I got into a new game other night called Monsters & Monocles, a twin stick rougelite shooter out on early release on steam. You play as one of four characters in either single player or up to 4 player coop (local or online) battling creatures in a victorian era setting. Things have gone very awry all over the world and you step in to clean up.
I feel like this game could have been played easily on a SNES back when I was young, with it’s 16 bit pixel style. It has similar play style to other rougelites out there: Enter the Gungeon, Binding of Isaac, and Nuclear Throne. There’s a dash/dodge roll similar to EtG, but it has a cooldown (so no spamming dodge all over the map). Ammo is unlimited like BoI but weapons can overheat then must cool down in order to be used again. In the thick of battle you’ll have to switch weapons (two carried at a time) to continue fighting off the creatures if a weapon is used too much.
Some weapons are better than others. I found that guns with a high rate of fire trump ones that fire slowly and have a AoE. Experimenting with a few new weapons ended up being my downfall. And the spread gun trumps all, as anyone who has played Contra would know.
There’s three different settings unlocked at first, and it’s unclear as to what the unlocks/achievements are for the game. I’m sure as the game get closes to a full release this will become clear.
Overall, I really like the game and will be for sure be playing it more.
