Enter the Gungeon

Did You Know?

• A spin-off, Exit the Gungeon, was released for iOS via Apple Arcade on September 19, 2019, and is a platform game rather than a top-down dungeon crawler.
• An arcade spin-off, Enter the Gungeon: House of the Gundead, was announced in 2019 and released in 2022.

Development

Development began in 2014 after four Mythic Entertainment employees left to form Dodge Roll, just before Mythic shut down. Lead designer Dave Crooks conceived the name "Gungeon" after listening to the Gun Godz soundtrack; he presented it to his team, and they created the game's lore over lunch. Prototypes were developed in the following weeks. Influences included The Binding of Isaac, Nuclear Throne, Spelunky, Dark Souls, and Metal Gear Solid.

Dungeons were procedurally generated by handcrafting and playtesting individual rooms, then connecting them randomly. Gun designs, mostly by artist Joe Harty, took two years and were inspired by games like Mega Man, Metroid, Shadow Warrior, and Serious Sam, as well as the NES Zapper. Boss designs combined ideas from Crooks and Harty, with bullet patterns determined by programmer David Rubel. The dodge roll mechanic was inspired by Ikaruga and Dark Souls; the team named their studio after it.

Environmental features like flipping tables or dropping chandeliers encouraged player interaction. An active reload feature was tested but limited to a power-up, as players were already distracted.

Release

Enter the Gungeon was announced at Sony's PlayStation Experience in December 2014 for PlayStation 4 and Windows. The co-op feature was revealed at E3 2015. The game launched on April 5, 2016, for Linux, macOS, PlayStation 4, and Windows 10. Free post-release content was planned.

The "Supply Drop" update added guns, enemies, and room layouts on January 26, 2017. An Xbox One port with cross-buy and cross-save for Windows 10 arrived on April 5, 2017. A Nintendo Switch version released on December 14, 2017. The "Advanced Gungeons & Draguns" update on July 19, 2018, added weapons and enemies while making the game easier for newcomers.

A third major update was canceled in November 2018 due to developer fatigue. The final free patch, "A Farewell to Arms," in April 2019 fixed bugs and added the Paradox and Gunslinger characters. A Google Stadia version came in late December 2020, and iOS and Android ports in August 2025.

Reception

Enter the Gungeon received generally favorable reviews on Metacritic and "mighty" approval on OpenCritic, with 88% of critics recommending it. Comparisons were drawn to The Binding of Isaac and Nuclear Throne. Destructoid praised it as perfecting the twin-stick shooter, while Game Informer recommended it to roguelike and twin-stick fans. Nintendo Life called it one of the best indie games on Nintendo Switch, and USgamer considered it among the best roguelike twin-stick shooters.

Critics praised the variety and creativity of guns but noted frequent generation of conventional weapons. IGN enjoyed the pop culture references and designs. Difficulty was a common topic: Destructoid found lower-floor enemies challenging, and PC Gamer called bosses the hardest encountered. The Escapist considered the learning curve fair but some enemies frustrating.

Electronic Gaming Monthly found the difficulty helpful for skill improvement. Rock Paper Shotgun and Nintendo World Report attributed struggles to player skill, not imbalanced mechanics. The game sold over 200,000 copies in its first week, with Steam Spy estimating 75% on Steam. By January 2017, sales exceeded 800,000 units, and by January 2020, over 3 million.