Info about Showgunners:

Official game description:
**In a dystopian future where corporations rule, a brutal reality show is the hottest entertainment property in town! You play as Scarlett Martillo, a contestant out for revenge. To win, you must navigate dangerous urban arenas packed with lethal traps and face off against hordes of heavily-armed psychopaths.**
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Each stage in Showgunners has been hand-crafted to create a curated, turn-based tactical gameplay experience, heightened with the inclusion of a diabolical show director that can hinder Scarlett or help her opponents depending on your performance. This dynamic level design ensures that no two levels play the same way and keep players thinking tactically. Showgunners has been built to challenge and delight players, whether they’re a turn-based tactical game initiate or a long-time fan of the genre!
Scarlett won’t be fighting alone. As the story progresses, players will recruit new partners that can turn the tide of battle in all kinds of exciting ways. Upgrade your characters by spending talent points in their unique skill trees and outfitting them with weapons bought at a shop or earned during battle. Hidden challenges within each chapter can unlock more allies, legendary weapons, and helpful items, so be sure to keep an eye out!
Players will need to navigate an obstacle course of deadly traps and lethal puzzles in real-time, but be prepared for an ambush at any corner. Psychopathic enemies like the Ogre and the Ronin aren’t the only deadly elements you’ll need to overcome. Combat scenarios are peppered with unique environmental hazards, from ticking time bombs to runaway trains. There is never a dull moment in Showgunners!
Gain fame by avoiding death, surviving rounds, and eliminating your enemies with gruesome panache. The more you succeed, the more fans you earn; your growing fame will yield increasingly beneficial sponsorship deals.
Streamers, rejoice! Use the native Twitch integration to keep audiences engaged by letting them control the direction of each level. They can add more enemies, change the terrain, add or remove obstacles, or send useful items, all from chat.

Release date: 2 May, 2023

Categories: Turn-based Strategy, Character Progression, Exploration, Puzzle Solving, Single-player Story, Tactical Combat, Character Customization, Environmental Combat


- Hardware Profile: No data
Feature extractions:
- Community Price: No data
- Playtime Metrics: No data
- Time-to-fun: No data
- Player Archetypes: No data


Below are summaries of things people say about the game per category.
Each point is assigned a weight that represents how often it is mentioned across all reviews.
What players like:
- Excellent Tactical Combat (weight 0.97): Players consistently praise the game's tactical turn-based combat, frequently comparing it favorably to XCOM. They highlight its engaging nature, strategic depth, and overall polish, often noting it as a strong entry or even superior alternative in the genre.
- Balanced & Enjoyable Experience (weight 0.78): The game offers a well-balanced and enjoyable experience, praised for its fair difficulty, engaging mechanics, and overall polish. Players found it to be a satisfying and worthwhile investment, often exceeding expectations for its price point.
- Concise & Engaging Story (weight 0.3): The game's story is generally well-received for being concise, engaging, and not overstaying its welcome. While often simple or predictable, its execution, pacing, and entertaining elements keep players invested without unnecessary fluff.
- Strong Character Progression & Design (weight 0.27): The character progression system is well-designed, offering meaningful upgrades and abilities without being overly complex. Players appreciate the unique skills and balanced design of each character, which encourages diverse playstyles and effective team synergies.
- Unique Game Show Setting (weight 0.19): The game's unique setting as a dystopian reality TV show, heavily inspired by 'The Running Man,' is a major highlight. This theme, complete with a reactive commentator, adds significant atmosphere, humor, and a fresh twist to the tactical genre.
- Strong Visuals & Audio (weight 0.18): The game's visual and audio presentation is consistently praised. This includes stylish graphics, effective art direction, high-quality voice acting (especially for the announcer), and an excellent, energetic soundtrack that enhances the overall atmosphere.
- Valuable Free DLC & Late Game (weight 0.17): The free DLC and later game missions are highly appreciated for adding significant value, variety, and increased challenge. Players particularly enjoyed the ability to field all characters simultaneously in these expanded scenarios.
- Effective Cyberpunk Setting (weight 0.16): The cyberpunk setting is effectively implemented, contributing to a strong atmosphere and world-building. The accompanying soundtrack, with its rock and electronic tunes, perfectly complements this theme.
- Engaging Exploration & Puzzles (weight 0.1): The exploration segments between battles are well-received for providing a pleasant change of pace and adding variety to the gameplay. These sections often include simple puzzles and reward thoroughness with useful items.

