Meowmunitions got released recently, but it kinda fell under my radar because of other big releases around the time I got my hands on it (Borderlands 4, anybody?). It’s a charming roguelike that I’m close to calling a “Gungeon-like” because of how it reminded me of Enter the Gungeon, but this game definitely stands on its own as a unique concept. Let’s talk about it real quick!
Full disclosure: I got a review copy of the game from the developer.
Bullet Hell Goodness
In a nutshell, you play a cat with a gun who has to run around and slaughter a bunch of equally cute creatures. Why? Who knows, let’s just start blasting!
Although the game doesn’t exactly deviate too far from the typical action roguelike formula of clearing one room at a time, it does make it pretty hectic with its bullet hell mechanics.
The varying enemy types that you face in each level have their own distinct attack patterns. They range from basic single projectile shots to, even as early as the first room, crescent-shaped attacks that could potentially corner you. Yes, I’m speaking from experience, unfortunately (lol).
It can get really frantic if you run into a tight room layout with a lot of barraging enemies. Honestly, it’s actually a bit annoying at times, but that’s just part of the game’s challenge. Just be warned, you will inevitably hit something in the environment that looks like it shouldn’t have collision.
The boss fights are fine for the most part. They each have unique mechanics and attack patterns, which only get more elaborate and messy as you progress through the levels. They’re far from the hardest or the most creative compared to others that I’ve seen in the genre, but they feel unique enough that you can’t just call them reskins of one another.
Customizable Arsenal
The main gimmick in Meowmunitions is that you really only use a single gun, which you’ll build up with augmentations throughout a run. It’s actually a pretty neat concept, though I think your creativity is going to be hampered quite a bit by the game’s random nature and restrictions.
Augmentations are incredibly varied, and you can unlock more through the game’s simple meta-progression system. If you open your inventory, you’ll see a grid that has your “gun core” in the middle. Here, you can attach augments to your weapon, which can drastically change how it functions.
You’ll still need to be kind of smart with your placement, as you can’t just attach everything to your gun all willy-nilly. You gotta follow a pretty strict directional system to get your augments working.
Stick a longbow in there and you’re going to boost your gun’s damage and turn your bullets into arrows. Find a shotgun module? Slap it in and watch as you fire multiple projectiles, and combine this with your longbow part to start shooting bursts of arrows!
As you beat bosses, you also get to unlock a random set of passive buffs or increase the capacity of your gun core. By that, I mean you can get more rows or columns to slot augments into, but you’re unlikely to fill this up without some really good luck anyway.
Even with just a few parts, you can make a hilariously broken gun that fills up your entire screen with projectiles. Funnily enough, that can also work against you, because how the hell are you going to dodge enemy projectiles when combat now looks like this:
And yes, I did die later in that run because of this. It becomes impossible to see nearby enemies or attacks once you make a messy setup like the one I pulled off in the GIF above. The lack of feedback whenever you take damage, at least when the game is as loud as it is when it’s this cluttered, makes it really hard to tell whether or not you’re already dying.
A Decent Time Killer
Even though the visual noise can be a bit off-putting at times, I can’t deny that it’s so satisfying to reach absurd levels of “pew pew” in this game. Long-time readers will know this about me, since I got a kick out similar situations in Heretic’s Fork too.
Runs don’t last too long either, though I will admit that I haven’t finished a “full” one yet. It does just enough that you’ll still feel that urge to start one more run, even if just to see how silly you can get with the augments that you find.
It’s a decent enough time killer that you can pick it up and send a couple of attempts whenever you take a break from work or other games. If I’m being honest though, it might get old quickly even if you manage to unlock all of the possible augments. By then, though, you may have already spent enough hours to justify the price tag.