← All storiesGamingDeveloping story

10 years later, Enter the Gungeon's creators reflect on a genre in existential crisis

Enter the Gungeon was a revelatory roguelike in 2016, but the genre has changed since then Ten years doesn’t sound like a long time. “Decade” certainly sounds more daunting, but as far as media anniversaries go, 10 years is hardly a good reason for a band to trot out a nostalgic tour for their most influential record. Hell, it’s barely enough time for a piece of art’s long-term influence to become recognizable. But in the fast-moving world of video games, where entire genres are suddenly revolutionized and deconstructed in a flash, 10 years may as well be 50. Look to a recent anniversary to see that dynamic in action: Enter the Gungeon turned 10 years old earlier this month. That doesn’t sound all too shocking on paper; I clearly recall playing developer Dodge Roll’s bullet hell roguelike on my PlayStation 4 in an apartment I can still draw from memory. But as some of the minds behind the game expressed when we met over a video interview to reflect on one decade of sentient bullets, it was practically a lifetime ago. “If you think of it as a child, it almost doesn't need you anymore,” composer Adam Kidd Drucker, who creates music under the name Doseone, told Polygon. Call him cheek