If pixel art is once again at the rendezvous in Gunbrella, the black and white of Gato Roboto gives way here to predominantly ocher and autumnal tones. The colors red, orange, yellow and brown, which are rather sad, predominate, and this is no coincidence. The developers indeed present their new production as a noir-punk action-adventure game. Less codified than steampunk or dieselpunk, this new genre seems just as dark and retro-futuristic. The atmosphere of Gunbrella clearly evokes an uchronic and depressing western, with a few touches of humor all the same brightening up the whole, especially during the dialogues with certain NPCs. But certain references quickly bring us back to an agonizing imagination, like the town called… Orwell. The progression in the demo, which seems to consist of the beginning of the adventure, also reveals a Lovecraftian vibe. The pixel art may display cute little 2D characters, but we very quickly come across a cult kidnapping inhabitants in order to carry out human sacrifices, with the aim of summoning an unsavory creature, quite close to Carrion's monster-hero. The latter will also act as the end boss of the demo, while the game's trailer also reveals the presence of a giant rat and a few other gore refinements. If the protagonist of Gunbrella is able to interrogate characters and has a notebook in which the various objectives and clues are automatically noted, the gameplay especially gives pride of place to action and large splatters of blood. And to stand out from the competition, it has a major asset...
BY THE POWER OF THE UMBRELLA!
The most discerning of you will certainly have immediately understood that the word Gunbrella comes from the contraction of "gun" and "umbrella". Half gun half umbrella, this really unusual piece of equipment seems to be the only weapon in the game, with different ammunition still giving it different uses. The base cartridges, available in infinite numbers, cause shotgun type shots, but we were also able to pick up ammo with machine gun effects, as well as grenades. It's a safe bet that the rest of the adventure will offer an even more varied panoply. Maybe it will even be possible at some point to shoot while deploying the umbrella? Unless the alternation between shots and umbrella remains in order not to make the character overpowered. It must be said that the protective utensil is already really not lacking in usefulness. It makes it possible to perform a dash, therefore to jump higher if it is oriented in the air, to hover and therefore to slow down and control falls, to transform certain ropes stretched in the decor into real zip lines, to protect oneself from certain spikes present in the levels and, above all, to block most enemy shots.
The icing on the cake: if the umbrella is deployed just before the arrival of a projectile, it is then returned to the sender. The clashes are transformed into real choreographies where we alternate and combine shooting, protection, referrals and aerial movements. Each level can thus be traversed in a very different way. The timid will hover and dash to avoid certain enemies, while the reckless will dash into the crowd, protecting themselves at the right times. For now, the difficulty level is not very high, because most enemies die after receiving only one or two close shots. In addition, life regenerating backup benches are regularly placed in the sets. As the game is not planned before 2023, the balance has plenty of time to be reviewed, as do some bugs. For example, we had to deal with a rather disturbing first launch, because the game was literally running in slow motion (by sight, at a quarter of its normal speed), while the full screen mode seems to prohibit for the moment the realization of screenshots in Steam. Nothing to worry about at this stage of development.
