Sunblaze
I picked up this game 3 days after its release and oh boy am I satisfied with my purchase!
Sunblaze is a brain-twisting precision platformer with hundreds of challenging, handcrafted levels to keep you dying for hours and hours. Also the first platformer game that I have ever played and I am more than happy that I started with this one. As of now I have over 6200+ deaths.
! The game offers at first sight to play the game normal following a character named Josie as she has to complete different challenges in a simulation created by her father, at some point she gets stuck in this simulation and finds a unicorn who becomes your friend, later on betraying you and you have an epic boss fight with it’s actual form, which reminded me of the final boss from DOOM 2016.
– Real player with 68.5 hrs in game
Read More: Best 2D 2D Platformer Games.
Target Audience: Speedrunners, through wanting difficult precision platforming gameplay
Summary:
Sunblaze is one of those games that will hit well with a certain audience: those who love difficult platforming, and in particular, the rush of making through levels quickly with simple yet refined controls. It’s a game that wears the influence of games like Celeste and others on its sleeve with its specific movement, and in that area it does well. Granted, it’s a game that is difficult with precision jumps and needing to master several finite moves in a row, but the consistency of the controls helps the game immensely. Good level variety helps in all the different types of difficulty that the game tests you on. Add in some good visual indicators and you’ve got something that will keep your attention over 4-5 hours to beat the main set of levels.
– Real player with 17.1 hrs in game
SPITLINGS
I played this game in an indie event last year and I am pleasently surprised by how much it evolved.
Some levels can be frustrating, but in a way that your reaction is: “I’m going to keep playing until I beat it!” and not: “F*ck this game, I don’t want to play anymore”
Also, playing it with friends makes it even more enjoyable.
– Real player with 24.0 hrs in game
Read More: Best 2D Platformer Games.
Great game, simple but hard. I didn’t play alone, but it’s great to play with friends
– Real player with 13.8 hrs in game
Couplinked
This game is a refreshing take on simple and engaging arcade style controls and game play. Just when you think you are getting the hang of things each level and tier challenges you and makes you rethink how to play the game. The music is super chill and a great track to listen to at the end of a stressful day. Six hours into the game, currently the only feedback I have is I wish they would allow changes to the colors of the nodes and the electricity.
– Real player with 5.9 hrs in game
Read More: Best 2D Arcade Games.
Couplinked is a simple game, and for the cost of entry, the replay-ability is high.
Goal is simple, you control two circles simultaneously while matching them by colour as well as avoiding obstacles. Controls at first will definitely be confusing, but with a bit of practice there is a certain satisfaction in matching nodes consistently at a real quick rate.
Definitely not for the faint of heart, as it does get increasingly difficult. My experience with puzzle games come from things like Catherine and Puyo Puyo Tetris, and they can be very frustrating to those uninitiated.
– Real player with 1.9 hrs in game
Soul Climb
i 100% recommend this game to people. its cheap but it takes a while to complete and is pretty good. i would say its a bit hollow but the lore potential is high. I wont spoil the game but if they updated it and made some changes (maby some more lore) it will feel way better to play. But its a good short experience that leaves you questioning what is going on at the end. GO FIND OUT THE END YOURSELF BTW :EDIT 1: i found out there is a secret achievement probably for beating the game without assist and probably has lore reveals. I also wish the game was more popular
– Real player with 1.4 hrs in game
I really loved this game.
It’s not easy in the slightest and you’ll die countless times, but as you progress up the game, it feels really rewarding to die, die, die and then managing to go to the next map.
– Real player with 0.5 hrs in game
La-Mulana
La Mulana is…. an unfortunate game. It is very interesting and has a lot of potential, but it commits many gaming sins that can’t be overlooked. This is a NES era kind of game that is designed to force you to use some kind of guide when playing it (think castlevania 2). If you respond to this, don’t just say ‘the game is supposed to be hard’. Dark Souls is my favorite game; I know the difference between a game that is difficult because it’s designed well, and a game that is difficult because it is designed badly.
– Real player with 160.1 hrs in game
Do I recommend this game?
No. You can read the reviews and decide for yourself whether you think you’ll be able to stomach it, otherwise I see little value in trying to play it for simple reasons such as liking the art, or metroidvanias, or puzzles, or because a lot of people say it’s amazing.
Something I’ve noticed while playing La-Mulana is that an overwhelming majority of modern (and not-so-modern) games have quite some of the so-called “handholding” in some shape or form. This includes games being touted as having nearly no handholding such as Dark Souls (I’m sorry, I need to draw comparisons simply because other people probably draw them but for the wrong reasons, and it’s a good difficult game that is similar but also incredibly different).
