"I just bought a game called, Gurgamoth"
"Gargamel?"
"No, Gurgamoth"
"Garglemeth?"
"Gurgamoth."
"Why?"
I bought it because it looks gurga-gorgeous, dammit. Actually, I bought it because it had been a bit since we last tried out a competitive local multiplayer game. Gurgamoth stood out for its vector art style amongst a sea of pixel games, its bizarre name, and the fact that player deaths serve as sacrifices to an elder god.
Gurgamoth is a 2D arena combat game for up to 4 players. Players don't so much kill each other to win as they do knock other players into dangerous objects to kill each other to win. There's a basic dash attack, a dodge, and a stun move at your disposal. Each of your moves requires energy in order to use, and each block of energy replenishes on its own over a small amount of time. Characters float/fly around the arena without any need for gravity, but momentum is your biggest friend/foe. The rounds are quick and you’re as much of a danger to yourself as you are to others.
The characters have no real differences other than their aesthetics, so the gameplay variety comes from the level designs themselves. Each level features some sort of death trap from dangerous spikes to shrinking walls to housing a ball of lasers. Over time, power-ups and other dangerous objects will spawn in the arena which add more chaos to the frenetic fights.
Unlike it's name and setting, Gurgamoth's gameplay is pretty straightforward. There's just the one gameplay mode, but you can vary a few options to balance the game or add bots to the arena. Playing against three other friends is the way to go and Gurgamoth is meant to be a party game as there is no online support.
There have been a lot of local multiplayer games in the last couple of years, but few are as polished and singularly focused as Gurgamoth. It's pretty easy to tell if you and your friends will enjoy its particular brand of action, but if you do, you're going to have a lot of fun smashing into each other. Awaken Gurgamoth!
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