Showgunners from Klabater, Good Shepherd Entertainment, and Artificer is a Rated M for Mature tactical turn-based experience in which you’ll be part of a brutal intergalactic reality show in a dystopian world. Learn more in our Showgunners review!
Please enter your date of birth to access this video:
Showgunners from Klabater, Good Shepherd Entertainment, and Artificer is a Rated M for Mature experience in which you’ll be part of a brutal intergalactic reality show in a dystopian world. You’ll be placed in the role of Scarlett Martillo, a former police officer who has joined the show seeking revenge. You’ve joined Homicidal All-Stars to find said revenge after a deranged serial killer murdered your family. His name is Ulysses Derek, and he happens to be the current reigning champion of Homicidal All-Stars. It’s only by joining the show that you’ll get a shot at fighting against Ulysses Derek.
You’ll not only need to work on staying alive, you’ll also have to worry about destroying your opponents in the most spectacular ways possible so that you can boost your fame and that of your group. Gain more fans, and you’ll have a better shot at gaining new sponsor deals – more on these in a bit. If you want to roll credits on this one, then you’re going to have to make sure that every action counts! Each episode that you take on during your time with Showgunners will challenge you every step of the way, testing your skills and what you’ve learned, with more brutal enemies, traps, and hazards that can tear you into pieces if you’re not careful. Along the way, you’ll also be able to greet some of your adoring fans, and signing an autograph for them can go a long way in helping you become the star that you deserve to be.
You can play through Showgunners by picking from one of four difficulty settings: Easiest, Easy, Normal, and Hard. The Easiest difficulty setting is a good option for those of you who might be unfamiliar with turn-based tactical experiences. The Easy difficulty setting dials up the challenge a little bit, but you won’t end up feeling overwhelmed. The Normal difficulty setting offers the standard experience, balanced to test your skills and your knowledge of the turn-based tactical genre. As for the Hard difficulty setting, it’s one best reserved for experts in the genre, since any mistake you make will cost you dearly! You can also choose to activate Ironman Mode. If you do this, then it will disable manual saving, and if you get a game over, that means permadeath!
During the exploration segments, you’ll be taking control of Scarlett by using the left analog stick, as you interact with objects by pressing the X button. Just pay attention to which item is currently highlighted, so that you can, for example, interact with a terminal to open a door. Sprint by pressing and holding down the R2 button. Once you run into some enemies, things will change and turn into the aforementioned tactical RPG experience.
When in combat, movement and actions will require that you spend Action Points (AP). Once all of a character’s AP has been spent, their turn will be over. You can move one of your characters within its regular movement range with greater ease – which is displayed in blue – or you can decide to spend all of your AP to move outside of the main movement range to hopefully get to a safe spot from where you can prepare and change up your overall strategy – that would be the range shown in yellow.
Something you should always keep in mind is that the only way to survive is if you make the most of any cover you can find. If one of your characters is in cover, it will lower the chances of an enemy managing to hit it. This also works for opponents, so be sure to hover over them so that you know what your odds are. You should make good use of your Overwatch ability. This one will allow you to fire at any moving enemies within range during their turn.
Along with regular attacks, each member in your group will also have access to special abilities that can turn the tide of battle. These will have a cooldown period after you use them, to balance things out so that you don’t try to exploit them. Oh, and be sure to check your ammo so that you can reload your weapons before you find yourself without any bullets at the worst of times! But even if you do run out of bullets, you’ll at least still be able to use your melee attack to deal some extra damage here and there.
As you can tell from the trailer and screens in this Showgunners review, while you’ll start by playing only as Scarlett Martillo, you’ll eventually add new companions to your group. It’s by exploiting their collectible strengths and abilities that you’ll be able to compensate for their weaknesses. There’s a handful of extra characters that will join your group at a steady pace, helping to expand the options you’ll have while in combat. First up will be Marty, a Homicidal All-Stars veteran who will always be ready to have your back.
Each of these characters will gain Talent Points as they level up. You’ll be able to spend Talent Points in each of their separate skill trees to improve and upgrade their skills, abilities, and stats. You can, for example, unlock Extra Melee Damage, which, as its name suggests, boosts the damage dealt by melee attacks by 4 points. You could also get Tackle, an active ability that can stun an enemy without spending any AP, making it a great option for dealing a bit of damage and also getting closer to an enemy as you plan to finish him off. A great option is Extra Speed, which will increase movement range by one extra spot.
And now, let’s talk about sponsor deals! As you progress further in the Homicidal All-Stars show, you’ll draw the attention of different sponsors at a variety of tiers. You’ll get to choose from three different ones per tier, and your choices will have an effect on how you approach subsequent combat segments, thanks to the extra stuff and help you’re going to get from said deals. You’ll be able to choose between them on each tier depending on which type of interactions you’ve had with fans.
Say you go with MegaPharma as your sponsor for Tier 1 – a.k.a., the Underdog Tier. MegaPharma is a global pharmaceutical conglomerate working ot transform patients’ lives, which is why they will grant you a trio of Medkits for you and your team to use. If you go with Lucky Punk – who happens to be the sickest weapon brand on the market – you’ll instantly receive 1,000 XP, which can go toward the aforementioned leveling up and the Talent Points you obtain. Or maybe you want to go with Warmart, offering affordable weapons, just around the corner. Thanks to their huge stock, Warmart will give you a trio of frag grenades!
Trophy-wise, this one features a full trophy list with a Platinum trophy for you to add to your collection. The list is split into 46 Bronze trophies, 6 Silver trophies, and 2 Gold trophies for you to work on. What will you need to do for that shiny Platinum trophy? Some of the objectives to complete include finishing each of the episodes in the game, boosting your experience up to levels 10 and 20, defeating 50 enemies in a single playthrough, collecting 100,000 dollars, collecting 50% of all lootcrates, signing 50% of all autographs, finding 50% of all audiologs, defeating an enemy by having an active sticky bomb on you that goes boom, defating two or more enemies with an area of effect attack, beating the game on any difficulty setting, and doing so while playing in the medium and hard difficulty settings, to name some examples.
Showgunners is a Rated M for Mature experience in which you’ll be part of a brutal intergalactic reality show in a dystopian world. You’ll be placed in the role of Scarlett Martillo, a former police officer who has joined the show seeking revenge. You’ve joined Homicidal All-Stars to find said revenge after a deranged serial killer murdered your family. His name is Ulysses Derek, and he happens to be the current reigning champion of Homicidal All-Stars. It’s only by joining the show that you’ll get a shot at fighting against Ulysses Derek.
Showgunners is out on PlayStation 5 with a $34.99 price tag. You can also get the Showgunners Platinum Edition for $37.99, which, along with the base game, also includes the Security Breach DLC, Costumes and Weapons Pack DLC, and Neon Justice DLC. These will add 3 unique costumes and 2 weapon reskins for Scarlett, as well as an extra costume thanks to the Neon Justice DLC. The Security Breach DLC adds an extra chapter with five new tactical combat arenas, a new map, a new elite enemy, and new unique weapons and abilities. You will also be able to check out the original Showgunners Soundtrack and the digital artbook.
Disclaimer
This Showgunners review is based on a PlayStation 5 copy provided by Klabater.
