Gunbrella review: a stylish 2D platformer with bullets in its brolly

You can’t fault the pitch. In Gunbrella you’re a sort of cowboy dude with a shotgun that’s also an umbrella. You use the umbrella to deflect enemy projectiles, block attacks, fly up into the air like a furious Mary Poppins and zoom along ziplines. You use the shotgun, as you might reasonably expect, to do the majority of your big murdering.

Gunbrella is a classic 2D platform shooter in the style of a steampunk western. It’s like Deadwood crossed with Singin’ In The Rain, if Gene Kelly ever used his umbrella to blow holes through anyone who didn’t sufficiently praise his tap dancing. Some light exploration bits have you travelling by train from frontier towns to mining villages, much of them decorated with giant spinning cogs – so you know it’s steampunk – and populated by a small cast of quest-giving locals, pill-dispensing shopkeepers and monologuing villains.

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