Circa Infinity
Immaculate.
In nearly every aspect, Circa Infinity has vastly exceeded my expectations, and sits well near the top of my list of most intelligently designed games I have ever played. A minimalist, puzzle platformer is the last game I would expect to enjoy this immensely amongst a sea of indie titles. I consider the genre to be the equivalent of the FPS of the indie scene: a sort of formulaic attempt to tread ground into the industry, but CI is perhaps the most exhilarating take on a tired template in every aspect of its design. It will consistently challenge your thinking while simultaneously presenting you every tool necessary to complete and appreciate the pieces which meld this wonderful game.
– Real player with 41.2 hrs in game
Read More: Best 2D Platformer Difficult Games.
Circa Infinity (& Affinity). What a game.
Circa Infinity is a puzzle mode featuring 5 worlds. As you progress, you will encounter worlds that introduce new game concepts, especially in worlds 4 & 5. If you aim for completion, I advise you to take your time and carefully analyze the movement patterns. However, if you’re an achievement hunter (like me), perfect your hand-eye coordination, your visual memory layout of the levels, and your commitment into seeing this through to the end. I didn’t receive a proper warning, so I’ll warn you now: if you lack any of the three points I’ve listed above, DON’T go for Circa Infinity achievements.
– Real player with 28.1 hrs in game
Katana ZERO
After finishing the story, I wasn’t entirely sure if this game warrants the overwhelmingly positive rating, as the story can be finished in about 4 hours.
The story is good, the combat is tight, works a bit like a puzzle - you can slow time, dodge, throw objects, deflect bullets, and slash with your sword, along with some other periphery mechanics like exploding barrels and steam to hide yourself in. All of this will be used to slaughter everyone, while avoiding every blow (you die in one hit) with a real-time replay to boot.
– Real player with 20.0 hrs in game
Read More: Best 2D Platformer Story Rich Games.
An assassin who sees a psychiatrist⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Slash! Bullets reflected ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Slash! Enemies slaughtered⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Part of me is a good guy, right?⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
more reviews like this: https://store.steampowered.com/developer/ddmeow/
– Real player with 17.0 hrs in game
Celeste
Oh my god, this is one of the best games I have ever played. Actually, scratch that, this is one of the best games available on steam. This game was perfect from prologue to epilogue, and it was fair yet absolutely brutal. The story was so goddamn immersive and sometimes comedic; this game was an emotional roller-coaster. It also has an assist mode that encourages usage if the default game is inaccessible, instead of making fun of you like so many other games do. I had tons of fun, however, I haven’t beaten chapter 8, b sides, c sides, or chapter 9 yet. I will write more reviews of those chapters/sub-chapters once I beat them.
– Real player with 170.6 hrs in game
Read More: Best 2D Platformer Difficult Games.
Simply a delightful platformer. A masterclass at level design. The core mechanics are so well made that i found myself craving for content even after 90+ hours. You keep learning new ways to overcome obsticles which makes this game infinitely replayable. Incredibly beutiful presentation and a simple, yet very touching and relatable story. If you don’t buy and play this game right this instant i am going to come to your house and steal tour shoes.
– Real player with 93.5 hrs in game
Dogworld
This game is oozing with nuance. Like the classic megaman games of old, it relies on solid level design and mechanics to teach the player how to interact with the environment and navigate its many perils.
Without getting into the nuts and bolts the story and gameplay are excellent and endearing on their own. There are plenty of fun characters and monsters.
The game’s narrative drives the player across the world map in a style reminiscent of metroidvanias or darksouls. It’s checkpoint system also feels reminiscent to dark souls. The games seemingly principle mechanic of “sliding” allows the player to slide on their knees like in vanquish and gain a set amount of “i-frames”. Not only does this act as a dodge to add depth and skill to the side scrolling platforming combat, but the player can perform mid slide turns to add style and damage performance.
– Real player with 88.9 hrs in game
mostly spoiler free. nothing big
dogworld is basically a love letter to cave story and it’s very clear it was in mind throughout the whole thing, a lot of homages to levels in here
it’s really fun, the mechanics are tight and slide gunning / jumping is a fun mechanic to add to this sort of gameplay. it essentially boils down to dodging and shooting - dying doesn’t feel like much of a penalty because you basically blink and you’re back and the checkpoints are VERY forgiving.
problems i had so far are being fixed next patch apparently! which is such a fast response
– Real player with 17.7 hrs in game
Magic Frame
Solid platformer.
The developer usually answers and watches reviews, so I’ll say what I want to see in the game
cooperative mode, especially since it was already in old games.
– Real player with 7.4 hrs in game
Huge potential, but lacking co-op.
– Real player with 7.4 hrs in game
S.P.I.K.E: ARENA
“If there are two cubes left in the world, one of them will want to kill another”.
That’s a good description, well..
This game has only one single achievement, which will unlock on startup - nothing else.
Its tags are indie and massive multiplayer.
Quite interesting.
The main menu actually, without some chance to regulate graphics and everything else, puts you towards a choice between a normal mode and a PVP one.
The normal mode, still, will let you choose between 0, 1 or 2 players - choosing 0 players of course will lead you towards the good old SNES auto-modes in fighting games.
– Real player with 18.0 hrs in game
Youre a cube that shoots another cube. The controls are wasd + j to shoot…there is absolutely no reason this’d be worth $2. I wouldnt pay a quarter for this…
– Real player with 0.6 hrs in game
VVVVVV
Time for a controversial review. I’ve played this game on and off for the past 5 years, and I’ve gradually come to realize it’s not that great. I’ll try to explain why.
