I bemoaned the lack of Western Games while writing about ‘Gun’ back on day 46, but, it has to be said, it’s a much better supported setting in the indie scene than it has ever been in the mainstream.
'A Fistful of Gun: For a Few Gun More', to use it’s full title, started life as a free release on GameJolt named, simply ‘Fistful of Gun’. It’s actually still available on that service and has even been updated with the new engine and modes that were added when the game was picked up for distribution, by those masters of pixelated violence and irreverence, Devolver Digital.
The idea behind Paul Hart’s top-down shooter was originally to allow three people to play simultaneously on a single set-up. To this end, there were three characters; one designed for keyboard, one for mouse, and one for a joypad.
It’s a really clever idea and the balancing for each character is pretty ingenious - but it’s a drop in the ocean compared to what happened when the game received it’s full release.
There are now eleven characters to choose from, and they could be used in 9 player online co-op. There are other new ways to play, including a story for co-op or single players which is where I’ve spent most of my time with the game so far.
This mode has you take on one of the eleven characters and use them to cross twelve screens of the old west to get to each level's boss.
Fistful of Gun’s most interesting feature is that each of the characters has a gun that not only looks and feels different to use, but also has its own control method with strengths and weaknesses unique to each.
These are all incredibly creative, and while trying each in quick succession I was put in mind of the fantastic ‘Enter the Gungeon’ - although the similarities fade when I found a favourite and got stuck into the incredibly difficult campaign.
I favoured Two Feathers; an indigenous american archer whose lack of a need to reload is balanced by only being able to fire directly up, down, left, right. Other characters can fire in all directions, but have this offset by other weaknesses.
My second-favourite was Dutch, a knife thrower who can move and throw in all directions but is low on power and has to reload every few shots.
In this way, the various characters are built with negative and positive aspects. There’s a blunderbuss that needs ‘packing’ with five taps of the reload button but unleashes a tremendous burst of fire-power, a gunslinger who can shoot in any direction and doesn’t have to reload - but the fire button moves to a different and random face button with every-shot. One of the cleverest creations is ‘The 13th’; a regiment of confederate soldiers who move as one, and each individual soldier allows you to take a hit - but they move slowly and present a large target.
You work your way through the levels of the game with your chosen character in typical top-down, twin-stick style. In the campaign, some gameplay variety is added through shops that allow you to upgrade your weapon, whereas in the arcade mode you choose one of 6 buffs between levels. The backdrops are varied too, although all follow the usual western tropes of graveyards, rail lines, and bars all presented in the game’s own boxy, pixelated, style.
Unfortunately, the issues start to arise when things get moving; often with so much going on - and all in the games sepia palette - that it gets borderline impossible to keep track of everything going on. Add into that mix a liberal helping of fire and explosives, and it gets very chaotic, and very hard, very quickly. I won’t claim to be brilliant at this sort of game, but two hours of play I got to the level one boss twice - and failed both times.
I think if you were to look back through my posts and search for the phrase “It’s a bit of a shame, really” it would come up rather a lot. It’s appropriate here, too, because all the creativity, charm and balancing built into those 11 characters goes somewhat to waste in a game where the same care wasn’t taken over the difficulty and level design.
I guess with 9 players in co-op the game could get easier, especially as friendly fire is locked off, but with dynamite strewn across the levels and often dozens of enemies, I wouldn’t be surprised if it made the game even more chaotic. There’s no way for me to know as, predictably, the servers are completely dead five years after the original release.
Ratings for this game on Steam are down at around 6/10 and that seems a bit harsh to me. I get that frustration runs high with the Story, but the Arcade Mode is much more accessible - albeit with only high score chasing as motivation. I think practice in the latter would reap benefits in the former, and with a little dedication and careful choice of character to suit the players own propensities, it is not going to be an impossible game to enjoy and see the end of.
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