Overview
Whether you’re new to the wastes or been through a few bunkers, here’s everything from the 101 to the endgame of the Proxyman’s grasp.
Area Clear Bonus
This guide is only accurate as of the 1.0 release.
And probably won’t be updated.
Let’s get right down to it, my wasteland brethren. Bunker Punks is a first-person roguelike/arcade shooter with base-building… elements? Just the one element, really.
Before Anything Else
Run through a couple of times on Easy and unlock everything. Everything.
The Zero-Sum Gang
What a rowdy crew. Let’s say hello.
Keep in mind: Each gets a 25% bonus to a weapon type, you need to both unlock and build upgrades to use Ultras/Passives.
Oh, to use an Ultra double right-click (once the upgrade in the lab is built for that playthrough). They use full meter.
(PIstols)
- Special: Step Back – pushes back enemies
- Ultra: Break Time – stuns every enemy for a couple of seconds
- Passive: Pistol range, more of it
Molli is a gunslinger to the the core, expert at that big iron on her hip.
Use: Molli is worthless. Don’t use her.
(Rifles)
- Special: Bow Down – stuns all enemies for like a second
- Ultra: Assassinate (rifle only) – deals MASSIVE DAMAGE on next attack
- Passive: Gain ammo after a combo (a decent amount)
Like any good Monarch, Cleopatra keeps peasants at a distance and dismisses them.
Use: Cleopatra is worthless. Don’t use her.
(Melee)
- Special: 3x Damage (any weapon) – what it says on the tin. Next attack only.
- Ultra: Mighty Swing (baseball bat only) – like the above, but like a lot more.
- Passive: Batter Up – makes the baseball bat decent
Royce, a prep student here to rep. Likes anime, so obviously an antagonist.
Use: Royce is worthless. Don’t use him.
(Pistols)
- Special: Reload – refills ammo to full
- Ultra: Heal +20hp – Heals 30hp. I’m just kidding, it’s 20hp.
- Passive: Double Jump – take a guess
Molli Pop Jr, the runt of the litter has more of an all-rounder loadout.
Use: Kassidee is worthless. Don’t use her.
(Demolitions)
- Special: Big Time – BIG explosion on next rocket hit
- Ultra: Chi Explosion – Become the grenade
- Passive: Explosion Armour – when you love explosions so much you need to cuddle them.
Wunderchild and explosions fetishist, Null Point’s lore is crammed with more pedigree than a used car salesman’s wall.
Use: He’s alright. Needs a shotgun to deal with weak airbornes, though.
(Shotguns)
- Special: One Shot Shield – absorbs any regular attack without any damage
- Ultra: Shields Up – Shield that absorbs about 20hp of damage
- Passive: Health Pickups – get a little more bang for your buck
Game takes place in Texas, here’s your Texan. Born with bullets for brains.
Use: The one consistently useful character. Do not even bring other characters on Brutal, because if Dallas dies you’ve proven so incompetent that you don’t deserve to win.
His Ultra is worthless on Brutal. Or at all, really.
Bunker-Busting Toolset
There’s not much to cover here, I’ll keep it brief.
Long range weapons have massive damage dropoff at short range and vice versa.
• Pistol: Bad everything
• Revolver: Bad shotgun
• Auto-pistol: Bad rifle
Don’t use pistols. Ignore pistols. You want the 30 completed floors achievement for Molli and Kassidee? Equip them with shotguns.
• Baseball bat: ?
• Stun rod: ?
• Katana: ?
Why are you using melee in this game? Enemies don’t telegraph. Dogs will often get a hit in before their attack animation even starts. Just give Royce a shotgun.
• Rocket launcher: Slow firing, small ammo
• Grenade launcher: Faster firing, okay ammo
• Plasma Cannon: Super-slow firing, okay ammo
Demolitions are mostly good for splash damage. So they’re a danger to you, too. Best paired with a shotgun.
• Assault Rifle: Absolutely terrible
• Hunting Rifle: Long range hard-hitter
• Homing Rifle: Wibbly wobbly splash damage
They’re not the worst but they’re not great. Homing Rifle has a mind of its own, Hunting is where you’ll get your money’s worth.