Common complaints:
- Low Difficulty & Simplistic Combat (weight 0.65): A significant number of players felt the game lacked sufficient challenge, even on higher difficulties. This was attributed to simplistic combat mechanics, predictable enemy AI, and a progression system that made characters too powerful too quickly, leading to an inverse difficulty curve.
- Short, Repetitive, Low Replayability (weight 0.56): Many players found the game to be too short, lacking in content, and offering low replayability. This often led to a feeling of repetitiveness and a lack of engagement, especially in the later stages or after the first playthrough.
- Weak Story & Character Development (weight 0.21): The game's story, characters, and world-building were widely criticized for being underdeveloped, predictable, and uninteresting. Players felt a lack of depth in character arcs and a forgettable narrative, which hindered immersion.
- Lacks XCOM's Depth (weight 0.14): Players frequently compared the game to XCOM, often finding it to be a less deep, less polished, and less tactically engaging experience. The game's strategic elements, customization, and overall challenge were seen as inferior to the XCOM series.
- Technical Issues & Bugs (weight 0.12): Players reported various technical issues including frequent crashes, freezing, performance dips, and minor animation/visual bugs. These issues negatively impacted the overall playability and immersion.
- Tedious Exploration & Puzzles (weight 0.11): The real-time exploration and puzzle sections between combat encounters were widely disliked. Players found them tedious, poorly designed, and disruptive to the game's flow, often feeling like time-wasters.
- Limited Character Progression & Builds (weight 0.11): The character progression and skill tree systems were criticized for being too simple and offering little meaningful choice. Players noted that all skills are eventually unlocked, leading to a lack of build diversity and strategic decision-making.
- Unsatisfying Weapon System (weight 0.11): The weapon system was criticized for its lack of meaningful variety and confusing mechanics, particularly regarding armor penetration. Players often found it more effective to simply use the highest damage weapon, rendering specialized weapons and strategic choices irrelevant.
- Poorly Integrated DLC (weight 0.08): The free DLC content was perceived negatively, with players feeling it was unpolished, grindy, and disrupted the main game's pacing. Some even suggested it felt like content that should have been part of the base game.
- Excessive Gore & Cliché Plot (weight 0.06): Some players found the game's gore excessive and gratuitous, feeling it was added merely for shock value. Additionally, the core revenge plot was criticized for being cliché and unoriginal.
- Repetitive Announcer Voice (weight 0.04): The in-game announcer's voiceovers were found to be highly repetitive and annoying by many players, detracting from the audio experience.

