izigame.me

Gunbrella has a super fun core mechanic but the rest of the game falls short creating a game that feels satisfying enough to finish but as a whole isn't fun enough to be worthwhile. The gunbrella itself is used both used for combat and movement with the former being basic but visceral and the latter being the game's strongest point. The controls feel tight and responsive and dashing around the place is engaging. Gently gliding down with the gunbrella or using it to ride a zip line is also fun. The wall jump on the other hand leaves something to be desired but the gunbrella's dash is so versatile that you don't have to rely on it as much.
Level design as a whole doesn't push the gunbrella's movement set far enough, with most rooms being very simple in terms of layout and hazards. There were only a few rooms that gave some harder parkour challenges which were the most enjoyable levels in the game. The rest of it felt very basic and unremarkable also due to the fact that the levels are extremely linear. I even went in thinking this game was a metroidvania but it's more of an action platformer with some minimal backtracking and side routes. The game also recycles a few areas with the passage of time creating several points of no return, further limiting the open world feel and making the game feel claustrophobic. The game also just has many small rooms in which to fight enemies, with barely any room to maneuver.
As stated before combat is quite impactfull, as point blank blasting enemies in the face with a shotgun literally explodes them across the room. Which can give you some very cathartic enjoyment. However the combat is basic and enemy variety is severly lacking. Bosses don't fare much better either as their movesets are uninteresting and due to the consumable nature of healing items often very easy to beat first try. There's very few enemies or bosses that are interesting enough to be memorable and the final boss felt out of place and completly random. In fact some of the story payoff is quite weak for a game with this much dialogue.
The narrative has a cool premise but the pacing feels poorly done, and the writing drawn out. You spend a LOT of time talking in this game, probably more than you do fighting which is odd for an action platformer. Gunbrella feels like a mismatch of conflicting genres. With a story you'd expect in a cinematic puzzle platformer, movement that fits better in a metroidvania and combat that feels at home in a fast action platformer. The payoff for none of these is great though as the story falls flat, the movement is great but frontloaded without any progression throughout the game and combat that is unrewarding.
The music is nice though, all the tracks feel right at home in this game and some of the more soothing jazz tunes evoke a noir feeling. The visuals are gritty but quite basic in terms of pixel art. There's also this annoying film grain that is reenabled every time you boot up the game. Like the game forgets your options everytime you quit, this got really annoying by the end. What was also annoying is that the game fails to recognize your controller if you unplug and plug it back in without rebooting the game. This paired with the softlock and crash i had made me have to reset the film grain over a dozen times. Poor QoL in conclusion, but at least there were no mayor game breaking bugs or lag.
In the end Gunbrella's movement, while great, isn't enough to alleviate the other pain points. This game would've been better as a fully fledged metroidvania or a more condensed action platformer but now it just sits akwardly in the middle. This is one of the first devolver titles i didn't fully like, but it's still better than most AAA publishers. So if you're craving a game that isn't terribly long, with fun movement then you can get this on a deep sale (40% or more) otherwise play any of the other amazing devolver titles. Death's door especially is a great time! But carrion, gris, cult of the lamb, astroneer and titan souls are also amazing titles! Gunbrella isn't a stain on their catalogue but it doesn't reach the heights of its peers.