Madshot Review
My favorite John Woo movie is Hard Boiled. Coincidentally, my favorite Xbox 360 title is Stranglehold. For those who do not know these titles (shame!), you play as Inspector Tequila, a role reprised by Chow Yun Fat in this video game sequel to the movie. Anytime you would enter combat, time slowed to a crawl when Tequila dove, jumped, slid, or vaulted with his dual pistols at the ready. Before bullet time, there was Tequila Time. Show me a game that is a 2D platformer with dual-wielded handguns and has some form of Tequila Time and I might just throw my wallet at the developer.
Developed by Overflow and published by Hook, Madshot is a “fast-paced, acrobatic, rogue-lite shooter.” When has messing with Cthulhu ever worked out? That was a rhetorical question. You opened the door to the Eldritch and now you want it to leave? Good luck. Armed with dual pistols, you have to work your way through a randomized map to reach the big guy himself and hopefully survive the madness.
Each and every game is a fresh run. Your goal is to survive each arena-like level to advance through the map. The only way to open a portal and exit levels is by killing enough of Cthulhu’s minions. Fun fact: the portal has an indicator showing your progress. I realized this a few hours in so I am now giving you the heads up. While this may seem meaningless now, when you are in-game and realize that one more kill will do the trick, you can save yourself a headache and just kill one of the smaller enemies. Anyway, once you take the portal, you are presented with a Curse of the Dead Gods/Slay the Spire-styled map.
The player is given an option on what path to take. Madshot even provides a legend as to what to expect in the levels although some remain a mystery. The choices you make not only affect the current run but also the game as a whole. Sure, you could focus on making yourself more powerful NOW but when you die (and you will), it will all be for naught. Scrolls and Aether remain with you through death while powers earned and upgraded plus coins collected are wiped out when you succumb to the madness. RNG giveth and RNG taketh. Sometimes you will have an amazing run and sometimes you will die on the first level. At the top/end of each map is a boss. Choose wisely your path to get there or that final fight will definitely be final…for you.
When starting out, you have your dual firearms and the ability to jump, flip (forward and back), and roll all over the place. You can grab onto ledges, hang upside down and swing from ropes. Objects on the ground can even be picked up and thrown at enemies. As you kill enemies in any given level, you collect their essence. Essence is needed to fill your relic meter. When the meter is full, the relic can be activated giving you a brief window with this superpower.
The starting relic, Aspect of Chronos, slows down time and increases your attack rate (thus the Stranglehold references). New relics can be purchased as you progress further through the game and they include being able to fly and gain health when killing enemies or slowing down time and briefly having unlimited sticky explosives to throw.
With every new run being different, seeing which Alterations you receive is half the fun. Some seem absolutely useless while others make you feel like a god. For example, one Alteration increases your damage for every 75 coins you have in your possession. If you get this as a choice early in a run, chances are you will pass as you have no coins. You might have a change of heart though if you notice that that map has a number of coin levels making the Alteration more and more powerful.
Other Alterations are more straightforward and provide a damage increase or the ability to freeze enemies. Alterations did not just upgrade your character but also affected your decision-making. Perhaps you were looking to pick up more insight but then you find an Alteration that works well. Now you may be looking for the levels that provide Alteration enhancements instead.
As Madshot is a roguelite, dying is the end. It is also the beginning (woah, deep…). After every run, you start back at the mansion with any Aether and Insight you may have collected. Here you can permanently upgrade your character in a variety of ways. There are 3 Respites to choose from and these are essentially missions. Missions reward both Transmutations and new starting weapons. The missions range from collecting a certain amount of coins on a run, killing X number of enemies while hanging upside down, or finishing an entire zone without remaining grounded for more than a minute. Transmutations are permanent, passive upgrades that can be leveled up using Aether. These upgrades include increased health, higher attack rate, or more essence dropping from enemies. The upgrades are also swappable. At first, only one can be equipped but by unlocking slots with Insight, multiple Transmutations can be equipped. Insight is also used to enhance the different levels by adding items to pick up, ropes to hang on, and even providing explosive barrels for use during certain boss fights.
A key feature of many roguelites is that “one more run” sensation. In Madshot, most levels only last a minute or two. If you are looking for a quick fix or have limited time to play, 15-20 minutes here could equal a substantial amount of progress. On the flip side, with such quick levels, dying will be fast and you can jump right back in. If you are worried about making progress and then having to quit and lose it all, fear not. The developers have included the option to exit the game without canceling the run so you can start up right where you left off instead of from the beginning.
Madshot is an easy-to-pick-up, hard-to-put-down, fast-paced roguelite action platformer. The replayability of the game is absurdly high with the procedurally generated level maps, powers, and massive bosses, not to mention the various load-outs you can use on a run. To top it all off, the game (on Steam at least) is packaged with Madshot: Road to Madness, a Vampire Survivors styled game but in this universe. This is a must-buy and should definitely be on your radar. It is also one of my favorite games to release in 2023.
