About Gun Devil
Gun Devil - A Devil of a Time
A Hellishly Action-Packed Retro-Style Platformer
An Irreverent Platformer From Agelvik
Developed and published by Norwegian game developer Agelvik, Gun Devil is a retro-style platformer and shooter that's not afraid to get a bit silly and vulgar. The rising indie game has immediately made waves and is on its way to developing a devoted cult following.
Gun Devil features a unique-looking main character, a wide variety of strange enemies, and some of the most distinct-looking levels you'll ever see in a platformer. The game isn't overly complex and doesn't feature a particularly in-depth or compelling plot, but it's plenty of fun and offers the type of gaming experience you can jump right into whenever you feel like it.
Rescuing Your Kidnapped Wife
The indie game's main character is the Gun Devil himself. His wife is a teacher at the School of Magic. As it turns out, Satan's son, also known as the "Caramelized Dumbass," is a student at the school, and he has fallen in love with the Gun Devil's wife.
Making a grave error in judgment, Satan's son decides to kidnap your character's wife, and you must embark on a quest through several hellish stages to rescue her. Throughout your treacherous journey, you'll encounter various creatures from the Caramelized Dumbass's "Pimp Legion" army, and they're hellbent on stopping your mission.
Beware, you will encounter his loyal Pimp Legion army. They will stand in your way, but with your might, they will transform into nothing but gore and blood.
Equipped with a pair of wings and your trusty gun, you'll dodge projectiles, push through obstacles, and battle your way through platformer levels to save your wife. There will be plenty of bloodshed along the way, but nobody can stand between the Gun Devil and his lady and hope to live to tell the tale.
Concept Rating: 4/5
Colorful Retro-Style Animation
What stands out the most about Gun Devil is its unique visuals. The game's animation has a retro-looking theme, with its pixelated design and bright, neon colors. For the most part, it almost feels like you're playing an arcade game from the 1980s—only with smoother, faster-paced animation.
Gun Devil also boasts some very bizarre but creative character models. The main character himself isn't too unusual; the titular Gun Devil essentially looks like a ghost mixed with a demon, and he runs, flips, and flies through the various levels with agility and ease. The enemies you face are diverse and a tad odd, to put it mildly.
Referred to as the Caramelized Dumbass's Pimp Legion, many of the Gun Devil's adversaries look like demon pimps. Some look like large, puffy creatures with flamboyant hats and dollar-sign medallions, while others are flying dogs and happily grazing cows.
The animation is not realistic or intricately detailed. However, it's distinct, eye-catching, and syncs well with the irreverent vibe the winged character puts out there.
The soundtrack and sound effects also have a retro-style vibe, though the music also manages to be eerie and, at times, almost alien-sounding.
Graphics & Audio Rating: 3/5
Navigating a Surreal World
Without a doubt, one of the highlights of Gun Devil is the variety of levels and obstacles you'll navigate as you progress. There are nine challenging stages, each filled with different barriers to circumvent, traps to avoid, and enemies to blow away. Each level has tonnes of unique structures and spooky-looking background images.
Sometimes, you might have to dodge spike-wielding weapons spinning around on chains. At other times, there might be giant, fire-breathing lizard heads or extremely narrow passageways that you must cautiously squeeze through. Overall, each stage always has a ton going on, and there's never a dull moment.
Blasting Your Way Through Hell
In Gun Devil, your best friends are your guns. These weapons are not only effective for taking down your foes, but they're also a lot of fun to use. You can cycle between four different unlockable guns, with some shooting rapid-fire bullets and others functioning more like grenade launchers or flamethrowers.
On your journey, acquire new powerful skills and weapons while performing badass moves across this comedic hell world.
Your guns won't be able to conquer every obstacle you face in Gun Devil, but they'll certainly take care of quite a few of them. In addition to blowing away the members of the Pimp Legion army, your weapons can also destroy particular structures and other obstacles blocking your path.
Challenging Boss Battles
At the end of Gun Devil's various stages, you'll have to conquer diverse boss battles, providing a pleasant change of pace to the standard gameplay. Each of these bosses fights features different mechanics to figure out and master. For example, at the end of one level, you have to take on a levitating demon king, capable of shooting exploding colorful balls at your character at a rapid-fire pace.
As you successfully defeat bosses throughout the game, you'll rescue a variety of other abducted demon babes while on the way to saving your wife. These interactions feature short little cutscenes that add depth to the game's lore, helping to make the overall storyline a bit more interesting.
Gameplay Rating: 4/5
No Need to Break Out the Wallet
While Gun Devil is worth dishing out some money for, there's no need to, as it's 100% free-to-play. The game launched on August 2, 2022, and you can get your hands on it right now through Steam. Gun Devil saw more than 10,000 downloads in the first 48 hours of its release and continues to climb.
Few gamers who enjoy platformers or retro-style games would bat an eye at spending $15 or $20 on Gun Devil, so being able to get it for free is a great deal. Additionally, if you're interested in downloading the soundtrack, which is entirely homemade, you can purchase it for $4.99.
If you enjoy Gun Devil, make sure you check out other games by Agelvik, including:
Fast-Paced, Addicting, and a Great Diversion
Once you jump into Gun Devil, you probably won't want to stop playing until you've finished all nine stages and rescued your character's wife. The game is engaging and fast-paced, and it's challenging enough to keep you on your toes. However, it isn't so challenging that it gets frustrating and makes you want to shut off the PC in a fit of rage, which is a feeling every gamer has experienced at one time or another.
That said, Gun Devil is also the perfect game to throw on when you're looking to have fun killing time for a few minutes. For example, if you work from home and need a 10-minute break, or you need a breather between household chores, you can hop into a level, do a little shooting, rescue a demon babe, and get right back to work.
Replay Value Rating: 3/5
The Pros
- Colorful retro visuals
- Smooth, fast-paced combat and movement
- Creative enemies and boss battles
- The right amount of difficulty
The Cons
- Some graphics lack detail
- A fairly lacklustre storyline
- Some levels get repetitive
TL;DR
Gun Devil is an irreverent, retro-style platformer with plenty of shooting, obstacles, and fast-paced boss battles to conquer.
