Gunpoint is a prime example of a small, relatively simple game that that exudes sheer elegance. Every aspect of its clever design, laugh-out-loud noir story, tiny but expressive art, and moody music work harmoniously with one another towards creating a truly unique 2D puzzle platforming experience. Nothing feels out of place, there’s little fat needed to be trimmed. Both the act of movement and its inventive take on hacking work wonderfully throughout the entire three-hour campaign of comedic industrial espionage and murder mystery.After acquiring a pair of futuristic trousers, your private eye protagonist gains the ability to hop across the world as he sees fit.
Early on in the 11-mission campaign, you gain the ability to flip to a silhouetted view and reroute the circuits of any building, which allows you to create environmental “if-then” equations that help you navigate various security systems. For example, you can link a security camera to a light, then reroute a nearby light switch so that flicking it causes a nearby door to swing open. With this in place, you can step in front of the camera to activate it, which causes the light to go off, which causes a guard in that darkened room try to turn them back on by flicking the light switch, which instead knocks him unconscious as the door flies open. It's supremely satisfying to see the dominos fall exactly as planned.