– Real player with 129.7 hrs in game
Artemis: God-Queen of The Hunt
A study in elegant game design. Artemis moves with speed and precision, darting up Mount Olympus amidst an Io-cyberpunk wasteland to restore the Greek Mythos to its proper order. Her arrows sear the robotic eye, and her wings evade whirling, aberrant automata. Of note is her ability to pause mid-air, Neo-like, surrounded by a matrix of death, and wield time’s arrow to guide her own. Where are the other gods? It’s not clear, but helpful ravens and spirit-beings along the way bespeak the shape-shifting Pantheon. When caught by a stray blade, she herself succumbs into a flutter of crows. These beckon you to don the God-Queen’s mantle one more time; a god never truly dies.
– Real player with 12.2 hrs in game
I’ve played this game for about 3 hours now and give it a strong recommend. I’m not usually good with platformers and it took me some time to get the movements down – you have to spend most of your time in the air tightly coordinating jumps – but the challenging nature keeps things interesting. I would say the game is hard but fair. I love the beautiful artwork and the well conjured atmosphere of the game – it really feels as if you are in a dystopian kingdom. The attention to detail is very acute and impressive – I especially enjoyed the small characters like birds and deer – they aren’t part of the main narrative loop but you can interact with them and they are very well imagined.
– Real player with 3.4 hrs in game
Don’t Die! Douche!
This game is fun. It is relaxing but at the same time fills you with RAGE! You simply don’t know what’s going to kill you or when it’s going to kill you.It will make you sweat, you’ll laugh, you may even rage quit. I have live streamed this game on Twitch and I was giggling like a schoolgirl and I’d not even had a beer. Get some mates round, have a few beers and challenge one another to not die. Have fun!
– Real player with 2.8 hrs in game
Well, I played this game as a friend made it, and I thought I’d show my support. I’m very glad I did, but partly wishing I hadn’t. The main reason is because it’s so infuriating. It is a great game though, and I’m determined to complete it. Get it. Have fun, and try not to launch anything.
– Real player with 2.4 hrs in game
JMPR
Good.
– Real player with 56.8 hrs in game
Many platformer games out there will claim to be “hardcore”, but this one’s the real deal. Players beware, this one is not for the faint of heart.
Throughout the years, I’ve played many difficult platformers, and I’m usually able to 100% them without too much problem. However, this one really pushed me to my limits. Just when you thought you’ve encountered the hardest obstacles and nearly mastered the game, the next level makes you question your ability. You’ll be going through the same levels many times before finally beating them, and some of the levels go on for quite some time. Finally, though, after 40+ hours and 10,000+ deaths I can finally say I’ve gotten to 100% completion of the game. Totally worth it.
– Real player with 46.7 hrs in game
MineRalph
This is an unique 2D platformer, at least in my opinion, the point of the game is your this round little guy/ball or whatever you call it and use your mouse to controll it to move the way you want it, but cause people is not used to 2d platformers where you gotta use your mouse tthe easyer tasks easly become hard, the game has so far ive gotten a very nice diffeculty spike where it starts easy and slowly progress and become harder and harder, and yea it’s the type of game called rage game which means if your a guy thateasyly rages cause you die, this will mostly be a play once in a while kind of game, easy to play some levels and than take a break cause it gets hard. cause how hard it is it’s an very intresting game to speedrun, cause how the game is built
– Real player with 576.4 hrs in game
This 2D platformer is simple at its base while continuously upping the difficulty level to keep you on your toes. It’s no easy feat to complete the game, especially while finding the secret in each level, but the triumph you feel when you get past the big hurdles makes it all worth it. Not to mention the fact that the game lends itself well to speedrunning, both in the physics of the game itself and the built-in timing and high score system. If you like fast-paced platforming with relatively basic mechanics that get used in a variety of creative ways, you definitely don’t want to miss out on this.
– Real player with 85.5 hrs in game
Philophobia: The Fear of Love
I’ve been following this game for quite a while now, from Tims original reddit post and man this game has grown quite significantly if that original GIF is anything to go by. I’ve also helped beta test the steam edition of this game and have poured well over 40+ hours into the various different versions of this game, from its itch.io release to the Kartridge port and now it’s current steam debut!
– Real player with 11.0 hrs in game
I can’t give it a blanket recommendation, but having beaten it I enjoyed it well enough. If this one shook out as Positive/Mostly Positive I’d call that a fair assessment but come prepared for tight jumps and minimal hand holding.
The title alternates between a puzzle platformer and a speedrunner. I’m not going to profess that it’s the lovechild of Super Meat Boy and Celeste or anything like that but I think it’s got some interesting ideas. Smoothing out difficulty curve a bit could go a long way (I died 260 times on one level and less than 10 on the next. This is an extreme example but you get the idea). I expect that level to be an exit point for a lot of people.
– Real player with 6.9 hrs in game