• Tactical shotgun: Hallelujah
• Assault shotgun: Hallelujah (but fast)
• Sawn-off shotgun: Hallelujah (but slow)
This is the combo taker and king maker. Ignore all pretenders.
Wide spread (go fast), and at 150-190% will drop any regular on Brutal in one shot.
The Punk’s Bunker
You really don’t need a guide for this. It’s a glorified buff menu. Go for the obvious buffs. Health, armour, speed, heal on combo, max weapon damage, yadda yadda.
Q: “Combo?”
A: Kill an enemy within like 2 seconds of killing the last, it’s a combo. Meter (Chi) gains, bragging rights, etc.
Otherwise:
Lab: Give up the Passive or the Ultra in order to cop both Chi Meditation and Logistics.
General: Max out Logistics and Pack Rat first, and you’ll have a maxed tree halfway through the game. Turns 400 credit levels into 1-2k.
That’s it. Moving on.
BRUTAL BUNKERS
On Brutal, even stray starting enemy bullets will brutalize your health. Ergo, don’t get hit. I’ve assembled a surefire way to destroy this mode (once you’ve unlocked everything).
Burning Their Towers:
- Play as Dallas (only Dallas)
- Max out Pack-rat and Credits first, then shotgun damage
- Prioritize shotgun damage buffs over armour, you have shields
- Get your shields up and guns up
- Don’t stop moving
There, you’ve won. Remember to combo always (and heal on combo). If you’ve messed up and get to half health with no meter in a boss room, quit to menu before you die and try the level again.
Bonus: Present in Full Arms
Pausing and quitting to menu, the level won’t reroll but the items inside chests will. So:
- Run through level, ignore enemies
- Hit chests
- Kill boss
- No drops? Re-roll.
Aim for one piece of a set per bunker busted.
Obvious levels drop relevant armour (eg. Surgery has better Doctor garb drop rates) but it’ll be low either way (I completed my Banker set on a Surgery floor). Don’t progress to the next floor/level/back to the home map, it auto-saves.
I couldn’t find the save files either in Documents/My Games, the usual Appdata Unity folder (Ninja Robot Unicorn, huh?) or the steamapps folder, so this is the rerolling method for now.
Might take a while.
Q: Does the level matter?
A: Yeah I found levels past the 1/3rd mark on the map, and on lower floors to drop better gear generally.
Q: Is there any difference in shooting chests to opening them?
A: I didn’t notice a difference. Shooting is quicker.
Q: Oh god I’m getting duplicates, my soul is dying.
A: Hang in there my child, RNGesus tests you.
Q: This is taking forever.
A: Be strong. Let not the hand of RNG defeat you.
Q: Wow I’m seeing the same item spawn if I do X, maybe that affects X for the next run…
A: That’s the RNG talking.
Q: How long did it take you?
A: Some of the final pieces took several hundred runs. Overall about 10 hours for both sets, after I spent 10 hours trying to get them naturally.
Q: Will this get patched?
A: Probably.
Bonus Bonus: The 11-Hit Combo
Play naturally until you hit a boss room with a Robo-Spider (enemy spawner) in it. Then try to balance killing the spawned minions between the enemies in the room, and you can get it fairly easily.
The biggest obstacle to this achievement is just finding a room with enough enemies in it. If you’re having trouble keeping combos up, I told you very early on that you should be using Dallas.
FAQ
Q: Is this game worth buying?
A: Yeah, it’s pretty good and the ost is fantastic. Compared to comparable roguelikes (“roguelikes”, whatever.) like Heavy Bullets or Nuclear Throne, I enjoyed it a lot. Like Heavy Bullets, trying to 100% it is a mistake. Get your Brutal playthrough and call it a day.
Q: Is it glitchy?
A: Nothing game-breaking, but I got caught on enemies often-ish and it messed with my recordings something awful.
Q: Is the base-building extensive?
A: It’s just a menu for buffs. Don’t get excited/dismayed by it. Some spicy contextualization.
Q: You seem like you don’t like most of the characters.
A: Got me there.
Q: Apart from Dallas.
A: Don’t make this weird.
Q: What if I want a dweeb telling me that this game is alright, video-wise?
A: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQjbSpBFQH8
