This is a good roguelike, not great since it's a bit unfinished (of course), but pretty enjoyable.
Here's a list of positives, negatives, and in-betweens.
Good:
- The gunplay is legitimately fun. One of my favorite guns in-game is the one that shoots out explosives as it deals great AoE damage.
- I like the music, good job Kwiper :) I know it borrows a lot of chord progressions, but that doesn't make it bad, I actually found that element kinda charming.
- The "retain/raise" concept is good, it adds more challenge and decision making, and makes sure the game isn't static in difficulty.
Bad:
- The way enemies just pop into existence is frustrating. You take a lot of damage that doesn't seem fair since an enemy spawns on top of you or close to you. Enemies should spawn when you enter a new room.
- Melee is awful to use and a waste of time, you'll probably take more damage than necessary trying to kill something with melee, and there's no point to using it because guns are better and are common drops. Also it's just not very fun.
- You can run past enemies in a lot of situations, which makes rooms where there are dead-ends or stairs not as challenging.
Mixed:
- I'd prefer if the music was a bit more dynamic, akin to that of Gungeon, where a track will go from calm to aggressive if there are active enemies, making the music a bit more impactful, but that's just my opinion.
- The art is well done, but there are a few issues with how it tiles in-game. The coloring also doesn't seem to match up very well with the UI graphics.
- Don't make me go through the "How to Play" every time I die.