Gunplay, and why I love this game so much

[whythecynic]

Alright, I love the gunplay in this game, and it's so good that I just have to rave about it. Every aspect of firearm operation is taken into account.

1. Press checks / chamber checks. Holding down the weapon select button will make the Martyr check that the chamber is loaded for most weapons. Right now it's purely for artistic value, but in the future if there's going to be a no GUI challenge mode, it might actually be useful.

2. The Snub Revolver. I picked it as my starting pistol instead of the .44 Auto (a Marathon reference). It's a fully functional SA/DA revolver, and entirely capable of being used as such. For a start, you could just pull the trigger every time you want to shoot. This fires it in double action mode. There's a noticeable delay since the trigger pull needs to move the hammer and cylinder, and in DA mode you actually don't fire until you release the trigger. Instead you could pull the hammer before every time you shoot, in single action mode, and it's noticeably more responsive that way. Holding down "Fire" and tapping "Cycle" fans the revolver. What I eventually settled on doing was firing my first shot in single action mode, then holding down the trigger and fanning if I needed quick follow-up shots. It was far more effective than just double action-ing everything. The skill ceiling for that gun is ridiculously high.

3. The Arquebus. A proper over-under break-action. Even has a birdshot upgrade. It's actually my favourite shotgun, capable of insane amounts of burst damage while being effective out to mid-range. Pity that slugs cost grenades. Reloading only extracts the shell(s) you fired, and if I remember correctly, the Martyr remembers which was the last trigger she pulled, so you go back and forth between the barrels. I wouldn't be surprised if the barrels are regulated for a specific distance (i.e. they converge on a single point).

4. The Sawn-Off Repeater. Pullrack: it's one word! I absolutely adore that, if you reload with the action open, the Martyr tosses a shell into the chamber before topping up the tube.

5. The Cavalry Carbine. Easily my favourite gun in the game, and it's a lever gun. It's incredibly powerful out to mid-long range, very ammo-efficient, and insanely durable. After some time with it, I developed a particular rhythm of firing, cycling, and reloading with it that got me an insane rate of (accurate) fire. The scout scope is absolutely worth it on that thing.

6. The Whalegun. The reason I decided to make this post, actually. Under very specific circumstances, you can make the Martyr load a round directly into the open chamber without closing the action. If you then insert a loaded magazine and try to close the action, it will actually fail, since you'd be trying to load a second round into the chamber. You have to remove the magazine, close the action, then insert the magazine in order to be able to fire the rifle. It's such a small detail in the grand scheme of things but, holy cow, it's amazing the dev thought about it and made sure it was accounted for.

The gunplay is a completely different dimension of skill that you can get good at, and many of the weapons get insanely good as you improve with them. Once again, it's just plain amazing.

[Stan 909]

No mention of the Breechloader? That thing has good gunplay as well. you can repair that thing on the fly and make the shot stronger by stacking up to 4 bullets and if enemies get close you have a bayonet attached to skewer them. Sure you are pressing a lot of buttons repeatedly but its a weapon that gets stronger just by learning how to use it faster. Been clearing stages with that thing.

As for the other weapons I kind of hate the snub revolver cause if you make a mistake you dump out all of your rounds and possibly waste a speedloader or 2. I prefer the simpler system of the meta revolver.

In terms of shotguns I'm kind of stuck between the Arquebus or the Shockhammer. When I'm using the Arquebus, firing a double Slug deals with armored humanoid enemies relatively quickly but being limited to 2 shots makes it insufficient for dealing with heavier opponents. Shockhammer on the other hand has great capacity and reloading it can be really quick if you are fast with the reload button but I was hoping for it to be able to store 10 slug shots.

The Cavalry Carbine is my first love cause you can keep manipulating the gun while using the scope helping you fire those long range shots or if you need rapid fire while keeping target. I also agree with its durability as well.

The whale gun i feel like it could be better. I miss the feature it has of loading an HE round and putting HE rounds in its magazine from the previous game. It does look nice checking each of its features while you are using it.

[Young Erusean Officer]

The whalegun does have HE. Starts with it iirc.

[Urist McDood]

For the No GUI Challenge Mode, you can enable this yourself by pressing backspace, while not quite the same as a game mode it does do something. That pulls off your helmet which also removes all HUD indicators. In levels that features mirrors (only one so far), it does change the Martyr's reflection.

[K.I.L.E.R]

I liek the girls. I sometimes crouch with my main character and have her weapon holstered for minutes at a time!

[Byrdn]

The guns are so satisfying that I really feel the lack of similar mechanics in other games.
I can do nothing but wait for Beyond Beyond Citadel.