The Weaponographist

Developer: Puuba
Steam Release: Apr 2015
Hours Played: 5
Similar To: Binding of Isaac / Larva Mortus / Our Darker Purpose / Wizard's Lizard
Rating: 2/5 Parsnips

GAMEPLAY

With plenty of inspiration drawn from The Binding of Isaac but an abundant of features that put it in a world of its own, The Weaponographist holds up as a worthy addition to the top-down RPG genre. You control an heroic knight who enters a series of enemy-riddled rooms in true Binding of Isaac fashion. Battles are rendered in the arena-style with one screen covering all the action. A variety of enemies appear and new ones spawn until you clear the room whereupon a door will open leading to the next. The first major departure from TBOI is that you need to pick up and use weapons dropped by enemies. Theses weapons vary according to which enemy wielded it so headless knights drop swords, goblins drop spears, gangsters drop machine guns, archers drop bows and so on.   
 
 

BALANCE & PACE

These only last a short time so you'll need to be continually on the lookout to pick up weapons. Another difference is that you have a combo-meter along the bottom-right which you charge and level-up through each kill. You need to keep this charged up to make that killing spree easier because if you let it drain you'll not level-up with enemies. Defeating lots of enemies and often therefore is the name of the game. The third major difference is that you collect goop as you go which you then use between each run to buy upgrades from four NPCs at your town. This, in turn, will help you get stronger and stronger allowing your journey to be slightly longer each run and tipping the battle with the final boss more in your favour. It is a system implemented really well bringing an intriguing Metroidvania-esque slant to the proceedings.    

PRESENTATION & DESIGN
The Weaponographist has an appealing and colourful cartoon art-style that gives the game its fairy-tale rich character. However, developers are not afraid to mix in the bizarre. As well as the usual fair of knights, goblins and archers you'll get the surreal inclusion of machine-gun totting 1930s-style mobsters, fluffy pink creatures carrying chainsaws and lions donning a ringmaster costume while lashing whips at you! The overall presentation is definitely a great strength here with well-designed menus (via NPCs at the town) displaying information in the right font and hitting just the right tone. The music, while limited and unvaried, is subtle enough to be pleasant but unobtrusive. 
  

PROGRESS SYSTEM

The progress system, which unravels itself to you slowly, is excellent. Divided up into four "depths", you'll start each run at the town. Four NPCs stand around selling their wares which include upgrades to make that run a little easier each time. At the top-right of the town is a kind of purple vending machine which sells checkpoints to you which you've saved on previous runs. Therefore, if you seek just to topple the boss of a particular depth, you can teleport to a room without going through the hassle of clearing earlier rooms. However, this comes at the cost of a rather large percentage of your goop. Finally, each depth completion is measured in time and your best-time is displayed through talking with another NPC in town who will show you this info via the leaderboard. It's all very cleverly done. 

CONCLUSION

There have been plenty of Binding of Isaac clones but The Weaponographist is a game brimming with character and one which supplies an excellent take on the formula. This is not least down to the many unique twists it brings to the table as well as the overriding principle that by upgrading and becoming stronger you have more of a chance to actually reach and even complete the final depth. Additionally, this mechanic brings with it the idea that by progressing through each depth and hence becoming stronger, you earn the right to complete earlier depths in progressively faster times and thus rising ever higher up through the ranks of the leaderboard chart.