Wizard with a Gun Review (PS5) – I like wizards and also, in the video game sense, guns too. A Wizard with a Gun sounded fun and right up my alley, especially when you consider it’s a rogue-lite with some interesting mechanics.
Coming from Galvanic Games and Devolver Digital, Wizard with a Gun is a quirky rogue-lite with some building, survival and crafting elements. Grab your staff and let’s do this!
Guess what? Yep, it’s the end of the world again, well five minutes until the end of the world anyway. Wizard with a Gun, as with most games of this ilk is light on story elements and prose.
I never mind this as the gameplay in games like this normally takes president. What is apt about this game is that in a game about rewinding time, I can’t help but feel this one needed a bit more time in the proverbial oven.
Wizard with a Gun Review (PS5) – Magical Armaments
Survival Come Rogue-Lite
Wizard with a Gun has a lot going for it and overall I enjoyed what it had to offer. Each ‘run’ in Wizard with a Gun lasts five minutes, after that the world starts ending and the brown stuff starts to hit the twirl-y thing. With these five minutes, you will be collecting materials, progressing the game by collecting clock cogs and seeking out general rogue-lite random happenings.
Whether you die on your run or return to the exit with your spoils, you will return to your hub of operations. Here is where most of your crafting and preparations will take place, along with inserting your cogs into the clock.
This clock is where you rewind the five-minute timer to start your next run and also acts as the progression track to get to the game’s harder biomes and bosses.
Crafting To Kill
In this hub, you can upgrade your magical book. This tome is used to scan enemies, furniture and characters to unlock bits and bobs. Also, it is where you build machines to upgrade everything from your ability to survive, clothing upgrades and most importantly, magic bullets and their associated powders.
Wizard with a Gun is strange this way, yes there are a few different guns with varying stats but the majority of your power progression will be from the aforementioned bullet and powder upgrades. Each gun can hold two different bullet types and each of these bullet types can be augmented by a powder.
From lightning to healing and poison to fire, the number of bullet types, powders and machines to crate them is numerous.
I did get a lot of entertainment by trying different combos of bullets and powders, like an ice bullet that leaves a poison trail but in the end, it did feel like a few combos and options were vastly superior to others. I’m looking at you lightning bullet! These powerful bullets to need to recharge but they do massive damage and were never missing from my arsenal.
Friends And Art Styles
There is also online multiplayer which at the time of writing is not fully functional. I have read though that enemies are more frequent and it makes the whole healing bullet upgrade tree worth investing in. I would have much preferred local multiplayer but I guess I am just old-school like that. “Get off my lawn, you damn kids!”
Presentation-wise I really enjoyed the cartoon-esque look of Wizard with a Gun. Enemies were well-designed and numerous while looking crisp and vivid in colour. Each biome was different and full of life and things to discover.
From a design standpoint, the whole game had a ‘vibe’ and I dug it. The music and visuals went hand-in-hand to create a quaint little rooting, tooting adventure.
Hitches Get Stitches!
Now, onto my issues with the game. The technical aspects of this title were at times, quite dire. Regular frame skips and stuttering were annoying and there were even times when there was a lot happening, the game just froze for a brief moment.
I am sure these issues can be sorted but as I mentioned earlier in my review, this game could have done with its time rewound a few times, just like in the game, to smooth out some of the technical hitches.
A Good Rogue-Lite Spoiled
With a truly entertaining gameplay loop, rewarding exploration and quirky presentation, Wizard with a Gun is entertaining for its ten to twenty-hour campaign. Experimentation is moreish as are the crafting and survival mechanics. I just wish the technical side of things was ironed out before release, it will really put some players off.
As it stands, WIzard with a Gun does have some facets that make it stand out in what is becoming a crowded genre.
I, however, until the technical stuff has been looked at, would recommend something else like The Binding of Isaac, Rogue Legacy, Hades or any other of the fantastic roguelikes/roguelites on the market.
Wizard With A Gun is out now on PS5.
Review code kindly provided by the publisher.