Enter the Gungeon

Enter the Gungeon is a 2016 bullet hell roguelike video game developed by American studio Dodge Roll and published by Devolver Digital. Set in the firearms-themed Gungeon, gameplay follows several player characters called Gungeoneers as they traverse procedurally generated rooms to find a gun that can "kill the past". The Gungeoneers fight against bullet-shaped enemies, which are fought using both conventional and exotic weapons. Enter the Gungeon features a permadeath system, causing the Gungeoneers to lose all obtained items and start again from the first level upon death. Between playthroughs, players can travel to an area called the Breach, where they can converse with non-player characters and unlock new items randomly encountered while playing. Development on Enter the Gungeon started in 2014, when four Mythic Entertainment employees left the company to form Dodge Roll. Lead designer Dave Crooks gained inspiration for the term "Gungeon" after listening to the soundtrack for the game Gun Godz. Dodge Roll designed and playtested each individual room of the Gungeon's levels, and used procedural generation to assemble them into a random configuration. Many of the guns were inspired by earlier games such as Mega Man and Metroid, while other mechanics were implemented to encourage players to utilize the layouts of levels. Enter the Gungeon was first released on April 5, 2016, for Linux, macOS, PlayStation 4, and Windows 10. By June 2020, it had sold over three million copies. The game received positive reviews on release, with critics favorably comparing it to The Binding of Isaac and Nuclear Throne. Reviewers praised the creativity and designs of the guns, while also commentating on the game's difficulty. Dodge Roll developed and released several content updates from 2017 to 2019. A platform game spin-off called Exit the Gungeon was released in 2019, and a direct sequel, Enter the Gungeon 2, is set for release in 2026.