Game: Gunfire Reborn
Developer: Duoyi Games
Genre: First-Person Shooter/Roguelike
Releases: 2021 (PC), 2022 (Xbox One, Xbox X/S)
Sometimes you have to be forced to experience something good. My Discord group and I are constantly on the search for games that we could play with four people. Easy enough one might say, if it was not for certain restrictions due to player preferences: I will not play any realistic shooter due to the fact that I do not enjoy them; and I am also unable to hit anything with about 90% of the guns on offer. This often only leaves high fire-rate options like machine guns to make up for my terrible aiming by simply shooting more bullets, or using flamethrowers since they work without pin-point accuracy. However, one member of the group will veto most fighting games, while another hates building simulations without a major fighting component. Hence, sometimes someone needs to bite the bullet and get out of their comfort zone; and this person was me in this case. However, I have to admit that the choice went down rather well with me, since the game on offer managed to combine action-filled gameplay with various guns that can even cure my lack of accuracy with item and build min-maxing in the most fun way. The title in question is “Gunfire Reborn”, a game that describes itself as a genre-mix between First-Person-Shooter, Roguelite, and Role-Playing Game; or, as Youtuber “Gmanlives” described it, “Risk of Rain meets Borderlands“. And both ways to group the game are quite fitting, as you will see in this article.
The gameplay of “Gunfire Reborn” is actually fairly simple to grasp. For story reason, all of the characters at your disposal want to reach the end of the series of dungeons the game has to offer. In total, there are currently three major dungeons with various floors, hordes of monsters and a boss fight at the end of each. However, there are various factors that can ease your journey; the characters and their various abilities, for example. In version 1.0 of “Gunfire Reborn”, you have the choice between one of six characters: Crown Prince, the character that is unlocked from the start, has a time-stop sphere at his disposal, can throw corrosion grenades, and when he is not throwing spheroids at the opposition, he excels in using weaponry with elemental effects. Ao Bai, the dog of the party, can activate a dual-wield mode in which he equips both his primary and secondary weapon at the same time for more fire-power, and due to liking when things go boom has explosive grenades and a whole “skill” tree to buff the effectiveness of said explosions. The feathered Qing Yan is the only character that uses armor as the second health bar instead of the self-replenishing shield bar, and likes to get all close and personal with a forward kick as his action skill, wing swipes as his grenade pendant, and a penchant for shotguns due to his playstyle. Lei Luo is a tiger with lightning tattoos, which allow him to buff himself as his primary action, shoot lightning instead of throwing grenades, and using his stunning static in combination with slow but deadly weaponry such as sniper rifles. Tao, the only female character, is a rabbit that likes weapons with high fire-rates since they intact well with her myriad of swords she can summon to turn the opponent into a pincushion with. And lastly, there is Qian Sui, a turtle that likes to tank using his water shield named “Tidal Aspis”, as well as dish out significant amounts of damage by hitting the opposition with his bare fists.
Your character choice is a significant factor to what builds are going to be most effective, since they not only all come with their own health, shield/armor, movement speed, primary and secondary skills, but also profit from the so-called “Ascensions”. This type of upgrade can be obtained during your run by opening certain chests, and allows you to access the games leveling system of sorts. “Ascensions” are basically three groups with six skills in each, not unlike the skill trees from the “Borderlands” games. Let us take Crown Prince as an example: He comes with the three “Ascension” trees “Element”, “Smoke”, and “Orb”. “Element” increases the elemental damage for the elements and supports the use of elemental effects, “Smoke” improves his corrosion grenades by giving you a greater capacity, prolonging their effects, improving their damage, or even being useful as a supportive option due to decreasing the damage from opponents that are affected by the smoke. Lastly, “Orb” improves the Crown Prince’s “Energy Orb” by improving the time stop-effect, giving you more charges, or generally increasing its area of effect so that you can stop multiple foes at once. You cannot simply choose what you want to have though, since each of the chests only contains three random ascensions from all the lists, which means that you will have to think about what build you want to go for and stay flexible instead of simply going for the tried and tested all the time.
In addition to the skill set that the characters bring to the table, and the ascensions that allow you to tinker with whatever it is you pick up, there are also scrolls. This is where the “Risk of Rain”-comparison comes into play: Scrolls can further improve whatever you do, and are functionally similar to the items that you pick up in the “Risk of Rain” franchise; with equally ridiculous outcomes should you have “the run”. They also come in chests that either give you a choice of one between three suggested picks, or can be obtained from red chests at random, and there is the “cursed” variety that will instead give you a drawback. But even cursed scrolls can be something to work with, since some drawbacks are so minor for certain characters and builds that taking them in addition to whatever else you are getting is definitely worth it. And you can even make a build with them, since there is a scroll that can shut their effects down (“Evil-Banishing Talisman”) and a scrolls that increases your damage according to the number of cursed scrolls you have (“Evil-Devouring Sword”). Scrolls can cause some fairly ridiculous combinations of effects, like doubling the amount of ammunition you can carry, allowing you to use your reserve ammunition as the magazin, and then combining those with a high fire-rate weapon that uses green ammo to have 1600 shots in your magazine, meaning that reloading is now pointless and unnecessary. And this is only one example of a myriad of possibilities that all become puzzle pieces to the build that makes you become a god.
