Rum & Gun

Rum & Gun is an indie pirate-themed shooting ARPG made by a single person that is incredibly fun for its size and cost. The standout aspect is the fantastic set pieces, of which there are more as the game goes on: there’s a riot, a prison break, ship-to-ship combat, a ship chase sequence, coastal bombardment, and even tower defense. Like other games in this subgenre, the player power doesn’t come from attributes, it primarily comes from gear, so you can’t exactly grind to overlevel if you’re up against a tough challenge (are there are a few). When you level up you get to pick a “perk” (out of 4 random options, out of a huge pool), which provides a small bonus. There is a modicum of mechanical player skill required as well, in aiming (and leading) your shots, and I did a huge amount of mob kiting during the game. Gear can have up to two different types of sockets, which take runes that provide a stats bonus and potentially an active ability. You equip an arsenal of about 7 weapons that you can switch between instantly: your sword, your pistol, thrown explosives, a rifle, shotgun, and machine gun, plus eggs that spawn minions. There are a couple of other weapons like javelins and anchors that you can swap in too, and there is a beehive that you can use as a machine gun with homing bullets. Each weapon needs to be reloaded when it runs out of ammo, and in addition the gun weapons use up your supply of gunpower, which you need to replenish from drops (or generate through passives). Active rune abilities also use ammo. You can sell (and buyback) from your inventory, which makes logistics so much easier. You’ll regularly get minion pirates but sadly they die extremely quickly (one never got to meet his Uncle Roland), even when you are trying to keep them alive. Their survivability should be buffed, just so you don’t look like such a bad pirate captain, with people joining your side and immediately dying. Appropriate to the pirate theme, you have a supply of rum, which you can drink to heal, or with the right gear affixes, use to take damage. You can also play an instrument (“What shall we do with the drunken sailor”), which heals allies and sucks drops towards you, which seems like a bizarre game element but is surprisingly handy - and some powerful active abilities can only be used when you are playing. The game has 4 Acts (with a bit of a cliffhanger ending) across locations that were part of the Golden Age of Piracy but are perhaps lesser known: India, Indonesia (known as Java), and Madagascar. Like most ARPGs, the story isn’t to be taken too seriously: there’s an eldritch entity known as the Drunken God that has pirates and cultists trying to summon it to cause 7 years of drunkenness; the player made a pact with it but wants to renege and stop it. I found a couple of the levels pretty difficult: escaping the volcano (and swarms of monsters), and traversing a jungle with a French ship bombarding you and a billion French soldiers hunting you down - I had to redo these sections at least half a dozen times. Final Act battles tend to be pretty tough as well, especially the last one, with hordes of minions spawning eternally - they provide you with rum and ammo drops but can easily overwhelm you. However as always, there are some builds that easily handle these, and I successfully tried one out. Enemy variety is actually pretty good; different enemies behave differently, and it matters. Some don’t even aggro unless you attack them or get too close (and that can be important). Enemies tend to spawn behind you in cleared locations, which took some getting used to. Because you have to reload and maintain ammo, you can’t always mow down infinite swarms. Graphics are on the simple side but they effectively evoke the locations and factions: pirates, wildlife, various countries’ soldiers, and abominable monsters. Some of the game mechanics (like rune levels) aren’t explained well or at all (like saturation). The world map (which is a chapter select, given the amount of scripted sequences) is hidden in the escape menu, and I would have liked a way to expand the minimap. There are a couple of minor bugs here and there (I got a buyback item in my backpack, and I messed up a cutscene involving jumping onto a boat). I remapped all the keys and put reload on my mouse so I could move and reload. Occasionally I’d dash in a weird direction (towards the mouse) instead of where I intended, but this is a common issue in WASD ARPGs. There’s also something weird about how getting hit resets your sprint status, which I also didn’t quite figure out. There is a Liar’s Dice (popularized by Pirates of the Caribbean) minigame, and some endgame activities, but I didn’t try them.

Better than most in the genre, including ones coming out today.

Fun little arpg. Could it use some more features and a tweaked different approach to skill tree/sockets---yes. But as a lover of games like TQ1, i can say im having more fun on this then i am on the EA TQ2. So honestly at the price, if you like ARPGs, just get it.

Blizzard should take notes from Borington.

it's cool but I don't like the combat but it's still charming

it's like diablo and POE but with a lot of guns and pirates. My favorite is this 8 barrel repeater machine gun thing u can get. Azure Atoll is beautiful. Tip: Loaded die let you choose any perk instead of only having 4 to choose from. For how cheap this game is, it's a must buy. 4 act campaign and many build possibilities. fun combat once u get some of the different weapons. it's great.

Super fun