Parents' Guide to The Weaponographist

With its cartoon-like graphics and role-playing elements, The Weaponographist will be appealing for some. Villains and weapons vary with each level, requiring both skill and patience to survive. Be warned that once you die, you have to start all over again unless you have enough "goop" to buy yourself a checkpoint comeback. That's a standard of rogue-like games, but it also can make gameplay repetitive and lengthy once you die for the 10th time in a row, especially under a swarm of monsters. Gameplay is pretty straightforward: Just pick up a weapon and kill. Weapons are unique to each level and villain, and once Doug picks one up it will only last for a few attacks before it breaks, forcing you to move onto the next closest one at hand. Fortunately, there are plenty of weapons to choose from because the bad guys literally don't stop coming. These include bows, machine guns, swords, spears, whips, and lasers. Since enemies endlessly attack, players have to keep an eye on the combo bar found at the bottom of the screen, which fills up the faster you hack away, giving you better strength and ability to ward off the demons. Being too slow gets Doug hurt, which drops this combo bar quickly, making him vulnerable and more likely to be defeated.

Opponents can drop hearts along the way to give health boosts, but they are few and far between, so speed is the key to survival, along with focusing on "goop." If you can collect enough "goop" from fallen enemies, you can purchase special weapon combos, spells, and rebirth at checkpoints, which is vital to making real progress in the game. Unfortunately, The Weaponographist tends to suffer from bland repetition and a lack of variety, even for a rogue-like game. The story could've been much stronger, with additional content to keep players engaged and motivated to smash their way through each area. Plus, apart from the changing types of enemies, most locations are exactly the same; variety in fighting areas and different mission objectives would've really improved the gameplay. For rogue-like fans, The Weaponographist will probably be an amusing adventure with a wacky hero. For other players, the lack of variety will make them look elsewhere.