Monkey Barrels tells a simple story about a city of monkeys that is invaded by an army of aggressive robots. The primate protagonist, a guy or girl of his choice, turns out to be brave enough to go fight and help his friends. His journey will span 5 thematically different areas and 22 levels. At the same time, if you die, your progress is reset, as in roguelike projects. However, the earned currency, junk, remains so that new guns and equipment can be bought at the hub location.

The gameplay of Monkey Barrels is a classic shoot 'em up meets bullet hell. The main character moves up the level from arena to arena. There, waves of opponents await him, some of whom rush into hand-to-hand combat, while others shoot from afar. You need to destroy everyone, while dodging enemy shots. To do this, you can use up to 2 weapons and 2 additional items, such as grenades or shields. In total, the game has about 98 types of weapons to choose from. At the end of the stages, as the final test, bosses await the player.

However, in addition to the single-player mode, the game also has multiplayer. There is only one mode reigning there – chasing bananas. In it, 6 players, 3 per team, run around a closed map and collect bananas falling from the sky. Whoever has more at the end of the match is the winner. However, if you die at the hands of others, your personal counter is reset. Fighting is allowed with open weapons in a single-player campaign, and therefore you should always be wary of an imbalance between the participants.