An excellent title can let you know all the things you should find out about a online game in only a phrase or two. In the case of elevator pitches in that vein, you simply aren’t going to get way more succinct than Gunbrella.

Developed by Doinksoft, the studio behind this yr’s physical-only Demon Throttle, Gunbrella‘s title actually tells you all the things you should know concerning the 2D motion sport in three syllables. You will have a gun. It’s additionally an umbrella. What different info do you should decide for those who’re in or out?

A zany identify like that may have its downsides although, as gamers might be fast to jot down one thing off as a “meme sport.” Fortuitously, that’s unlikely to be the case right here. Based mostly on a 30-minute demo I performed, Gunbrella is shaping as much as be one other worthy addition to Devolver Digital’s constant slate of indie motion video games. Like a number of the writer’s greatest releases, it makes motion simply as a lot about shifting as it’s about capturing — and that’s all due to its namesake weapon.

Underneath my Gunbrella, ella, ella

My demo begins when my character, a quiet woodsman carrying a brown bowler cap and a protracted scarf, arrives on the outskirts of a small city by way of boat. An NPC on the dock shortly places some quests in my logbook by mentioning some mysteries occurring within the sport’s “noir-punk” world. Probably the most intriguing of these pertains to the titular Gunbrella that I’ve arrived with, which has some kind of unusual insignia on it.

From there, Gunbrella wastes no time in introducing me to its core concepts. With its default ammo, my trusty weapon acts as a short-range shotgun that may take fundamental enemies down in a fast burst. Nevertheless, that’s simply considered one of many methods. When holding down a route button and opening the umbrella with a proper click on, I zip in that route. That permits me to each attain high-up platforms and carry out dashes.

It’s just a little tough to get the cling of. The route must be held down earlier than opening the umbrella, which I discovered went in opposition to my instincts. After some early fumbling, I received the cling of it and began to see the potential for superior motion methods that’ll be a blast to look at executed at a excessive stage. Like plenty of Devolver-published video games, I think about the speedrunning scene could have a discipline day with all these zips.

The umbrella additionally works as a defend and one that may parry assaults too. If I open up my umbrella proper earlier than I’m about to get shot, it’ll deflect the bullet again at my enemy. By the top of the demo, I received a robust sense of the bullet ballet. In a single breath, I might pop into the air, shoot down at an enemy beneath me, and open my umbrella upon touchdown simply in time to deflect a turret’s shot. I’m like a lethal Mary Poppins dropping a spoonful of shells on the world’s creepy cultists.

The story is a bit more mysterious in the meanwhile. I solely received a small style of what seems to be a multilayered thriller that delves each into native politics and supernatural horror. Whereas most of my demo was spent exploring a small 2D city that featured NPCs complaining concerning the mayor, it ended once I found cultists making blood sacrifices to summon what’s in all probability greatest described as a fleshy meatball with legs. Naturally, that led to a boss struggle the place I used my gun’s alternate ammo (a longer-ranged pulse rifle) to chop it down with out a lot bother. There’s a little bit of meta humor within the combine for good measure too, like a signpost that begs me to not break a machine with a grenade by laying out precisely how I might do it (I did it).

To this point, Gunbrella delivers precisely what I hoped for: a enjoyable indie motion sport with a sturdy mobility hook. I get the sense that my trusty weapon is able to much more methods, so I’m excited to see how way more it might probably open up within the full launch. Even when it doesn’t wind up being groundbreaking, I actually have already got its identify branded on my tongue.

Gunbrella is scheduled to launch in 2023 for PC and Nintendo Swap.

Editors’ Suggestions