Shoot First, the latest game from Beau Blyth (aka Tenkopants), is the offspring of a run-n-gun and a roguelike. It reminds me much of my experiences of learning how to play Spelunky and Xong, and it’s addictive. I’ve been playing it everyday after reading about it on the IndieGames Blog.
Exploring the floors of Shoot First is the core of the game. You can take a careful, attentive approach or take a gun-blazing, death-dodging approach to get to the exit as quickly as possible or to fully explore a floor. Its gameplay has nice openness.
To help you get further into the game than your gun assortment and skills alone can provide, there are chest that can be shot open to reveal helpful equipment, keys to unlock closed exits, AI friends to fight along your side, and ways of healing (potions, leveling up, rescued loves, and fountains of youth). It can also be a 2-player, co-op game to help balance out the challenge.
The controls are customizable, but the configuration isn’t saved. There is too much slide to the characters’ momentum, and some have complained about traps and rare bugs with enemy placement. However, Shoot First still provides a great experience with wonderful chiptunes to match it.
Update: A windowed version is available for those who had issues with the fullscreen version.