Footgun: Underground is a new action roguelike by developer Turtle Knight Games.
It’s time for another roguelike! Footgun is a new entry in the genre, which looks to add it’s own spin to things by utilising a footballing mechanic. The basic gameplay loop is this, you enter a map of randomly generated levels, with each level having it’s own challenge, from defeating enemies to hitting targets to other miscellaneous things. You complete all of these by doing one thing, kicking a ball.
The ball is your weapon, and how long you can last depends on how well you can handle it. You can kick the ball, or charge up to kick the ball harder. You also can use a bit of control to dribble the ball, and do some keepy uppies to change it’s orientation, and that’s about it. Deceptively simple, but also hard to master, as all addictive games should be. Kicking the ball gives a pleasing thud each time, and I found the mechanic quite fun. Mastering the physics is key, as anticipating the right angles to deflect the ball off is necessary for the more challenging levels.
As it’s a roguelike, there’s also lots of things to collect. These are items which can increase your stats such as kick strength or health, to items that can make you jump higher. You can also find different balls which have different effects such as blowing up, and find items to enhance the balls too, which increase damage and other effects. There’s also a gumball machine you can enter gold coins into to unlock new things to find.
It’s a decent little roguelite, all things considered. There’s a good amount of variety in the levels and things to collect, and the gameplay loop being self-explanatory means its easy to pick up and play. It also has quite a nice pixel aesthetic. It’s not all perfect though. It can feel a little repetitive if you play it for too long, with the gameplay loop not really changing too much throughout. Additionally, the music feels a little off kilter, not quite meshing with the pixel style, with various electric guitar style songs.
I think it’s a pretty fun game to be honest, though it may be priced a little bit high. It’s currently on Steam for £14.99, which isn’t a ludicrous price but considering the price of other roguelites it may be limiting it’s reach somewhat by going for that price point. That being said, if the game looks interesting to you, it’s probably worth giving it a try.
You can purchase Footgun: Underground on Steam here. If you’re looking for another roguelite with interesting mechanics, take a look at Trainline Express.