Gameplay feedback:
- Mixed Combat and Exploration (weight 0.48): The game features a core loop of turn-based tactical combat interspersed with real-time exploration segments. These exploration phases involve navigating environments, solving simple puzzles, disarming traps, and finding loot or optional encounters.
- XCOM-like Tactical Combat (weight 0.42): The combat system is heavily inspired by XCOM, featuring a two-action point system, cover mechanics, and overwatch. However, it's a more streamlined and linear experience, lacking the base-building, procedural generation, or deep customization of traditional XCOM titles.
- Character Progression and Gear (weight 0.14): Characters can be customized through skill trees, weapon choices, and equipable implants. As players level up, they gain skill points to unlock new abilities and enhance their characters.
- Dystopian Reality Show Setting (weight 0.14): The game is set in a dystopian, post-apocalyptic cyberpunk future, where the story revolves around a violent reality TV game show called 'Homicidal All-Stars.' This setting draws inspiration from films like 'The Running Man' and 'The Hunger Games.'
- Simple and Accessible Gameplay (weight 0.13): The game is generally considered simple and linear, with a gradual difficulty curve. While some early levels might pose a challenge, the overall gameplay is not overly difficult, especially for players familiar with similar genres.
- Diverse Character Roster (weight 0.12): The game features a small but diverse cast of characters, each with unique abilities, roles, and weapon types. Players recruit allies throughout the story, and while most missions limit squad size, all characters are utilized.
- Protagonist Scarlett's Abilities (weight 0.12): Scarlett Martillo, the main protagonist, is a former cop seeking revenge in a deadly reality TV show. Her unique abilities often revolve around movement, evasion, and chaining melee kills, making her a mechanically engaging character.
- Varied Enemies and Weapons (weight 0.09): The game features a reasonable variety of enemy types, each with different armor and abilities. There is also good weapon variety, with different stats and effectiveness against specific enemy types.
- Fame and Sponsorship System (weight 0.07): A unique 'fame' system allows players to interact with fans and give interviews outside of combat. Gaining fame unlocks sponsorships, which provide various perks and bonuses.
- Optional Free DLC (weight 0.04): A free DLC is available that seamlessly integrates into the main campaign, primarily increasing difficulty and adding more waves of enemies. It's optional and adds about 4 hours to the game's length.
- Engaging Story Elements (weight 0.03): While not the primary focus, the game's story is considered interesting and serves to push the combat and exploration segments forward. It provides context for the gameplay loop.

Performance notes:
- Strong overall optimization (weight 0.1): Many players praised the game's excellent optimization, reporting smooth performance and high, stable framerates even on older PCs or high resolutions with powerful hardware. This indicates a generally well-optimized game experience for a significant portion of the player base.
- Minor technical issues reported (weight 0.09): While many players reported a smooth experience, some encountered occasional freezes, minor crashes, or brief pauses. A critical bug involving negative generator HP was also reported, which could impact ironman saves. The frequent auto-save feature helps mitigate progress loss from crashes.
- Good Steam Deck performance (weight 0.05): The game generally performs well on the Steam Deck, with many users reporting a smooth experience. However, some players had mixed feelings, indicating that performance might not be consistently perfect for all Steam Deck users.
- Includes DLSS and other options (weight 0.01): The game includes modern graphical options such as DLSS, which can help improve performance and visual quality for players with compatible hardware. This is a positive feature for PC gamers.
- Average system requirements (weight 0.01): The game's system requirements are considered average, making it accessible to a wider range of hardware configurations. This contributes to its good overall performance on various setups.

Recommendations:
- Highly Recommended Game (weight 0.53): The game is widely recommended by players, especially when purchased on sale. Many found it to be a fun and worthwhile experience for its price, offering a satisfying single playthrough.
- Ideal for Turn-Based Fans (weight 0.4): The game is particularly recommended for fans of turn-based tactics and strategy games, especially those who enjoy XCOM-like experiences. It's seen as a solid entry in the genre, suitable for both veterans and newcomers.
- Sequel Highly Desired (weight 0.13): Many players expressed a strong desire for a sequel or additional DLC, indicating satisfaction with the core game and a wish for more content, potentially with deeper customization or new features.
- Play on Hard Difficulty (weight 0.07): Experienced players of turn-based strategy games are advised to start directly on hard difficulty to ensure a challenging and engaging experience, as normal mode might be too easy.
- Adjust Graphics Settings (weight 0.01): One reviewer suggested turning off certain graphical settings like DLSS and ray tracing, implying potential performance or visual issues with these features enabled.
- Avoid Reloading Turns (weight 0.01): A specific piece of advice given was to avoid reloading turns, which might be a gameplay tip for a more challenging or intended experience.
- Suits Save-Scumming (weight 0.01): One review noted the game is suitable for players who enjoy 'save-scumming,' suggesting the game's design might accommodate or even encourage frequent saving and reloading.
- Prioritize Team Perks (weight 0.01): A specific gameplay tip was to prioritize team-benefiting perks over those that only help the main character, suggesting a strategic approach to character progression.
- Appreciates Art Design (weight 0.01): One reviewer expressed a desire to support the game due to its appealing art design, highlighting a positive aspect of the game's aesthetics.
- Hyperbolic 'Must-Buy' (weight 0.01): One highly subjective and hyperbolic review suggested the game is a 'must-buy' for people experiencing depression or tired of bland games, which is an extreme and unverified claim.
- Try Demo First (weight 0.01): A practical recommendation for undecided players is to try the game's demo first to get a feel for the gameplay before purchasing.

