Shot through the heart!
Roguelikes, on paper, are a perfect match for the world of HP Lovecraft. The maddening cycle of failure can make you feel like one of his protagonists, doomed in a deranged cycle they cannot escape. While the tale of Orpheus and the Greek underworld served as a great backbone for Hades, Madshot instead pays homage to Lovecraft’s writing to provide a 2D shooter analogue to Zagreus’ brawl towards freedom. Does this side-on perspective shed any further light on the Eldritch mysteries within, or will you lose your mind from frustration rather than fear?
And you’re to blame?
After the first few stages of Madshot, it becomes clear that the side-scrolling perspective is going to be troublesome. As you’ll have to jump over and roll through enemies to avoid damage, it’s never fully apparent when you’ll be safe or take a critical hit. As every sliver of health is vital in this genre, that kind of imprecision leads to irritation very quickly. This is a real pity, as the art style is very well-defined, playing handheld on the Switch, and there’s no possibility of visual error! Blasting bats and ghouls with double shotguns is scientifically impossible to make totally unenjoyable, and gradually bolstering your arsenal with swords and other weapons does help to liven things up, but the core encounters are always bogged down by being fiddly and messy. Despite a varied range of moves, including wall jumps, quickly throwing physical objects and swinging from ropes, these arenas are so small that these encounters rarely feel like they provide space to fully explore this move-set.
Surprisingly, the in-between section may be the better hang! Going back to the protagonist’s spooky manor after a failed run gives you space to upgrade, shop and take on additional challenges to meet on your next run. Here you can customise your appearance too, so you can swap your Cthulhu-themed helm for a variety of pop-culture alternatives.
You Give Love(craft) a Bad Name
Madshot isn’t a game without merit. Its easy pick-up-and-play nature means you’ll be able to quickly crack out a few good runs. However, in a competitive genre market, there’s little originality aside from a literary aesthetic. Sadly, this attempt at 2D combat doesn’t quite hit the mark. To paraphrase the mad poet Abdul Alhazred: “That is not dead which can eternal lie, and with strange aeons there’ll be other games to buy”.
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