Now, I talked a lot about what supports the damage you dish out, but if the “Borderlands” comparison is meant to have any meaning, we also need some weapons; and not just some standard “AK-47” to shoot the opposition with. Thankfully, “Gunfire Reborn” put a major emphasis on creating absolutely brilliant weapons, and every player should be able to find some firearm that they can work with. The game uses the usual grouping of weapon types into pistols, submachine guns, snipers, melee weapons, etc., but while that might be standard for a first-person shooter the array of weapons to choose from is anything but. The game’s flamethrower is called “Fire Dragon” and is an actual small dragon that spews fire if you press the button. Reloading the dragon simply makes it twirl around your hand for a bit, and then you are ready to toast some idiots again. The “Dual Fang” is a small lizard that can shoot both fire and corrosion bullets from its mouth, and reloading it is as easy as slapping it on the back of the head. The shotgun “Hell” can pierce through enemies, but since it is a living demon-like creature, it needs to be fed to fire; it apparently likes goldfish, which you will throw into its maw in great numbers. There are elemental gloves, namely the “Laser Gloves” and the “Thunderclap Gloves”, that fire a beam with pin-point accuracy with an element attached. The “Icy Spear” allows you to throw piercing projectiles that spin in place for further when hitting terrain, and can be retrieved with the right mouse-key for critical hits against whatever you are looking at. The “Talisman” technically has all elements since you can switch its element on command, and it automatically searches opposing weakpoints to bring the pain. All together, there are currently 48 weapons available in the game and believe me when I say that they only feel weak until you found the right combination. Every single firearm has its reason and can be fun to work with, and on top of that they are some real lookers in their ranks.
Even some of the more questionable weapons can turn insane with the help of the trusty trader you can encounter in the dungeons. While the “peddler” is basically just a merchant that provides health, ammunition, grenades, new guns, and additional scrolls to you, the real power comes from the “craftsman”. This guy can enhance your weapons, give them additional bonuses, and re-shuffle their gemini effects. See, once you are far enough into a run, you may obtain weapons with a grey effect on top, a gemini effect. In “Gunfire Reborn”, you can hold two weapons at a time, and if both of those weapons have the same gemini effect, it is activated and provides some crazy additional bonuses. You can make both weapons have both elemental effects, which in turn causes element fusion effects for massive damage in form of explosion (in case of fire and corrosion), miasma as a potent damage over time effect (with lightning and corrosion), or manipulation which causes the enemies to attack each other (via fire and lightning). Of course, you can also give your weapons other gemini effects, such as combining their magazines, or adding their crit rates, or giving them additional damage mechanics if you hit an enemy with both weapons in short succession. It is not unlikely to run around with a +20 weapon that has the best gemini effect on top of four other bonuses; and I can tell you that you will need that setup if you want to succeed in the harder difficulties.
The fun part about “Gunfire Reborn” is that you will have to adapt to the circumstances to make your build work. I am sure that every player has their favorite weapon(s), but if you cannot obtain them at all you cannot just run around with the starter gun and hope to reach the end. And, to be entirely honest, I cannot say which is more fun: Getting everything I need to make the one build I know will work perfectly well and stomp the opposition, or having to improvise using some weaponry and have not even looked at before and finding out that they work really well with what you have thrown together. In one run with Tao, the sword-summoning bunny, I failed to get an “Angelic Aura”, the weapon with the highest fire-rate in the game and THE weapon on her. Turns out, if you fire in bursts the “Star Devourer” can do a decent job aswell. With Qing Yan, I normally want to get a melee weapon, but in one instance I could not get any swords at all. Well, time to improvise: The “Porcupine”, a shotgun with two different firing modes for its poison needles, did an excellent job of applying all sorts of effects on the opponent after I acquired a gemini weapon with a decent lightning effect to chain it with. In another run, the “Deafening Mortar” also became quite a beast after giving it a gemini effect that combines the magazine of both weapons, giving me incredible damage output without the drawback of reloading constantly. And that is only naming weapons: Combine this with the ascensions and the various scrolls and the opposition can only cower in fear.
Of course there are lots of enemies in “Gunfire Reborn”; and those progressively stronger foes will constantly put your damage and abilites to the test. There is a huge variety of different monsters with various strategies, and not only will those monster become more dangerous overall, but their abilities can make combos possible that can easily kill the unattentive player. The first area starts of easy enough, with spearmen charging into melee combat, crossbowmen firing from a distance, spear throwers building the missing link by simply flinging their weapon in your direction, and bombers and grenadiers either using explosives or simply exploding to make your life more difficult. The first area enemies do not move around that much, they telegraph their attacks to make dodging more easy, and do not use any fancy tricks trying to kill you. This changes quickly though: The “White Shark” that can be seen up top is basically a health tank with an anchor that it can use to drag you towards them should it connect. The anchor pull itself is not that terrible, since they will punch you and then leave you alone again, trying to connect their attack again. However, the area in which they spawn does have enemies that can make use of the fact that you are dragged into a direction without your permission: The “Corrupt Monk” can spawn small lantern-shaped enemies that run straight towards you and explode should they get close enough. The cluster of enemies on their own is not that terrible either, since they can be killed with ease, but in the scenario that you are dragged towards a swarm of them by the “White Shark”, you can kiss your run goodbye, since it is unlikely that you will survive that much damage. Again, this is just one of many examples but since it is not unlikely to have to deal with up to eight different varieties of enemies in front of you, thinking on your feet is definitely required and makes every single room an adrenaline-fulled action sequence.