Other player notes:
- Strong demand for sequel (weight 0.14): Many players expressed a strong desire for a sequel, indicating satisfaction with the current game and a wish for more content, depth, and continued character stories. This suggests the game left a positive impression and a hunger for future installments.
- Good value and length (weight 0.1): The game's length, typically around 20-30 hours, was considered ideal and offered good value for its price. Players appreciated that the game provided a satisfying experience without overstaying its welcome.
- Strong, unique characters (weight 0.09): The characters were consistently praised for being unique, well-developed, and feeling like they genuinely belonged in the game's world. This contributed significantly to the game's atmosphere and player enjoyment.
- Evokes 80s action movies (weight 0.08): Players frequently noted the game's strong resemblance to 80s action movies like 'The Running Man,' 'Robocop,' and 'Mad Max.' This B-movie aesthetic and campy tone were highlighted as a fun and enjoyable aspect of the game.
- Engaging content and pacing (weight 0.08): The game offers a good amount of content, with exploration and puzzles providing a welcome break from combat. Players found the overall experience satisfying and engaging throughout their playthroughs.
- High-quality voice acting (weight 0.05): The voice acting across all characters was highlighted as being of high quality and contributing positively to the game's immersive experience. The fact that the game is fully voiced was also appreciated.
- Functional, simple story (weight 0.04): While not the primary focus, the game's story was generally considered fitting and functional, serving its purpose without being overly complex. It provided enough context for the gameplay.
- Desire for roguelike elements (weight 0.03): Players expressed interest in future content, such as a sequel or DLC, incorporating roguelike elements, random maps, and more character customization options to enhance replayability.
- Unique dystopian gameshow setting (weight 0.03): The game's setting, described as a dystopian consumerist gameshow with a Cyberpunk/Blade Runner vibe, was well-received and contributed to its unique atmosphere.
- Pleasing graphics and aesthetic (weight 0.03): The game's graphics and overall aesthetic were found to be pleasing and fun, with specific mention of enjoyable character visual designs.
- Player-friendly features (weight 0.03): The game offers player-friendly features such as generous autosaves, key rebinding, and various options, indicating a focus on player comfort over hardcore difficulty.
- Ukrainian language and character (weight 0.03): Players noted and appreciated the inclusion of Ukrainian language support and a Ukrainian character, which was a pleasant surprise for some.
- Accessible tactical gameplay (weight 0.02): The game is described as a simple tactical roguelike, suitable for amateurs, with sufficient skills for a small turn-based strategy game. This suggests an accessible tactical experience.
- Includes free DLC (weight 0.02): The game includes a free, action-packed DLC that adds more challenging end-game levels, allowing players to further enjoy the full team at maximum power.
- Community Japanese localization (weight 0.02): A community-created Japanese localization MOD is available, even for the demo, indicating player initiative in expanding accessibility.

