Summary
If the upcoming indie metroidvaniaBioGunis one thing, it’s unique. In stark contrast to the usual post-apocalyptic, sci-fi, and fantasy themes represented in the metroidvania genre, players take on the role of Bek: a bacon-infused vaccine injected into a sickly dog fighting off the Duper Virus from one organ to the next in a vibrant twin-stick shooter adventure. The game manages to stand out in other ways as well, however, thanks to numerous player-friendly design choices that remove much of the tedium often found in the genre.
Speaking with Game Rant,BioGunindiedeveloper duo John Rogeles and Ivan Elizalde weighed in on how they approached many of the genre’s conventions and sought ways to build on them with their ideas. By making death potentially rewarding rather than punishing and leveraging the game’s shooter-style combat system,BioGunmanages to carve out a distinct identity in a genre saturated with sameyness.
BioGun Handles Deaths and Boss Fails Generously
Overcoming achallenging metroidvania bossfight is one of the most satisfying moments in these games, but the process can often be bloated with frustrating and time-wasting runbacks or stressful punishments that get in the way of players simply enjoying the iterative process of fighting, dying, and trying again. One of the waysBioGunremedies this is with a generous approach to retries. The developers took pains to ensure that checkpoints are always near bosses so players can almost immediately give it another shot.
There’s an enzyme that the player drops when they die, which I assume most players will see and assume it’s some kind of corpse-run mechanic, but it’s not. Instead, it’s very beneficial for areas that are tough. The enzyme that the player drops gives you infinite energy for around four seconds, and that will either allow you to immediately start healing yourself within that short period of time or just wail on enemies with your secondary weapons.
Right off the bat, it’s incredibly fun. For boss fights specifically, especially if you’re struggling, that’s technically another accessibility option for some players. They get that little boost of either attack power or being able to heal, or they can strategize by not touching the enzyme yet and waiting until they’re at a critical point with their health or maybe they need more energy. How the player utilizes this is another choice as mentioned before.
Rather than punishing players for failure with a corpse run orloss of items on death,BioGuntakes the opposite approach: should players decide to return to the location of their demise, they’ll be greeted with a helpful enzyme power-up that’ll give them unlimited energy for a few seconds. This power-up can give players the edge they need for their next attempt to be successful, and it’s a thoughtful way to help players struggling with a particular fight.
BioGun Feels Like A Twin-Stick Shooter
In terms of combat systems, most metroidvanias aremoreCastlevaniathanMetroidwith a focus on melee fighting and some occasional ranged abilities.BioGunflips this around with a fully twin-stick shooter approach that has been carefully tuned to still provide a meaningful challenge thanks to the way weapon characteristics are balanced. A large part of a player’s “build” and playstyle is comprised of their chosen combination of range, velocity, fire rate, and per-shot damage, and these choices have a noticeable impact on how players tackleBioGun’s encounters.
You’ll notice in the mods menu six different stats are shown and we play with those stats to keep things balanced. How much energy the player gets back, the velocity of the bullet, the life span of the bullet, how hard it hits, and the fire rate. So if it’s long-range, we adjust these stats to balance things out. For example, there is a mod in the game called the Burster mod, which gives the player a comfortable range, however, it shoots in bursts instead and deals just a little less damage than your primary and it gives you a little less energy.
So ironically, you could say that we didn’t exactly go for an all-out charm system, but by having all these options; chips, mods, tablets, and more, we provide ways players can min-max if they want. The option is there, but we think with the way it’s presented, it’s not as intense of a min-maxing session as other games. It’s not overly cumbersome.
Rather than a combinatorialcharm system likeHollow Knight,BioGun’s chip system offers single, build-defining choices that completely alter gameplay. One chip may give the player a drone companion for extra damage, while another will allow players to heal while moving. Instead of having to spend considerable time comparing and contrasting entire loadouts, a single meaningful choice refreshingly shifts the focus toward the gameplay rather than the metagame.
BioGunis in development and will be available on PC.
