Gelato Games created Goblin Sword quite a few years ago and it was a nice gem of an action-platformer for Switch. With smaller-sized levels, it was great for pick up and play sessions that couldn’t go too long during a lunch break or before work. It had a solid amount of polish and would have felt right at home in the 16-bit era. Now they’re back with a fun and gun shooter that adds in a Metroidvania framework to the adventure. This is a bit of a new wrinkle for a run and gun as it’s hard to recall anything that blended the two sub-genres together.
Fire when Ready
It’s blended in nicely too because the opening stage is a tutorial that plays out just like a Metal Slug stage, then you get captured and escape prison to begin the Metroidvania-style adventure properly. It’s a fun ride early on because you have a slew of enemies, platforms to use cover against them with and unlock skills pretty early too. Grenades help you take out bigger foes while also destroying barriers like boulders and locked doors, and you can even get a giant exoskeleton to deal out massive damage quickly in short bursts. The platforming and gunplay feel natural and right alongside what you’d get in terms of responsiveness from the best Metal Slug games.
The opening stage is a tutorial that plays out just like a Metal Slug stage, then you get captured and escape prison to begin the Metroidvania-style adventure properly.
Knifeplay is also a part of the action and comes in handy when you get surrounded because you’re able to quickly take out foes back and forth. The default pistol has unlimited ammo, while things like the shotgun have more limited ammo. Sadly, there’s no turbo fire baked into this game or even available as an option. Of course that’s something that they could always add in with an update. It’s gorgeous-looking too and has smooth animations for every attack style, and even things like the unlockable slide look cool. I’ve been impressed with it so far after a few hours spent with it.
Guns of Play is available now on consoles and PC via Steam and has a launch discount taking it to $12.89 – and there’s a lot of game there for the money. The Metal Slug gameplay formula works shockingly well with a Metroidvania and it’s surprising to see it take this long for anybody to give this kind of concept a shot. It’s worth grabbing if you’re a fan of Metal Slug or Metroidvanias, as it’s a solid version of both kinds of game.
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