Gunpoint is what you’d get if Sam Fisher and Spider-Man produced a love-child in a 2D pseudo-noir universe where trench-coats wouldn’t get in the way of effective spying.
PC Gamer’s Tom Francis is the man behind this project – which proves once and for all that games journalists are multi-talented and awesome and deserve a lot of money.
So what is Gunpoint? The developer blog page says it pretty clearly: “Gunpoint is a stealth puzzle game that lets you rewire its levels to trick people.”
Puzzles and tricking people? I’m sold.
Gameplay
Gunpoint is firstly a game about infiltration – getting in, getting the data and getting out – and in between those bits, there’s a lot of jumping thorough windows, clambering up walls and tactfully avoiding/beating-up/otherwise disposing of guards.
The main point of each level is to reach computer terminals and collect sensitive data – and then make your escape; it’s as easy as that. Of course, getting to the terminals isn’t quite as easy as it sounds.
Security cameras, alarms, vault doors, electronic doors and numerous guards will be standing in your way – and getting past them is where the challenge lies.
In the Gunpoint world, everyone dies from one shot – including you – so really, being stealthy is the whole idea here.
Sneaking up behind guards and pushing them through windows does the job of getting them out the way – but also draws other guards towards the noise. Dropping on them from above also results in their removal from the picture – but leaving them in the dark with a little rewiring of the lights works just as well.
Crosslink
The second part of Gunpoint is about rewiring the buildings you infiltrate to work to your advantage – this is done through the Crosslink System – which is where things get interesting.
If you thought you had choice before, then things are about to get exponentially more choosey for you.
Crosslink shifts the visual mode of the game to an ‘x-ray’ of the building where all the wired circuits become visible. Here you’re free to literally rewire things so that triggers are activated in different ways.
For example, by rewiring an electronic door to a light circuit, your little problem of not being able to pass through the shut pathway can be resolved by the flip of the switch.
By cross-linking different circuits, you’re able to plan out some creative scenarios, especially when it comes to things like timed vault doors, or having to confuse or trap guards in rooms – Crosslink allows you to set up and trigger a chain reaction of awesomeness.
Different triggers can be on different coloured circuits, but there’s always a way to get to the data – and the solution you conjure up may not be the best in the game, but it’s yours, and that’s what counts.
The Crosslink feature is setting up Gunpoint to be much more varied and more fun than a simple run in and get out infiltration mini-game – offering you the chance to make your own way through the game.
Info that counts
So where can you get your hands on it and what can you expect to be paying? Well…you can’t. Yet. And nothing. For now.
Tom Francis had intended on giving this game away for free – but in order to make it as polished as it is, he had to get a couple of other people involved, and let’s face it, money is a great way of saying thanks – so now he’s “open to suggestion” regarding a price point.
Personally, I would definitely pay to play something that looks this fun – it’s PC only for now, and will get a full release early next year (the website says “probably March 2012”).
In the mean-time, MyGaming is going to take up Tom’s offer to get in contact and get our hands on the next preview build of the game. I especially want to jump through windows and belly-flop the ground – because it looks so satisfying.
Definitely one to watch!
Check out and listen to Tom explaining his labour of love in the video below.
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