All types have upgrades that increase damage, with only a select few discernable differences (i.e., lowering the Overkill hit requirement for melee weapons or lowering the cooldown for augments). In any case, you may upgrade your tools using credits, but this mechanic is also rather simplistic. The same can also be said when it comes to boss fights due to how a few of them, including the final boss, have easily recognizable patterns. As such, battles and encounters can become fairly repetitive. As for gadgets, I’ve managed to keep the Auto Turret, and it’s served me well during the course of my playthrough since it shoots foes while I’m slashing them.

The same goes for ranged weapons, where heavy cannons seem to pack the punch that other firearms lack. Although there are a dozen or so weapons of each type, only a select few are truly worthwhile (i.e., the Wukong’s Rod or katanas are great melee weapons to have). Unfortunately, my main gripe with combat is that your equipment rarely, if ever, gets interesting. There are also other actions, like a dodge/backdash to evade attacks, grappling to reach higher ledges or bypass enemies, and a few extra skills/perks that can be unlocked. Swapping between these moves/items is smooth and near-instantaneous, so you can chain your hits and keep foes at bay. Melee weapons even have an “Overkill” move, a flashy attack where the screen turns red, that’s usable only after you’ve hit enemies multiple times without taking damage. To help you on your journey, you’ve got four different kinds of gear pieces: a melee weapon, ranged weapon, gadget/throwable item, and skill move/augment. You’ll lose your credits/cash and in-mission buffs, but you do keep Cores and Mementos used to unlock skill tree perks. Given that this is a roguelike, a single death brings you all the way back to the beginning of the run. One can rain down a barrage of missiles from afar, while another will slice and dice his way like a peerless Ronin. Your romps are often punctuated by boss fights, and they tend to have some punishing abilities.

Missions have numerous enemies ranging from the aforementioned bionic ninjas and mechs to poison-spitting creatures and mutant abominations. Naturally, Loopmancer relies heavily on frantic, fast-paced combat.

LOOPMANCER for mac instal