To get one thing out of the way, the music is fantastic. The chiptune album “PPPPPP” is a true modern classic, catchy and energetic and well-produced. The game sells for $5, but I’d be willing to pay $20 for the soundtrack alone. It’s that good. Even after hearing these tunes for 5 years, most of them still haven’t gotten old to me. But chances are you’ve already heard the music and know this for yourself.
– Real player with 46.4 hrs in game
VVVVVV - timeless indie classic
One of my all time favourites (if not my absolute favourite, comming from someone having played Half Life, Castlevania SotN, Mario Galaxy, Journey, Portal 2).
GAMEPLAY:
The gameplay is simple and effective, it’s exactly what it needs to be, nothing more, nothing less. Two buttons for horizontal movement and one button to flip gravity (and another for using machines). The game’s pretty twitchy though, but there’s an option to slow down the game’s speed if that’s a problem for you. You can save at big teleporters or at any time in the pause menue. It’s a puzzle platformer, you dodge enemies, avoid spikes and solve the challenges presented to you, sometimes requiring you to actively think about how you approach a situation.
– Real player with 30.8 hrs in game
Wuppo: Definitive Edition
Wuppo is a hard game to pin down in a review, but I’ll try to be descriptive and add some practical details to help make up the minds of anyone that tries to decide if this game is right for them.
First off, what immediately will catch your eye, is that the game looks very “cute”. This cuteness is not is not just added for its own sake, but its aesthetic and style really serves the purpose to complement and add to the feel of the world. What I mean by this, is that the world is very friendly and open to exploration and has generally a very laid back atmosphere. Most of the world’s inhabitants that you encounter are friendly and can be interacted with for some possible rewards or information. Some can be triggered into attacking you, but if this happens when you have the bird equipped for example, I can’t really blame them.
– Real player with 22.1 hrs in game
Heartwarming, unique adventure hidden behind silly presentation and relative lack of popularity - Wuppo delivers an amazing world, interactivity and genre mashup that screams GIVE THIS DEV MORE MONEY!
You are a wum. The wuzziest, roundest and possibly laziest wum in the entire Wumhouse. So lazy, that you are a constant nuisance to the Wumhouse’s main manager. When you spill your daily dose of ice cream all over the corridor, manager loses it and orders security to throw you over your room’s balcony into the garden. After you lose few pounds when somebody steals the TV out of you (which you apparently ate previously) the new quest awaits for you - the search for a new home, happiness and your own little place in the world.
– Real player with 21.5 hrs in game
Braid
If you’re like me, here’s what you do:
1. Buy and install Braid
2. Traverse through the worlds without solving them
3. Wonder why the game is so hard (because I’m skipping some puzzles)
4. Stop playing the game for four years
6. Buy The Witness sometime in those four years
7. Play The Witness only recently because I saw Faker stream it online
8. Realize that through The Witness, I like well designed puzzle/logic games and I’m mesmerized by Jonathan Blow (designer and developer for Braid and The Witness)
– Real player with 11.8 hrs in game
Braid is a curious game for a lot of reasons, despite it’s impressive art style and legacy it actually isn’t as enjoyable as it appears.
As the trailer suggests you are capable of turning back time, thus you never officially die. Despite this the leaning curve is quite steep and not always fair.
If anyone has heard of the Infamous Goat puzzle in Broken Sword this may make a bit more sense. But basically in the point and click adventure game Broken Sword there is a puzzle that requires quick timing. But you the player have never used it before, so what makes it so difficult is your lack of understanding and knowledge of a gaming mechanic. You are unaware that you are even capable of doing what the game expects you to do.
– Real player with 10.8 hrs in game
Cursed Castilla (Maldita Castilla EX)
Cursed Castilla is an arcade action game which is based and inspired by the Ghosts and Goblins series and other retro titles. It brings an 16 bit graphics style, a quick action packed gameplay with tight controls and a high level of difficulty.
The story is set in the Middle Ages in the Spanish Kingdom. You play as a knight who is sent on a quest -together with other 3 fellow knights- by the King to cleanse the Kingdom from the evading demonic horde. The story basically is a Spanish mythos and there are several parts of the game where creatures from other European mythologies appear. Since the creators are Spanish the game overall in its music and its design has a Spanish vibe.
– Real player with 47.0 hrs in game
Really fun, quite challenging, and at times even feel a little unfair retro-style game. However (with the exception of one part), the checkpoint system is very forgiving so it’s rarely frustrating.
You attack using only throwable weapons, where only a certain amount can be out active at a time until they either hit an enemy, an obstacle, or fly off screen. This means that the closer you are to enemies, the faster you can attack, and also that if you spam you can be left defenseless for a brief window. It also has some pretty unique jumping mechanics similar to some other retro platformers wherein you jump much farther if you are holding a direction when you jump, and jump almost straight up if you aren’t holding a direction (however, unlike some games, you can still nudge slightly in either direction while in the air). Additionally, attacking (especially if you are spamming) slows you down substantially. These mechanics mentioned above can make it feel a bit janky until you get used to it, but the game controls great and has highly accurate hitbox (although your entire character is the hitbox which makes dodging obstacles difficult). There are a variety of environments and a massive amount of bosses that for the most part where unique and fun.
– Real player with 11.6 hrs in game