I love when a game divides its audience. Furthermore, the harder the gameplay is to understand, the greater the sense of achievement. Nongunz: Doppelganger Edition is like Marmite! Some players adore its cryptic approach and the lack of handholding, whilst others despise the minimalistic style and its confusing ways. Accordingly, I understand why it has caused so much hate, yet I adore its brutality and its weird art style.
Developed by Brainwash Face and Kittehface and published by Digerati, this is a pixelated platform shooter. What’s more, it has rogue-like elements and will kick your ass from beginning to end. On top of this, the Doppelganger Edition adds new gameplay that has never been experienced on console. Consequently, you can now enjoy local cooperative action as well as an arena mode.
Nongunz: Doppelganger Edition is confusing as hell!
Confusion, darkness, and death are the core focus points for Nongunz: Doppelganger Edition. Subsequently, you have little to no idea of why you exist, or what the heck is happening. Effectively, the only thing that you are certain of is that you are armed with a gun, and there are monsters to kill. Moreover, you are likely to fail repeatedly and frustration will kick in.
On the surface, this is how clear Nongunz: Doppelganger Edition is. However, in reality, the developers have left small notes to help you piece together the story. Consequently, the hero must kill everything in sight to earn points. These points can then be returned to a shrine to unlock new weapons and make yourself stronger. Alternatively, you can keep going and risk it all. Furthermore, how you choose to progress is up to you, but if you push it too far, you will lose it all.
Risk and reward.
Like its peers, this brutal rogue-like is a fine balance of risk and reward. But this game goes one step further. With limited guidance, you must understand the moment to back away and when to progress. Thankfully, though, there is no right or wrong approach. However, this will lull you into a false sense of security. As such, you will fail miserably, respawn, lick your wounds, and try again.
The action takes place across a collection of grim rooms. Within each of these tombs are collectables, monsters, treasures, and traps. What’s more, the further you progress, the tougher your opponents become. Yet, the harder they are, the greater the prize. Subsequently, you must study your foes, overcome their weaknesses, and improve your gear.
Each run culminates in a grim boss battle. This horrendous experience will test your patience, skill, and ability to stay calm. However, you can improve your stats with cards and attribute boosts. These mysterious elements are poorly explained, but if you are fortunate, and you get the balance right, you can increase your speeds, alter the size of your bullets, and much more. Accordingly, you can make the action a little easier and therefore, any progress is more straightforward.
Nongunz: Doppelganger Edition is uncomfortable to observe.
The minimalist style and mainly monochromatic colour palette enhance the eerie nature of this title. Moreover, the simple animation and character sprites work perfectly with the stripped-back style. The sinister backdrops and tiny spaces are uncomfortable to explore but wonderfully varied in design. However, the developer’s insistence on a cryptic approach undermines many of its excellent mechanics. Disappointingly, it is tough to understand the aforementioned stat-boosting cards, and more often than not, this is down to a lack of information. Had the developers been more generous with their explanations, then Nongunz: Doppelganger Edition would have been far better received.
Visually, I had some complaints. However, I cannot find fault with the incredible audio. The aggressive soundtrack adds drama to the fast-paced run-and-gun combat mechanics. What’s more, the weapons sound fantastic, and sound effects add to the atmosphere. Consequently, I couldn’t find fault with the audio, even if I didn’t know what I was doing most of the time.
The controls could have been better.
Mashing the action button to shoot your gun is not my idea of fun. Yet, this is exactly what you have to do. Subsequently, you’ll spend much of your time running, jumping, and shooting like a maniac. Consequently, there isn’t as much finesse as I’d have liked and this tarnishes the finish a bit. Alongside this, it was challenging to shoot in multiple directions and this increases the difficulty unfairly. Whenever you encounter flying enemies, they are unnecessarily tough to kill. As such, you run around like a headless chicken instead of being able to calmly pick them off. This was a shortcoming that should have been addressed to improve the gaming experience.
The addition of an arena mode and local cooperative action increases both longevity and replay value. On top of this, there are hundreds of levels to explore, plenty of skills to test out, and many weapons to play with. What’s more, you’ll die repeatedly, and this makes the action moreish and rewarding. Though it is undeniably tough, you won’t want to put it down.
Nongunz: Doppelganger Edition won’t please everyone.
Nongunz: Doppelganger Edition isn’t going to be everyone’s cup of tea. Its brutality and lack of guidance will be off-putting for many. Furthermore, its simplicity will leave some players wanting. However, if you want a challenging and cryptic game that puts you through your paces, then look no further. With a grim and demonic aesthetic and a Souls-like cruelty to proceedings, this will make you scream and come back for more. I loved it even though it was tough as hell. As such, I recommend that you buy it here! Can you rescue the worshippers and improve your skills? Defeat grotesque monsters, explore grim dungeons, and survive for as long as possible.
