| A Fistful of Gun | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) | FarmerGnome |
| Publisher(s) | Devolver Digital |
| Designer(s) | Paul Hart |
| Artist(s) | Paul Hart |
| Writer(s) | Lee Williams |
| Composer(s) | Surasshu |
| Platform(s) | Windows |
| Release | 24 September 2015 |
| Genre(s) | Top-down shooter |
| Mode(s) | Single-player,multiplayer |
A Fistful of Gun: For a Few Gun More is a 2015top-down shooter game developed by FarmerGnome and published byDevolver Digital. The game features elevenplayable characters with differing weapons, attributes, and control schemes. Players engage inprocedurally generated fights, clearing a wave of enemies before progressing.Power-ups andhandicaps affect the player character's abilities, such as movement and shooting speed. Horses allow a character to move faster and endure one additional enemy shot. The game features asingle-player story mode andmultiplayer modes forcooperative andplayer-versus-player battles.
Designer Paul Hart released the first version ofA Fistful of Gun asfreeware in 2012. He later partnered with Devolver Digital for an expanded release after coming in contact throughTwitter. Their collaboration was announced in August 2014 and the game was released in September 2015 via digital storefronts.A Fistful of Gun was met with mixed reviews from critics, who faulted its repetitiveness and sparse online lobby population. The difficulty, art style, and sound were well received.
A Fistful of Gun is atop-down shooter game with aWestern setting.[1] It features eleven unlockableplayer characters, each with a unique weapon and custom control scheme for up to two of threeinput devices:mouse,keyboard, andgamepad.[2][3] The type of weapon affects each character's attributes, such as their shooting and movement speeds.[4]
The single-player story mode follows a plot in which Clayton Boon, an evil railroad tycoon, has made adeal with the Devil and must be eliminated within twelve days.[5] The mode consists of a randomised sequence of arena battles, where the player character fights waves of enemies in adestructible environment. In addition to clearing each arena of enemies, the player can sometimes select a level objective, such as pushing a cart to its destination, engaging in a duel, assassinating a particular foe, or rescuing people from astampede.[4] The player can increase theirscore by collecting gold dropped by enemies when defeated.[3][5]
When in a neutral zone, such as around banks, the player is not attacked. If they still start a fight, they obtain a wanted level and must defeat the sheriff or receive ahandicap for the next fight. Collectablepower-ups have positive effects, such aswhisky slowing down the game and increasing the damage the player inflicts on enemies. Mountable horses increase the player's movement speed and shield them from one hit by an enemy.[4][5]
In the arcade mode, up to nine players (locally or viaonline multiplayer) engagecooperatively in fights with all player characters available.[4][5] Following each fight, the players are rewarded with ability bonuses (such as explosive bullets, increased movement speed, and more accurate shots) for the next battle. In the online versus mode, players fight against each other.[4]
A Fistful of Gun was developed by Australian developer Paul Hart (formerly Greasley) under the moniker FarmerGnome.[6][7] After the closure of many prominent game studios in his nativeBrisbane, he had moved toWellington, New Zealand, in 2009. Hart chose "that cheesyClint Eastwood gunslingerSpaghetti Western vibe where everybody has a moustache, everybody is grizzled" as the game's theme.[6] Hart announced the game asAlready Dead in September 2012 viaTIGSource's forums, later changing it toA Fistful of Gun while looking for name suggestions.[8] He released the game's first version asfreeware in December 2012,[8][9] distributing it via his website and later throughGame Jolt.[10][11] This version featured gameplay for up to three players on the samepersonal computer, each using a different input device.[12][13][14] Alongside the initial release, Hart had posted a request for a composer andsound effects designer, leadingSurasshu to join the project later in December 2012.[15][16] Hart continued developing the game and intended to release future versions through his site'smailing list.[12]
When aTwitter user pointed publisherDevolver Digital to a video about the game, Hart jokingly suggested that they collaborate on releasing the game despite intending to complete it by himself. However, he and the company began discussing the idea and eventually agreed to a publishing deal.[6] Devolver Digital announced its involvement in August 2014, scheduling the game's release for early 2015.[7][17] The new version, subtitled "For a Few Gun More", was expanded to feature eleven playable characters and up to nine players in offline or online multiplayer.[9][17] The 2012alpha version remained available for free.[7][9]A Fistful of Gun was exhibited at theIndie Megabooth of the 2014PAX Prime event and at 2015'sPAX East.[18][19]
In August 2015, Devolver Digital announced the release date forA Fistful of Gun as 24 September 2015.[10] Later that month, the company released a trailer introducing the player characters, followed by a launch trailer in September.[19][20]A Fistful of Gun was released viaSteam,GOG.com, and theHumble Store.[21] The game's servers suffered from outages during the weekend after the launch.[2][4] AHalloween update,Undeadorado, was released on 29 October 2015.[22] Surasshu releasedA Fistful of Gun's soundtrack, featuring one track with vocals by Eldad and lyrics by Eldad and Lee Williams, viaBandcamp on 29 April 2016.[23]
| Aggregator | Score |
|---|---|
| Metacritic | 60/100[24] |
| Publication | Score |
|---|---|
| Destructoid | 6/10[4] |
| Vandal | 7/10[5] |
A Fistful of Gun received "mixed or average reviews", according to thereview aggregator websiteMetacritic, which calculated aweighted average rating of 60/100 based on ten critic reviews.[24] Stephen Turner ofDestructoid found that the game's "only major errors lie in its repetitive and muddied action, all blasted through anADD pacing", leading to a lack ofreplay value.[4]Vandal's Ramón Nafria praised the game for challenging the player without resorting tobullet hell gameplay.[5] Both were fond of the art style, calling it "charming" and "very pleasant", respectively, but criticised the obscurity of important elements like characters andreticles during busy combat scenes.[4][5] Nafria further described the game's sound as apt for the Western theme.[5]Kotaku Australia's Mike Fahey believed the multiplayer modes to be the game's highlight, but noted that he was unable to play them because of sparsely populated lobbies.[2] Nafria and Turner similarly cited poor online play caused by too few players.[4][5]