REVIEW: Shoot, loot and wear cool boots in WIZARD WITH A GUN

I like roguelites. I’ve reviewed many of these over the past few years and it’s usually fun to see the new spins on the infinite loop motif. Wizard with a Gun not only boasts fun gameplay and a wide range of customization in both weapons and character designs, but it cleverly disguises a roguelite game as a survival action game using the best of both genres.

Everything about the Wizard with a gun will seem familiar to you to some extent. It could be the endless loop of diving deeper and deeper into a world for loot and story progression. Maybe it’s the cute 2D cartoon models running around in 3D space and looking like something out of Don’t Starve or Cult of the Lamb. Or maybe it’s the wide variety of bullet customizations and witty humor that feel lifted from games like Loadout or even Borderlands. Regardless, we’ve seen most, if not all, of these ideas in one form or another in other games. However, Wizard with a Gun does a fantastic job of bringing these survival mechanics and incorporating them well into this constantly and intentionally repeating action game.

So let’s break down these three sections. The actual roguelite mechanics, the core of the game, are well woven into the gameplay loop. The Wizard with the Gun imposes a five-minute timer (with warnings, extensions, and other things) on each run which can slowly progress players’ skills and world exploration. This timer on every run won’t stop people immediately, but more creatures will start spawning and dangers will drop from the sky to encourage people to run back to the portal to return to their home base. While this timer may bother some people, I found it fascinating and it makes every run feel frenetic, fun, and fast.

Wizard with a Gun’s moment-to-moment gameplay boils down to a twin-stick shooter with a lot of customization. The actual weapons don’t change much, but the projectiles players can craft and use during their runs are what can lead to wild builds (which essentially do the same thing as weapon customization). Do you want to burn the world with lots of flaming bullets? You can do it. Do you want to freeze everything that comes near you? You can do it. Do you want to shoot your friends to heal them? You can do it too. The gameplay is pretty smooth and fluid, with virtually no framerate drops during my playthrough. Speaking of friends, online co-op works great and can make racing a lot more fun. Does it make the experience much better? Not particular. But nothing is inhibited by having a friend there.

Finally, let’s talk about the style of the game. It clearly sounds like Don’t Starve and Cult of the Lamb. However, with the unique charm and design of the creature, it looks beautiful and cute enough to stand out. I wish there was a little more vibrancy to the color of the world and sometimes it can be hard to see what’s going on due to the visual noise and chaos. But overall, the game looks fantastic and is a pleasure to explore.

Wizard with a Gun isn’t the most creative game, but it combines a variety of things into a nice, easily digestible package. It won’t blow anyone away who’s familiar with roguelites, but there’s a lot more to offer and more depth than I expected, making it a very enjoyable, fun and challenging experience. It won’t be for everyone due to its world timer, but those who love the game could easily fall in love with it and dedicate dozens and dozens of hours to it.