Quietly one of the best, if not the prettiest games of 2016, I was well excited to hear that Gonner was getting a sequel earlier this summer. Too many people slept on the first game, I reckon, and Gonner2 looks bigger, wilder and a hell of a lot weirder.
Like 2016’s Gonner, this month’s sequel is a delightfully trippy action-platformer painted in a splash of throbbing colours. Your wee man, Ikk, is bouncing off into the underworld to solve a problem for Death - and to do so, you’ll need to be on the hunt for new weapons, backpacks, and entirely new heads, popping on a new noggin to dramatically mix up your moveset. I often feel like the only person screaming the first game’s praises, but my gushing was validated by former RPS-er Adam Smith in his Gonner review. Granted, it’s not a roguelite you’ll stick hundreds of hours into, but its strangely cosy spelunking makes each trip down into the darkness memorably wonderful. “GoNNER is this year’s Downwell – a neat, short-form action game that has found the perfect visual style to communicate its near-misses and big hits. Whether you want to show off by pushing its systems to the limits or play at a more relaxed and careful pace, basking in the gorgeous music, it’s an absolute delight.” Next week’s sequel expands on that, branching into a sprawling non-linear world with more heads, baddies and bosses. It’s all looking slightly more “videogame” this time ‘round, with more stats and UI guff on the screen - but thankfully, each level still ends with a catworm gobbling your little boy up. Wouldn’t have it any other way. Gonner2 wobbles onto Steam on October 22nd. In the meantime, I wholly recommend heading on over to Ditto’s Itch page, which is full of wonderfully awful free games about eating your pal’s face.
