Showgunners throws players into a grimly gleeful future where televised bloodsport isn’t just entertainment but a path to personal vindication. You step into the boots of Scarlett Martillo, a contestant driven by revenge, and the game’s campaign unfolds like a grim B-movie season of ever-escalating episodes where contestants fight for survival in hand-designed arenas. The narrative never pretends to be high art – characters are introduced in familiar archetypes and many motivations are delivered through quick bursts of dialogue or audio logs – but the setting’s tone of dystopian spectacle consistently underscores the game’s satirical thrust and keeps the story moving with pace rather than pretension. The reality TV conceit is strong and frequently entertaining, even if the central revenge arc is straightforward and occasionally predictable. Some of the supporting cast get limited gripping development, leaving larger emotional beats feeling functional rather than resonant.
At the heart of Showgunners is its turn-based tactical combat, and here it succeeds most loudly. The combat systems feel tight and responsive, familiar to anyone versed in genre staples yet tailored to the game’s own rhythm; there’s no deep strategic meta beyond mastering movement, cover, and well-timed abilities, but each encounter remains fun thanks to thoughtful enemy placement and varied mission objectives. The “director” of the show, a narrative device that can pivot engagements by triggering environmental hazards or ambushes, injects tactical diversity even into later scenarios, gently nudging you to adapt rather than simply repeat winning formulas. Most encounters have satisfying payoffs – explosive finishes, clever positioning, and skill synergies – and the combat rarely feels mechanically compromised. That said, some players may find that Showgunners trades strategic depth for immediacy; character builds and skill trees are serviceable but relatively shallow compared to deeper genre peers, and the absence of a broader strategic layer beyond tactical skirmishes and equipment upgrades keeps the focus tight and occasionally a bit light for veterans looking for a heavier systems game.
Showgunners’ pacing is a double-edged sword. The campaign, averaging around 15-20 hours for most players, funnels you through a sequence of handcrafted levels that rarely feel repetitive, yet there’s a sense early on that much of the journey follows a familiar loop of combat, exploration, then upgrade. Environmental puzzles and hazards between fights lend variety, but they’re often simple and predictable rather than deeply challenging. Some objectives – particularly timed ones – can feel like padding rather than purposeful design, diluting the urgency the reality show premise aims to cultivate. That grounding in scripted progression means replay value isn’t high; once you’ve seen the twists and turns of the season, there’s little procedural variation to pull you back into another run.
On the presentation front, Showgunners makes admirable use of its cyberpunk reality show setting. Arenas are richly realized with neon highlights and grimy dystopian backdrops, and the audio design – including an announcer that hypes your actions like an over-the-top broadcast – adds a visceral thrill to every encounter. Gunfire, explosions, and ambient soundscapes come together to make combat feel punchy and expressive. There are occasional visual rough patches and minor technical oddities, but performance is generally stable and the game doesn’t demand high frame rates to remain responsive in its turn-based context. The blend of style and substance here rarely feels superficial; it’s clear the developers crafted the aesthetic with intention, even if it isn’t always revolutionary.
Control schemes on PlayStation 5 translate the tactical interface fairly well, with menus, targeting, and ability selection feeling as intuitive on console as they do on PC. There are occasional camera quirks – limitations in adjusting angles can make sightlines and unit positioning less clear at times – but these are more mild frustrations than deal-breakers. The combination of real-time exploration and turn-based engagements sits well with the DualSense, though players who come from purely tactical comfort zones may find the transitions between play modes slightly jarring.
Ultimately, Showgunners is a uniquely flavored addition to the turn-based landscape. It doesn’t attempt to remake the wheel of tactical design, happily borrowing from familiar templates and focusing instead on delivering a distilled, entertaining tactical romp wrapped in dystopian spectacle. Fans of streamlined combat and atmospheric worldbuilding will find a lot to enjoy here, while those looking for deep customization, branching narratives, or sprawling meta-systems may feel it plays a bit on the lighter side. Its blend of grit, gore, and strategy makes it a worthwhile play for genre fans seeking a season’s worth of brisk, engaging tactical action.
Score: 7.7/10
Press Play Media 