Erm. "Cooperative" play. Mostly. It's not like there's any vested interest in making the other player dead, or through inaction, allow death to come to the other player...

... ... ...probably.

So yeah, shockingly enough, this game has co-op play! It's not THAT shocking, actually, but it does come with an innumerable supply of caveats and side notes and what have you.

First and foremost, the second player can ONLY play as "The Cultist"... essentially a less-unfriendly variant of a rather commonplace enemy, worshiping the Gungeon itself and all its various wonders within. You know, the things that are trying to kill you and whatnot. So they generally seek to end you in similar fashion.

This is also the ONLY way (within the game's normal avenues, at any rate) that you're meant to be able to play AS the Cultist. The Cultist even has his own backstory, lore (alluded to frequently enough by items found within the Gungeon and described in detail by the Ammonomicon!), and even ending! Sort of!

But, to get to all that, you'll have to get there first! Together! (Maybe. Not really, necessarily. But you should probably TRY! ... ... ... GET ALONG, YOU TWO!)

Otherwise, the game proceeds largely as normal. Except P2 can't do many of the super important things, like talking to people. Although they CAN actually buy stuff without explicit permission by their primary player overlord... using the shared and hard-won resources from within the Gungeon. Upon which their survival may very well depend! I'm sure that won't cause any friction whatsoever.

Each player has their own inventory, meaning anything found within the Gungeon proper will have to be divvied up and meted out between you... but there won't actually be any greater (than normal, anyway) amount of loot to match, so it becomes a bit of a resource-management game unto itself.

On the unusual upside, each player gets their own stock of Blanks per floor, effectively doubling your active defensive capabilities. One player clearing the screen of all enemy attacks certainly aids the other, at any rate.

The other interesting boon is that synergies are shared. The game treats the two separate inventories as functionally linked, so even separate halves of a synergy in different players' possessions will still operate with full effect... and those effects will be granted to both players at once! Obviously, if it's a weapon-based effect, you have to actually have the the weapon in your hand to fire its boosted capabilities, but you don't need to have the other item to make it happen. And if it's a synergy between two guns, each player can have one and be capable of using both of their upgraded attack capacity simultaneously!

Naturally, just having another warm body to (hopefully) watch your back and (presumably) increase your battle efficiency means that the enemies are at a marked disadvantage. Thus, it's only "fair" that they get a multiplier to all their stats and particulars. Health, damage, what have you. You guys can handle that, right?!

If either player should perish within the Gungeon, they are reduced to naught but a floating spectral facsimile of their former self. They can still act, however! They float around harmlessly, and can trigger a much smaller, localized Blank effect. After using it, there's a certain cooldown period before you can use another, but they're more or less unlimited in long-term usage.

Fear not, however! No need to tackle this stringer variant on the regular Gungeon alone forever thereafter! There are several means of returning a fallen player to life.

First, and most obviously, there's the Cultist's standard-issue active use item: a heart-shaped cookie with the sole function of returning one's partner to life.

Somewhat less intuitively, you can ALSO find your buddy locked inside ANY treasure chest you come across while haunted by their not-quite-departed apparition. The revival replaces that chest's loot, however... so this method might start to cut significantly into your looting if used too often.

Your partner will also return to the living after you complete a floor and arrive at the next one... assuming one of you doesn't mind taking on a boss alone.

Actually, on that note, you'll still be subject to the normal rules regarding boss rewards. You still receive a Master Round for beating one without taking any damage... but only ONE. And there are now TWO moving targets capable of being harmed in the process.