I enjoyed the gameplay of Gunvolt 1 but struggled to engage with the characters and story. That goes double for the sequel, which is a very direct continuation.

The basic set of bad guys gets swapped out, there’s small but welcome tweaks to the equipment and challenge systems (plus wall-dash-jumping feels better), and for some reason they didn’t translate the loading screen text, but otherwise it feels very similar to play. The big change is the addition of Copen as a new playable character. This not only adds a new play paradigm, it splinters the structure of the game: now each character only does half the available levels. I wasn’t a big fan of this.

Copen’s playstyle I was a fan of… eventually. He’s even more complex than Gunvolt, with changeable subweapons and an emphasis on aerial mobility. His fundamental loop is dash into an enemy to lock on to it -> shoot homing shots and subweapon -> repeat a couple times -> mandatory reload stance to recharge air boosts. He also has the dodge mechanic, which draws from the same discrete resource as his boosts. Once I got used to it and tried out the different weapons, I appreciated the difference, but it took a while to shake the “Am I doing this right?” feeling.

The other big change is an expansion of the cast, with extra support characters for Gunvolt and Copen’s own set of hangers-on. My ambivalence to the overly anime stylings of the original turned to irritation as the sequel doubled down on stock character tropes, shallow religious posturing, and regressive gender roles. The main antagonist this time was an especially creepy choice: an 11-year old cult leader with a pair of lascivious adult alter egos. Character chatter intrudes heavily on gameplay, as seen in the screenshot above (perhaps a visible indication of the project’s focus), but thankfully can be turned off. I played with it on to get a complete picture of the game, but I might have enjoyed it more without this.

I’m trying to decide if the Zero series actually was not as bad in this regard, or if I forgive it more easily for sentimental reasons. Either way, as a potential successor to those games that I adore, Gunvolt leaves me a bit dissatisfied. But that’s ok. It is what it is, and Inti seems proud of what it is, but maybe what it is isn’t 100% for me. I still had fun engaging with the mechanics, and I wish the series well for the future.