Necromunda: Hired Gun is a high octane, first-person, shooter set in the Warhammer 40k Universe. Unlike its more tactical sister game, Necromunda: Underhive Wars, which was recently released on Consoles, Hired Gun allows players to leap headfirst into the sprawling industrial hellscape of the titular hive world.
While some players have complained that the game is unbalanced, there is still a lot for both veteran 40k fans and newcomers alike to enjoy. Exploring the beautifully realized environments is made easy with a range of awesome movement abilities, and combat is viscerally satisfying with punchy weapons and enemies who explode into giblets when killed.
10 Don't Hang Back When Low On Health
Necromunda: Hired Gun adopts a style similar to Doom Eternal, with action that is hectic and extremely fast-paced. Just like in Doom, enemies drop ammo when they die, along with health and armor upgrades.
Players should be constantly moving around the arena to pick up necessary item drops. As well as keeping ammo and armor topped up, it is also useful to be familiar with the main character's autosanguine power. This ability activates upon taking damage and allows players to recover their lost health by killing enemies, encouraging them to stay aggressive if they want to stay alive.
9 Follow The Green Beacons
The hive city of Necromunda is a vast, dystopian, manufactory and some players may find Hired Gun reminiscent of Cyberpunk 2077, if it were a linear first-person shooter. While exploring the sprawling maps for secrets and loot, players may find it easy to get lost.
Thankfully there are green beacons placed throughout each level, and some ledges are made more obvious with green lights along their edges. Whenever players aren't sure where to go, they need only follow their waypoint marker to the next green beacon which will mark their current objective.
8 Make Use Of Archotech And Lucky Charms
Necromunda features a variety of different, and devastating weapons from the 40k setting. Players will have to swap out their guns and equipment regularly after each mission if they want to have the optimal loadout.
As well as special items and armor, it is important to equip pieces of archotech whenever possible as these items boost the damage of specific weapon classes. Players have plenty of slots for adding new archotech and should use them to max out their favorite guns. Lucky charms are also very useful to collect as they increase the drop rate of ammo and loot.
7 Play On Hard Difficulty
Unfortunately, many fans have found issues with Necromunda: Hired Gun's difficulty curve and enemy AI. While its bugs don't preclude the game from getting better in the future with patches and updates, some players may find they make the fast-paced action less enjoyable.
One of the more noticeable balance issues is the melee kill, which instantly annihilates most enemies and makes the player character immune to damage for the duration of its animation. For those who want a more challenging experience, it is recommended to start on hard as the enemies doing more damage will negate their dodgy AI and make getting up close much harder.
6 Use Your Cyber Mastiff For Scouting Out Enemies
One of the much-touted features from Necromunda's thrilling release trailer was the inclusion of a helpful pet dog. Not only can this bionic, canine companion provide a useful advantage in combat, but players can also pet him if they feel like doing so.
The cyber mastiff is capable of revealing all enemies in a given area for a short amount of time. This feature can be upgraded and is a useful tool for planning how to tackle a room full of hostiles. Specific targets can also be eliminated with a single order, provided there is no major obstacle between them and the dog.
5 Keep Moving To Avoid Taking Damage
At first, players may be tempted to try stealth their way through the game's levels, sniping enemies from behind cover. While this tactic can work for a while, it isn't possible to stay hidden forever. While the main character never faces off against any of the larger monstrosities from the 40k setting, there are plenty of much tougher enemies who attack quickly and deal brutal damage.
Remaining stationary for too long is a good way to get flanked and blindsided by unseen foes, and as such players will want to run and gun as much as possible. The best tactic for waves of enemies is to strafe around the arena dodging in and out of cover. Not only does this tactic help players avoid taking damage, but it will also draw most hostiles into the center of the map where they will be easy to take down.
4 Take Time To Maintain Your Gear
After each mission players will have the opportunity to swap out the equipment in their inventory. As well as ensuring they have the best weapons possible, it is also advisable to regularly switch out items and other trinkets so players can stack the buffs they want to focus on.
Anything that isn't equipped at the end of a level will be automatically sold for credits. This means players should take their time in the inventory screen to avoid losing anything they don't want to. Since all spare items can be sold, it is worthwhile exploring the maps for as much loot as possible to maximize profit at the end of the mission.
3 Get The Augur Array First
Bionic implants can be bought from the Rogue Doc in the game's hub area. These cybernetic augmentations offer unique abilities and powers that can be upgraded over time using credits.
When buying implants, it is a good idea to get the augur array as soon as possible. This device scans a given area for enemies and available pick-ups. While it has its tactical uses in combat, the main benefit of this bionic upgrade is the ability to spot chests through walls. Once they have bought the augur array and upgraded its range, players will get far more loot at the end of each mission.
2 Use The Melee Attack To Insta-Kill Enemies
Necromunda: Hired Gun is far from the best game to use the grimdark setting, and one of the major criticisms from fans is the melee kills. These attacks are incredibly overpowered as they are an instant kill and temporarily make the player invulnerable to all damage.
Melee takedowns won't work on larger enemies, but they can still make large portions of the game incredibly easy as hostiles form orderly queues to be ripped apart. Some players who want a challenge will naturally avoid using this ability too often, but it is still a very useful way of escaping intense firefights.
1 Complete S Tier Missions For Extra Loot
Players can replay any mission, or side quest as many times as they like, with each level offering multiple tiers for fans to complete. S tier missions are much harder but offer substantially more loot than B or A rank quest.
While some players may not be ready for harder combat, there are some sidequests that don't necessarily involve violent bloodbaths. The Three Witches mission simply consists of running through the level and rescuing the three targets as fast as possible, a task that is made much easier with the bionic legs upgrade. Replaying this mission, and others like it, on S tier is a great way of farming credits for new upgrades.