Quick Review: Gunpoint

I’ve made it clear last year that I wasn’t a master spy. Looks like I’ve improved… a smidge.

The main character is the guy who jumped, like,
two floors high. Up there, just above the ROOKE logo.

Gunpoint, a game by Suspicious Developments released on June 3rd, 2013, is about Richard Conway, a freelance spy who gets embroiled in a battle between two weapons manufacturers. He has recently acquired a special pair of paints that lets him jump very high, at high speeds as well – even allowing him to crash through windows if he wants. He is soon hired in regards to a murder that took place in the Rooke Firearms offices, for which he is a suspect as he wound up on the crime scene inadvertently while trying his new pants. (Yes, I had to write it that way.)

Who designs buildings with trapdoors anyway?

At the start, you’re shown the basics with levels that show how to use your tools: The jump pants, of course, but also the Crosslink, which is actually the main draw of this puzzle/stealth game. With the Crosslink, you can rewire things on a network in order to achieve special things – as an example, you can rewire a security camera so it’ll open a door when you pass into the camera’s range. Or make various light switches open doors, buzz electrical sockets, and so on. It’s easy early on, but later you need to play around with two or more different systems – several of which have routers you’ll first need to reach in the buildings you’re told to infiltrate.

Also, the number of things to take into account (the guards'
vision range, which network every item is connected
to, how to go up each floor, etc.) gets high fast.

You can, of course, use violence, although your means are limited at first. Dropping onto guards and punching them unconscious is the best option, but they wise up fast. Once you become good enough with the Crosslink, you can make them fall down floors, smack them with doors, or trick them into shooting at each other. It helps that, as the story progresses, Conway gets enough money to buy other gadgets, as well as a proper firearm.

At the end of a level, you get a grade based on how well you did: Your level of violence (lower is better); how many people saw you (includes people you knocked out); your level of noise (how likely you were to be spotted by sound); how long you took (the shortest known time gives the best score); and a bonus for any side-quests completed. How deep does the rabbit hole go in this story of murder and industrial espionage? If you’ve got enough brains to figure these puzzles out, you might see!

Everything on the screen is so small, I need to show
bigger pictures so you can see some of the things.

Don't mind me, I'm just chilling out on the first floor of
this building in which I'm not authorized to be.

I really like the concept for this one. You have to carefully plan your steps by taking everything into account; the guards’ line of sight, the different networks, etc. Whereas Master Spy, which I name-dropped earlier, was a lot more platforming-based and very cruel, Gunpoint is far more puzzle- and stealth-based. It’s also a lot more lenient, as it will autosave your progress on a level and allow you to start from one of three different autosaves from previous points if Conway gets killed. There’s variety in the missions, and a lot is up to the player’s experimentation. Some achievements for the game highlight that feature; as an example, you can create a loop using items on the same network that will eventually short them out. There’s even a bit of comedy to the cutscenes, which are text messages, where you can make Conway be as much of an asshole as you want.

Putting aside that the game may feel too short for its 10$ price tag, it’s a pretty fun experience if you like puzzles that try something new, and quite rewarding once you get the hang of it.