Gunpoint

With so many indie games available these days, it's sometimes hard to know what to get excited for. However Gunpoint managed to build a fair amount of hype for its innovative and simplified take on stealth action gameplay. After watching a little bit of the gameplay on a youtube feed, I decided to get the game when it was released, which happened to be the other day.

After playing the game for a few hours I can definitively say two things about gunpoint: It's really good and it's really short. According to Steam, I got through gunpoint in a grand total of 2.8 hours. Was that 2.8 hours worth the nine dollars i paid for it? Absolutely. Gunpoint impresses with it's slick and simplistic controls, it's great writing and it's stealth puzzler gameplay. The only low point comes at the end when you realize the game is over.

I knew I was going to like gunpoint within the first five minutes of the game. The plot is explained via phone calls between the protagonist, Richard Conway and various characters that hire him as a "freelance spy." Conway is caught in a sticky situation and is implicated in a murder. In the best noir tradition, he ends up working on both sides of the eventual conflict, with plenty of deceit and back room deals to go around. During these portions, players are given limited control over what Conway can say, playing him as either a straight shooter, or as a hilariously sarcastic pessimist. Regardless, the writing in Gunpoint great, especially for such a short indie game with so much else going for it.

Gameplay at first appears to be a standard side scrolling stealth action affair. However there are several notable differences between Gunpoint and say Mark of the Ninja. In most stealth games, being seen involves running around until guards forget you're there. In Gunpoint getting seen pretty much means getting shot and loading a saved game. It's much more "stealth" than it is "action"

The other big gameplay piece is the ability to rewire electronics. With a swipe of the mouse wheel, the view changes to highlight all the electronic devices in the building. This means everything from doors, to motion detectors to cameras to trap doors. This can all be messed with and connected to one another. For instance, players can rewire a camera, so that when it detects them, instead of setting off an alarm it opens a door. Or a trap door, above which a guard is standing. The possibilities are endless, really bringing a strong puzzle element into the game.

The catalyst for all of this is a set of simple, usable and intuitive controls. WASD move around and activate switches, press and hold the mouse button for jumping (this works really well, just trust me) and a swipe of the mouse wheel puts everything in electronics mode. The mouse pointer also turns red it is in an area that guards can see. Everything about controlling and interacting with the game makes sense and is intuitive.

Gunpoint impressed me. I wish it was longer, but my understanding is that it was made pretty much entirely by one guy. I'm not going to hold its short length against it considering it was only nine dollars. Anyone on the fence about this game should go pick it up. It's well worth your time.