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0 Gunfire Reborn is a roguelite first-person shooter game developed by a Chinese game studio Douyi Games and was released for early access in May 22nd 2022 on Steam, and later fully released in November 18th the following year. Since its launch Gunfire Reborn has released its first DLC called “Visitors of Spirit Realm”. Both of these can be picked up as bundle for £20.68 or just the base game for £15.49.
Gunfire Reborn: If animals had thumbs, they’d use guns!
When I read the description I had to check it out, and what sold me personally was the fun characters and cool weapons as well as being able to play it multiplayer.
Gameplay
In Gunfire Reborn you will be fighting through three major stages, each consisting of 6 areas with their own themes, enemy types and bosses, with a fourth optional stage as a choice for you to take on.
You will start as the Crown Prince who is a cat, but the base game does give you five other characters you can unlock using the in game currency (Essence), ranging from the rabbit Tao that throws ethereal blades to a Qing Yan the swallow that uses flying kicks, with the DLC adding an additional two; the cool looking monkey Xing Zhe who’s looks are inspired by the legendary Monkey King Sun Wukong, and the elegant Fox Li who specializes in the fire element.
You will unlock a variety of weapons as you complete runs, each looking rather unique in design. One of the best looking and strongest (in my opinion) is the Hell Shotgun, which allows you to shoot through enemy shields. The Talisman is also a very versatile weapon that can swap through the game’s three elemental effects (Fire, Corrosion and Lightning) and have homing bullets that aim directly at the enemy’s head for critical damage. This was my favourite one to use, as I felt it paired well with how the Crown Prince uses elemental damage buffs.
Scrolls play a key part in Gunfire Reborn as they will give you buffs, such as giving you a damage buff if you are at full health. Maybe you might find a cursed scroll that can make shops more expensive or you may find a scroll that makes you lose health whenever you miss a shot.
During your run you will meet two NPC merchants; one is a Peddler that will sell you ammo, health, weapons and scrolls, and the other is the Craftsman who can upgrade your currently held weapons, as well as etch new stats onto them that provide different effects.
Graphics & Audio
I really enjoy the cell shaded style but it looks better in some areas than others. For example, the Anxi Dessert can sometimes look like one solid shape of yellow with some grey ruins dotted around, whilst the Dou Fjord wharf adds a lot more detail to the environment with boats, huts and brown bamboo platforms.
The music in the main menu is fine but nothing really stood out to me and I found the in-game menu to be the same, so I would eventually just play my own music instead, as there is no spoken dialogue in the game either.
Longevity
Each run can take about 30 to 40 minutes with higher difficulties like nightmare taking much longer. You can get a decent amount of hours into this when collecting all the weapons, scrolls and levelling up characters. I personally suggest grabbing some friends to play with.
Final Thoughts
I had fun playing Gunfire Reborn but after a few runs I started to feel that the game is much more fun with friends, since each of us tackling higher difficulties together as a different character gave the game more variety and challenge. The developers have a road map in place to add more content but I always feel like it’s lacking in some areas.
I would have to give Gunfire Reborn the Thumb Culture Silver Award, it has a lot of potential but does not hit the mark just yet, maybe with more stages and detailing it could.
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