Vlambeer is one of my favorite indie developers for several reasons. I've seen the devs quite a bit in various videogame documentaries and so to some small extent I feel like I know them. A consist level of quality, along with their unique retro-style, can be found across their various titles. Its in the aesthetics that there games really shine, from the beautiful art to the superb sound design. Yet, as much as I like the studio for some reason I have yet to really fall in love with any of their games. This is not to say Nuclear Throne is bad by any means but there just isn't quite enough there to keep me coming back.
So from what I understand this game takes place after a nuclear fallout and the mutated creatures that spawned from the event are competing with each other to be the best in order to eventually reach the illustrious heights of the Nuclear Throne. That is all the story you're getting because this game is clearly focused on gameplay. In Nuclear Throne you're simply dropped into a room where you have to kill all the enemies. Once thats done you're sucked into a warp hole where you'll teleport to the next level where you'll do the exact same thing. As you progress you'll be rewarded experience and every time you level up you'll get to choose between four random upgrades to aid you in the increasing challenging battles.
As you can imagine, with such a simple concept there must be a variety in the means of which you clear these rooms. There is a handful playable characters each with a unique special power and passive trait. Thankfully, you'll find a good selection of weapons as you fighting for your life. There are five different ammo types including bullets, shells, bolts, etc which leads you find different kinds of machine guns, crossbows, shotguns, and so on. For the most part they all feel quite good and its easy to quickly find your preferences. This is an intense, fast-paced game, and you'll need to be able to adapt quickly as the enemies will be shooting right back at you. With the cross-hairs a fair distance from your character aiming can be quite a challenge in itself.
Its the visuals and sound effects that really make this game worthwhile. The guns in this game sound like they really got some nice kick to them. All the playable characters and enemies look great. There is a lot of charm in the theme of this game. This is really important because the gameplay can get quite repetitive. Even though the maps are procedurally generated you're basically always stuck fighting in fairly cramped arenas. Every two or three levels you will face a different group of enemies but after you've played several times the battles tend to all feel pretty similar. That being said you'll always being on the edge of your seat trying to make every shot count while at the same time trying to avoid the onslaught of enemy fire.
The fact is this is a simple shoot-em up. There is nothing wrong with that if thats what you're in to just don't expect much more. Since this is such a though game the hope is that you'll keep learning as play and just get a little bit farther after each attempt. Since this is a rogue-like once you die thats it, you have to start right at the beginning and there is nothing to carry over from one run to the next. This is a game the requires a lot of dedication for mastery. Although I personally don't have the patience to get really good I did have fun while playing this game. I would only recommend it to those who really think they're up for a challenge.