Emotions:
- Satisfaction (weight 0.41): Players expressed satisfaction primarily due to the game's high overall quality, engaging tactical combat, and compelling story. The game's successful blend of XCOM-like mechanics with a unique cyberpunk setting, along with well-balanced progression and technical performance, contributed significantly to a rewarding experience.
- Enjoyment (weight 0.13): Enjoyment stemmed from the game's fun and balanced tactical combat, engaging characters, and overall entertaining gameplay experience. The game's unique aesthetic, humor, and well-paced design also contributed to a consistently fun and satisfying playthrough.
- Disappointment (weight 0.1): Disappointment was frequently linked to the perceived lack of depth in combat, character progression, and strategic options, especially when compared to similar titles like XCOM. Players also felt let down by the game's limited replayability, repetitive late-game content, and short length, which contributed to a sense of unfulfilled potential.
- Frustration (weight 0.06): Frustration arose mainly from technical issues such as frequent crashes and bugs, as well as specific gameplay flaws like poor AI, balance problems, and restrictive tactical limitations. The overworld exploration mode, including forced loot box hunting and tedious walking, also contributed to player annoyance.
- Excitement (weight 0.05): Excitement was driven by the game's excellent turn-based combat, unique style, and cinematic moments, often described as the best X-Com like experience. Players were thrilled by the immersive cyberpunk setting, brutal fighting, and the overall high quality that often exceeded expectations for an indie title.
- Appreciation (weight 0.04): Players appreciated the game's distinctive setting, narrative style, and humor, often recognizing it as a hidden gem with high production value. The creative combat, varied characters, and the developers' attention to detail, including full voice acting and well-made graphics, were also highly valued.
- Joy (weight 0.03): Joy was a direct result of the game being consistently fun and comfortable to play, offering a great overall experience. Players particularly enjoyed the graphics, interesting characters, and engaging puzzles, which contributed to a very positive and stress-relieving gaming session.
- Surprise (weight 0.02): Surprise was primarily expressed when the game exceeded players' expectations, often due to its unexpected high quality and engaging gameplay. Many were surprised that such a good game was not more widely known or acclaimed, especially given its free DLC.
- Neutrality (weight 0.02): Neutrality stemmed from a balanced view of the game, acknowledging both its pros and cons without strong emotional attachment. Players often described the game as decent but not outstanding, with elements like the story or difficulty being comfortable but predictable.
- Hope (weight 0.02): Hope was consistently tied to the desire for a sequel that would expand on the game's core gameplay, characters, and tactical depth. Players expressed a strong wish for more content and improved features in future installments, building on the existing quality.
- Desire (weight 0.01): Desire was focused on wanting more content, including DLCs and a sequel, to further explore the game's world and mechanics. Players also expressed a specific desire for more detailed team strategy and expanded skill options.
- Mild disappointment (weight 0.01): Mild disappointment arose from issues such as the game's perceived ease on normal difficulty, limited replayability, and a slow team assembly process. The progression system and a boring revenge plot also contributed to a less than ideal experience.
- Annoyance (weight 0.01): Annoyance was caused by specific gameplay elements like tedious walking, an annoying announcer, and a lack of guidance for choices. Technical issues such as game crashes during loading and the ending dragging out also contributed to player irritation.
- Admiration (weight 0.01): Admiration was expressed for the game's overall quality, theming, and its status as an endearing modern classic. Players highly praised the game as superb and almost without fault, feeling the developers deserved every cent for their work.
- Engagement (weight 0.01): Engagement was driven by the compelling mix of traps, puzzles, and tactical combat, which kept players immersed in the game. The game's mechanics, atmosphere, and combat music also contributed to a captivating experience.
- Boredom (weight 0.01): Boredom was primarily caused by repetitive gameplay, uninteresting plot/characters, and tedious downtime between missions in rest rooms. The DLC and overall experience also contributed to a feeling of monotony for some players.
- Mild frustration (weight 0.01): Mild frustration stemmed from minor issues such as obnoxious traps, nonsensical puzzles, and repetitive elements. Confusing weapon systems and minor bugs also contributed to a slightly irritating experience.
- Confusion (weight 0): Confusion arose from specific unclear elements within the game, such as a cutscene issue, the ambiguous purpose of the hub area, and inconsistent enemy strength scaling.
- Anticipation (weight 0): Anticipation was directed towards future games from the developers, particularly a sequel that would offer deeper build customization. Players looked forward to the potential of future titles based on the quality of the current game.
- Sadness (weight 0): Sadness was expressed due to the game ending, indicating a strong emotional connection and desire for more content. Some players also felt sad about the game's commercial performance, wishing it had received more recognition.}