The result of all this components is lots of action and thinking on your feet. With Qing Yan, for example, you want to get into close contact with the opponents, since your entire skill set is made for exactly that purpose. For that, you gain armor bonuses, invulnerability times, close combat damage upgrades, and more uses for the supremely useful skill that is “Cleave”. My normal gameplay with Qing Yan requires constant movement in order to not be focussed down by the opponent, but if I do everything correctly and run through the enemy lines like a squirrel on crack, I am rewarded with insane damage output and a good dose of adrenaline. That does not mean that the other characters are worse, since everything in the game is tailor-made to allow you to do crazy damage with lots of additional effects on top. Playing Tao with “Angelic Aura” and the scroll “Merciless Combo” is a ridiculous experience. Using Lei Luo with a sniper, critting via headshot, and then seeing lightning dance through the opposition and killing the small fries as collateral is certainly cool. Reaching enough reload speed with Ao Bai so that a “Tiger Cannon”, which is basically a rocket launcher, reloads almost instantly makes aiming something that you can simply decide not to do. And playing Crown Prince with a “Dual Fang” and an additional lightning weapon that shares its element via gemini effect causes all sorts of status effects on your opponent. I could go on for much longer about useful combinations, but playing the game for a while you will notice what goes with what to make the most out of every game; and the developers did a solid job ensuring that this growing process is fun and rewarding.
Now, I am aware that the description of what to do in the game might seem overwhelming; and that is definitely a tough pill to swallow at the start. I started playing the game with my usual Discord group, but I can tell you that I did jack shit during the first two runs, since I did not know what anything did that I collected or was able to use. “Gunfire Reborn” is definitely a game that throws you into the cold water, expecting you to learn how to swim in order to survive while drowning. And the chances of actually finishing the first few run is absolutely nill, since there is a progression level-up system in place that boosts basically everything a character can do, find, or interact with. I am not kidding: The first skill in the “Battle” tree is simply increasing your weapon damage by 5% per level, period. That means that anyone who played this game before will already do 25% more damage than you by default, and there are loads of things to unlock that will cause new players to be weaker simply because they have not played the game before. The good thing is that new players will require a pittance to level up, which can allow them to level up in ten different things after one successful run. To make the entry into the game as smooth as possible, I would suggest getting carried by some teammates for one to two rounds (like I was) and then level up to actually have enough power to make a difference.
In addition to the “Talent” system that automatically makes new players artificially weaker than seasoned players, there are also unlocks for weapons and scrolls that I am not sure how to feel about. On the one hand, it is nice not to be thrown into a choice between fifty weapons and about hundred-fifty scrolls, but some of the stuff is nigh impossible to obtain if you do not go on farming runs with the specific goal of killing a certain enemy with a specific element. The “Demonlore”, arguably one of the best weapons in the game, can be unlocked by killing a specific enemy of the bigger variety forty times with fire. At the time of writing, my account was on level 168, the current max level, and I have yet to kill eight more of that enemy in order to unlock the weapon. Yes, I did not care about unlocking that weapon for a sizeable amount of my 55 hours of playtime, but come on now, it should be lower if it takes that long to unlock and you only possibly get to see around three of those enemies per run. And depending on the build and character choices, this might take even longer, since some players might prefer one of the various non-elemental weapons and therefore have a zero percent chance to unlock this weapon in any given time unless going out of their way and using some element to trigger the weapon unlock.
But aside from the leveling and unlocking feeling like it bars a number of new players from actually playing effectively during a run for quite some time, the game is definitely well-designed and fun to play. True, you need to actually take some time and understand what the characters you want to play do and function best with, but as soon as you get the hang of the basics the game becomes a smooth experience of fire-fights and build management. If you are interested, “Gunfire Reborn” goes for 16.79€ on Steam at the current moment, which I would say is worth paying for the amount of time I put into it. However, since Steam Sales are a thing on a semi-regular basis, you have a good chance of actually acquiring the game at a lower price. And while the game is currently done with all the goals it set up in their development roadmap, there is no reason why the developers could not add more content in the future. The various difficulty add new challenges to even get to most seasoned “Gunfire Reborn”-veteran to sweat, and in terms of content the additional fourth dungeon was just added in November last year, so I am positive that we will see more updates to the game in the future. Long story short, if you could see yourself playing a colorful, cartoony shooter with lots of creative ideas and solid gameplay, give “Gunfire Reborn” a go.
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