There are not many games that I get giddy about, and almost no indie titles. Gunpoint might actually be the only one in that list.
The entire game is a stealth puzzle game in a 2d world. There's an overarching plot and everything but honestly, none of that really got my attention. What got my attention was the levels, and the ability to really tackle a level, and feel that you didn't just "survive" it, but you beat it.
And I feel that way after I beat each level in Gunpoint, not just a sense of moving on but a sense of mastering the level.
The core of the game is being a spy who is able to jump around (pouncing) and use a gun, but the whole game pretty much revolves around using stealth rather than violence. You can shoot a guard if you need to, but the goal is more to avoid it as it can create an artificial time limit on your current mission.
Instead, you can use your skills, and the skills are what really shine. You use a wirejack system which allows you to create elaborate electrical grids which changes the use of items. For instance, you can wire a switch to a door that normally requires a hand scanner, or removes the wire between the hand scanner and door so the enemy can no longer open it or wire someone's gun to a trap door right under them. Each of these adds to the feeling of a puzzle of the level. Often you are limited in what you can wire until you wirejack more and more access panels, and over time you unlock almost everything in the level.
Of course, if you want to just kill everyone, you have the ability to pounce them and punch them to death, shoot them, or kill them with environmental features (rarely). It's your choice.
But the thing is, no matter what you do, the game just has a great fun feel to it. With 2d pixel graphics, it wasn't going to win an award for them. However what it does with those pixels and all the gameplay modes is impressive. I felt more immersed in this game than most of the big budget games that came out just because of the actions and abilities that required me to really look at what I'm doing rather than shoot and run.
One blessing for this game is the save system. You can save the game, and you can restart the level. But any time you want (or are forced to by death) you also get alternative saves. 3 saves, usually about 5 seconds apart. Sometimes this fails, for instance, when I've had situations where the newest autosave is right before someone shoots me. Most of these autosaves are "safe" moments, that rewinding to will give you a fighting chance (Before you set off an alarm, or shot a gun and was heard, or so on). Overall the game allows you to rewind after a bad decision and change it. It really enhances the puzzle aspect rather than punishing a risky move.
That only allows risky play. Want to jump up on the ceiling to see if a guard will miss you, try it out. The worst you'll lose is about 5 seconds of progress. Want to jump through a window but didn't notice the guard in the room. Don't worry, you can try something else next time.
Overall the game just shines in that it rewards unique play styles rather than punishes the player. Even better, there are a few really awesome moments in the game, but every level shines. While it's a bit short (about 3 hours) it also is exactly the length it needs to be. If it was 5-10 hours, I probably would have gotten bored of the repetition. It is pricey for the time but it's also well worth the money.
I bought this game back in 2013 and loved it. I replayed it to get a few more achievements in 2017, and the only thing I could think was "Holy crap, this game really is as good as I remember it." Grab Gunpoint, you won't be disappointed.
If you enjoy this review and want to see my opinion on other games you can find my curator page at this link.
http://store.steampowered.com/curator/31803828-Kinglink-Revi... 5.0