Exit the Gungeon is a ‘dungeon climber’ spin-off game

‘Coming soon’ to Apple Arcade

Enter the Gungeon didn’t inflict enough pain on this world, apparently. Game developer Dodge Roll wants us to survive another bullet-hell gauntlet. Its next venture, Exit the Gungeon, is a spin-off with the same manic vibe but a slightly different format: rather than a dungeon crawler, it’s a “dungeon climber.”

“Armed with an ever-changing weapon, an insatiable need to loot, and the trusty dodge roll, each of our heroes must ascend and escape via their own unique route of increasingly perilous elevators,” noted publisher Devolver Digital. “Battle against the last and most bitter of the Gundead at a frantic pace, slowing down just long enough to chat with some familiar faces… and a few new ones.”

Randomization plays a vital role, as expected. Room layouts, items, and foes are all in a state of flux in an effort to keep repeated Exit the Gungeon runs feeling fresh. I love these enemy designs.

Is the game Apple Arcade-only? Yeah – at least to start. “Exit the Gungeon is developed by Dodge Roll and Singlecore Games and will debut [emphasis mine] on Apple Arcade soon,” according to the trailer’s summary. If you’re thinking this looks hard with touch controls, note that Apple Arcade will have gamepad support (assuming you have an Xbox One or PlayStation 4 controller handy).

If you’re into mobile gaming and don’t mind having another subscription, the service will launch first for iOS on September 19, followed by iPad and Apple TV on September 30 and Mac in October.

Plenty of you have voiced that you plan to sit out Apple Arcade, so this is definitely going to be one of those wait-and-see situations. It’s a neat idea for a spin-off, and if ports are announced, we’ll loop back to give you that heads up. As it stands, I could see this sitting nicely alongside Downwell.