The Steam Next Fest in June 2023 is packed wall to wall with interesting new indie games recently announced at the summer showcases. One of the games that have been doing pretty well on social media ahead of its demo release is Wizard with a Gun, which has seen a number of trending posts thanks to its community interaction and whimsical design.
Playing through a couple of hours in the demo gives a good glimpse at some of the more basic elements reminiscent of other roguelikes and is pretty challenging sometimes. Wizard with a Gun still has a fair amount to prove, but the basic roguelike features, crafting, and ability to create and customize a home base are enough for a taste of what the game has to offer.
Starting out, you’ll view a beautiful cinematic that I hope is repeated throughout the main game because it was wonderfully paired with the narration. You learn the story of why the worlds are being torn apart and it’s up to you to fight off the magical threat by using a device to rewind time. It’s all very confusing when thought about, but it works as a pretty decent basis for the gameplay.
The gunplay and movement are pretty easy to adapt to because of how similar they are to other roguelikes. That’s not to say it’s boring or overdone because it works and makes for fun battles as you work to avoid enemy attacks. It was pretty cool to see how projectiles affected the environment and other enemies, even if I almost died while checking it out.
Once you get past the basic tutorial, the game revolves around you rewinding time to different periods to learn how to save the world. At the same time, you’ll be growing your home base with new crafting equipment, expansion, and more. However, you’ll have to make it back with all the resources you collect or you’ll lose them all when you die.
You can die in multiple ways, whether that be killed by the enemies or lost when the world begins to crumble because you took too long to get out of the level. This is a fun and different mechanic for a roguelike that forces players to spend their time wisely, going after specific things instead of wandering around aimlessly, not that it stopped me.
This rule didn’t hit home until I took everything out of a chest and forgot to put it back before I went out onto an expedition and got smashed by a giant burlap sack. It was one of those moments where I got genuinely frustrated with myself and it took me about 30 minutes to regain what I had lost and take it back with me.
The early part of the game is deceptively easy, letting you believe that the resources at your disposal are abundant, and that’s not true. The further you get, the stronger the enemies become and the less effective your attacks are, but you can always use the time machine to go back to the first-tier levels, allowing you to train and gather crafting materials before moving onward.
While I did have fun with Wizard with a Gun, I’m holding any judgment until I can experience the title in all its glory. Developer Galvanic Games clearly has a love for this title so it’s likely that the full version will deliver twice as much of the spectacle and fun that many players have come to hope for.
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