Wizard With A Gun Review

I’ve been on a bit of a survival game kick lately, which is unusual, as it’s a genre that doesn’t typically talk to me. Alongside a mate, I recently cut down trees, built shoddy encampments and fended off mutants within Sons of the Forest, and even made it to the end credits. Starting with nothing and working for every breakthrough is thrilling, and getting to look back on your progress when it’s all said and done is incredible satisfying. That being said, survival games tend to be demanding, not just of your time, but your patience as well.

Developed by Galvanic Games and published by Devolver Digital, Wizard with a Gun is a sandbox survival title that gives you the means to chase that feeling, while taking a more manageable, run-based approach, as popularised by roguelites. Grab your duster, hat, and spell book, because the world may be ending, but that shouldn’t get in the way of adventure.

Shortly after creating your own endearing mage, choosing from an array of oversized headwear and knitted sweaters, you’re introduce to the Shatter, the splintered remains of world that’s on the edge of total annihilation. Decimated by a force known only as Chaos and fated to expire, it’s your responsibility as a Gunmancer to venture to the Tower that resides outside of reality and turn back the hands of time to step foot on the Shatter once more.

You know what angry toad, you can keep that gear

This melancholic premise sets the tone of the game well but, moreover, it provides a thematic link to the core gameplay loop. The Tower acts as a central hub, where you can craft items, research new abilities, and gather your gear before setting off on a run, but it also houses the Chronomancer’s Wheel, an ancient artefact that allows the user to reverse the flow of time and revisit the Shatter moments before its inevitable demise.

There’s just one issue, the Chronomancer’s Wheel is missing vital gears that allow it to fully revert the world back to how it once was. Resting with powerful beings on the Shatter, it’s the player’s job to hunt down these gearheads and restore the machine.

Mechanically, using the Chronomancer’s Wheel resets the world, giving you a five-minute timer before the end times, while randomising the placement of buildings, NPCs and enemies. You’ll use your five minutes to explore, gather materials for crafting, and hunt down the enemies holding gears, all while searching for bosses known as Riders who hold special gears that will let your turn back time even further to reveal new biomes.

Nothing says home like a giant celestial hand and a machine that can undo the end of the world

While you can extend your time on the Shatter by snuffing out pockets of Chaos that materialise as pink goop, you’ll eventually be forced back to the Tower. While short, your runs never feel pointless, as you might not find a gear, but you’ll undoubtedly have gathered resources and plundered loot that you can use to craft new equipment.

The Shatter is a dangerous place, but you’ve got the power of magic and gunpowder on your side. As a Gunmancer you say no thank you to a staff and see you later to a wand, instead embracing pistols and blunderbusses to violently deliver your mystical might. Starting off with a pea shooter, you’re soon able to research various ammo types that act as your spells. Fire, ice and acid make up the early elemental offerings, but your options expand into charming bullets that turn foe into friend, oil bullets that dose your target in fire-feeding liquid and healing bullets that aid your co-op companion in the most brutal way possible.

While the weapon variety is a little lacking, the various bullets you can load into them more than makes up for it. As most weapons have a primary and secondary ammo type, you’ll end up playing around with combinations, mixing and matching until you find what fits your needs. Researching, crafting, and upgrading these damage dealers will require plenty of resources found within the Shatter, so you’ll need to hoover up all you can see during runs, though greed can quickly get you in trouble, as everything is lost if you die.

Stumbling upon a drifter playing his weathered instrument as he sits on the edge of oblivion, waiting for the embrace of the inevitable was a strangely poignant moment that I wasn’t expecting from a game like this, but it was a welcome one

And die you will. While the early going is fairly forgiving (if not a little daunting with the number of mechanics thrown your way), you’ll quickly hit a challenge spike if you neglect to research your spells and craft an amble supply of bullets. Some gear-wielders were hardly more powerful than a regular enemy, while others felt like running at a brick wall. Ultimately there was no mountain I couldn’t scale with the help of some grinding, but the difficulty scaling did feel a little wonky from time to time.

Gunplay is your simple twin-stick affair and controls are responsive, with a dodge roll helping to get you out of harm’s way. Most enemies pack a handful of well-telegraphed melee and ranged attacks that keep you engaged, but their density won’t alarm you if you’re on a resource run. Speaking of which, you can also horde your resources and use them to construct a little sanctuary outside at the Tower, populating it with furnishings once you’ve scanned them on the Shatter using an enchanted book known as the First Edition. While I enjoyed cataloguing the enemies and structures of the Shatter to learn about the game’s moody lore, I didn’t quite see the purpose of building anything that wasn’t functional, like research stations and loading benches.

I wasn’t prepared for this existential dread

I wanted to learn about the world of Wizard with a Gun mainly because the art design makes it so intriguing. You see the world from an isometric view, and everything appears as though it’s a beautiful 2D paper cutout, similar to the wonderful Don’t Starve. The world and all of its magical inheritance have a sad yet warm vibe that I gravitated towards, helped along by a soundtrack that’s filled with slow, haunting guitar chords that somehow blends fantasy with the wild west. Stumbling upon a drifter playing his weathered instrument as he sits on the edge of oblivion, waiting for the embrace of the inevitable was a strangely poignant moment that I wasn’t expecting from a game like this, but it was a welcome one.

Final Thoughts

Repeatedly reliving Armageddon may not sound like an appealing prospect, but when it looks and sounds this pretty, I can understand. The audiovisual identity of Wizard with a Gun may be its strongest ally, but that shouldn’t discount the enjoyable gameplay loop and inventive combat options. The mismatched difficulty, unenthusiastic base building and some occasional technical hiccups stop me from fully investing in this world, but I certainly appreciate the more bite-sized survival offering that Galvanic has provided.

Reviewed on PS5 // Review code supplied by publisher

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