Gunvein

About

"Gunvein" is a single-player shooter game with dynamic bullet hell STG gameplay, inspired by classics from CAVE, Taito, and Raizing/8ing. It features compelling visuals, stellar music, and a scoring system where points earned come back to you as extra lives and currency for the game's shop. The game offers multiple modes, including Arcade, Standard, and Roguelike Arrange, catering to different skill levels and playstyles.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

97%

Audience ScoreBased on 261 reviews

gameplay52 positive mentions

stability2 negative mentions

The game features an excellent tutorial that effectively teaches the fundamentals of bullet hell shooters, making it accessible for newcomers.
Gunvein boasts a fantastic soundtrack and visually appealing stages, with creative bullet patterns that enhance the gameplay experience.
The game encourages aggressive play with a unique scoring system that rewards players for using bombs strategically, providing a fun and engaging challenge.

The game lacks a coherent story or context, which can make the experience feel disjointed and confusing for players expecting narrative elements.
Some players have reported issues with the game's performance on PC, including long loading times and problems with the Steam Overlay.
The roguelike mode feels underwhelming and lacks meaningful progression tracking, which can lead to a sense of wasted time after failed attempts.

gameplay
100 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
52%
45%
3%
The gameplay of Gunvein is highly praised for its aggressive mechanics, tight controls, and rewarding systems that encourage players to engage closely with enemies. It features a variety of ships, unique bomb mechanics, and a well-designed tutorial that makes it accessible for newcomers while still offering depth for veterans. Despite some criticisms regarding life management and artistic choices, the overall experience is described as exhilarating, polished, and filled with engaging content.
- “Top tier shmup that gets everything right: super tight controls & mechanics, great presentation, excellent tutorials, difficulty selection, practice modes, good visual contrast on the bullet patterns and a variety of ships to choose from that actually change the way you have to play.”
- “Gunvein is packed front to back with high-octane, blood-pumping gameplay.”
- “An astounding shmup with superb gameplay, great graphics and sound, also featuring some interesting score mechanics based on aggressive play, fast kills, and planned bombing.”
- “If there's one thing I don't really like about the gameplay, it's how the game refuses to give you more opportunities to restock your bombs upon restarting from the pre-boss checkpoint.”
- “The maximum amount of lives you can get in this game is 3, and should you earn any more extra lives through your gameplay, the game simply discards them instead of adding them to the lives count.”
- “But whilst the gameplay is about there, there's just so little else.”
music
98 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
54%
43%
3%
The music in the game has received widespread acclaim, with many reviewers praising its energetic and engaging soundtrack that enhances the gameplay experience. Tracks like "Aim for the Weakspot" have been highlighted as standout pieces, contributing to the game's intense atmosphere and replayability. Overall, the soundtrack is described as a significant strength, elevating the game's appeal and making it a memorable part of the experience.
- “The soundtrack along with the gameplay should win awards.”
- “The OST is incredible.”
- “The aggressive gameplay is incredibly fun, the music goes hard, and the amount of content and ways to play the game are incredibly varied.”
- “I'm personally not a fan of the art or music, and I don't think the game had many memorable set pieces or bosses, but the core gameplay system is such a blast that it makes up for it.”
- “The soundtrack is also worthy of kudos and for me was standout enough to purchase (though weirdly it is not available for purchase on Steam, which I always feel is a miss).”
- “Music: adds action to the game (although I would love to have more memorable tunes in them).”
graphics
54 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
70%
24%
6%
The graphics of Gunvein receive mixed feedback, with some praising the high-resolution 2D visuals and vibrant colors, while others find them generic and lacking depth compared to expectations set by trailers. Overall, the visuals are described as engaging and well-executed, complementing the game's tight controls and energetic soundtrack, though some players note a desire for more originality in the design.
- “The prerendered graphics and great shader use makes this game visually stunning.”
- “Graphics are bright and colorful, music is energetic and well found, and the controls are simple and well responsive just as they should be.”
- “An astounding shmup with superb gameplay, great on the graphics and sound department, also featuring some interesting score mechanics based on aggressive play, fast kills and planned bombing.”
- “The visuals have the bog standard, sci-fi military look that shmups rarely stray from, plus the usual tacked-on anime characters.”
- “There are some things about Gunvein that are just passable (mainly graphical presentation and it's missing some quality of life features like proper Steam cloud/controller API integration) but it crushes it on the level and bullet pattern design.”
- “These graphics are just high-res 2D graphics, and it looks great.”
story
32 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
66%
9%
The game lacks a coherent story, despite featuring well-designed characters that suggest a narrative context. Players note that while the game includes various modes and challenges, it does not provide any story elements or endings, leaving the experience focused primarily on gameplay rather than narrative. Overall, the absence of a story is acknowledged but deemed acceptable within the context of the genre.
- “Usually, shmup/bullet hell games offer you a story to put the events into context.”
- “It presents brilliantly drawn characters as playable pilots and even features them on the store page, on the soundtrack's album art, and in the tutorials, giving you the impression of a story-based game.”
- “Arguably not only the best shooter since Crimzon Clover but also a fantastic platform for anyone to get to grips with the genre in general, thanks to an extensive tutorial that also teaches broader mechanics, a very achievable 1cc on the lowest difficulty, a highly customizable roguelike mode, a mission mode that the developer keeps adding to, and last but not least a nearly flawless, extremely polished presentation with fantastic music.”
- “However, it doesn't offer you any story context in the game and doesn't even give you an ending either.”
- “There are numerous games like this out there (Raiden IV, Crimzon Clover) but the thing is, they never do something that gives you the impression of a story being present.”
- “I will say the visuals are kinda generic, the music is good but not amazing and there's no story whatsoever.”
replayability
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
75%
13%
13%
The game offers high replayability through its diverse modes, including a well-structured arcade mode, multiple difficulty levels, and a roguelike arrange mode that keeps gameplay fresh. Additional features like a training mode, missions, and an engaging soundtrack further enhance the experience, making it accessible for newcomers while providing depth for seasoned players. Overall, players appreciate the variety and depth that encourage repeated playthroughs.
- “On top of a glorious arcade mode, with difficulty levels designed in a sensible way to let people ease into the genre but still work towards a victory, it has more modern modes both adding replayability and further easing people in.”
- “Lots of great features add to the replayability--multiple difficulties, training mode, roguelike arrange, missions, incredible soundtrack, and a simple, straightforward scoring system that's easy to get into.”
- “Snappy controls, tons of replayability via the roguelike arrange mode and a killer soundtrack.”
- “On top of a glorious arcade mode, with difficulty levels designed in a sensible way to let people ease into the genre but still work towards a victory, it has more modern modes both adding replayability and further easing people in (I had yet to see a bullet hell tutorial explaining danmaku concepts like aimed and static patterns).”
character development
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Reviewers appreciate the character designs but express disappointment in the lack of dialogue and depth in character development, suggesting that more interaction could enhance the overall experience.
humor
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is derived from a playful critique of the graphics, particularly the use of pixelation that some players find reminiscent of older games, despite the fact that many classic titles had higher resolutions than current 2D shooters. This commentary reflects a lighthearted frustration with design choices in modern gaming.
stability
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game has been reported to have significant stability issues, particularly with bugs affecting the completion of challenges and checklists.
- “It has to be noted that the challenges are rather buggy, particularly with clearing the checklist.”