I love shooters, I love running in and blasting carelessly. However, many games discourage aggressive play. In a lot of the old Run&Guns players would often hide behind cover, as it was the safest way to play. That's not fun though.

8Gauge is built to make aggressive play not only fun, but the most viable strategy. Here are some of the devices used for this effect:

• Dashing: Dashing and jumping allows to dodge bullets and dangerous areas in the battlefield. Dashing also allows to quickly cover distance. This allows for more control while pushing the enemy.

• Damage Reduction:
  • The more you move, the less damage you take. The player has an armor gauge that fills up when the player moves. This makes camping dangerous and pushing fairly safe. Notice how much faster health drains once the player stops.
  

  
  

  
  

  • The more enemies are "aggroed" the less damage you take. Therefore, jumping into action is not punished, and picking enemies one by one is useless.
  

  
  

  
  

  • Having a high combo meter also slightly lowers damage.
• Health Pickups
  • Most health and energy pickups are collected from dead enemies. These pickups fade rapidly. So to stay alive, the player has to push the enemies to get health.
  

  
  

  
  

  • Other larger health pickups are scattered around levels to relieve the player and give them the opportunity to play hard for longer durations.
  

• Enemy Behaviour
  
  • Some enemy bullets can "wallbang", you can't. This means hiding behind cover is counter productive.
  

  
  

  
  

  • Shotgun wielding enemies will lob grenades over walls to flush you out.
  

The cohesion of these design choices makes aggressive play feel like being a powerful killing machine and forces the player into the "fun zone." (many of the design elements are inspired from the recent doom games as a matter of fact)