Soaring Machinariae
I really wish steam had a neutral option.
TL;DR: For $10, not worth it. If you get it on sale, then why not? Despite the fantastic voice acting, solid gameplay, and incredible sound design, this game is ultimately a generic time waster. That’s not to say it’s bad, it has an incredible amount of polish with very few spelling or grammar issues, but polish doesn’t equate to an interesting or unique product. The characters are fun, but you’ve seen them a hundred times before. The gameplay is solid, but you’ve played better before. Every aspect of this game is done better by others, but if this is your first foray into RPG Maker, then it’s a pretty good starting place. In comparison to other RPG Maker games, this game is pretty dang good, and it at least stands out against them. The game only falls short when compared to games outside of the RPG Maker engine or when you’ve played a ton of RPG Maker games, but if you’re looking for a decently fun RPG Maker game and a way to waste some time, this is a decent pick.
– Real player with 6.3 hrs in game
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Action JRPG + fully voiced + good controls = Zelda like gameplay with anime charm. Adventure as Iris the Machinariae and obtain skills. Great price! Normally this type of game is at least a $15-20.
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– Real player with 1.2 hrs in game
Unending Dusk
Unending Dusk is a decent beat’em up if you enjoy grinding stats and finding rare attack mods. As you can see I dropped over 80 hours just to max out 2 of the 4 characters. I guess you could say that it has some roguelite elements, although there is no perma-death. The stages are randomly generated so you can run into a secret shop or a hidden area, and that is not counting the stat grind which is usually associated with the genre. For me the game managed to capture the nostalgia that I have for classic beat' em ups, despite having all those new features. In my opinion the combat, aesthetic and the controls are faithfully implemented. I play Streets of Rage (2) very often, by comparison the execution of attacks is essentially the same. Unfortunately, it has no grappling which is perhaps my biggest problem. There are definitely some modern features added to the formula such as character levels and different damage types, but overall it truly feels like a game that could be on Genesis - mainly due to aesthetic.
– Real player with 104.7 hrs in game
Read More: Best Action RPG Beat 'em up Games.
Unending Dusk is an old-school beat-em-up with ARPG mechanics and a pretty decent, darksynth-esque soundtrack that was admittedly rough around the edges in its early days, but regular updates have smoothed a lot of those edges and made for a compelling cooperative experience whenever I can rope friends into playing it. The developer even does double XP events on occasion. It has up to four-player online coop but regrettably no local option, an odd choice for the genre.
The time and place, a dark cyberpunk future in the last city on Earth. The titular twilight spells impending doom for the city given its reliance on solar power. A brilliant engineer has taken it upon himself to gather a band of the deadliest mercenaries, bounty hunters, soldiers and even religious fanatics he can get to find the source of the unnatural darkness and combat the strange, almost demonic invaders it brought with it.
– Real player with 101.2 hrs in game
Shield Cat
Shield Cat – the Game!
Shield Cat is a game starring Lance the otter! He is a mail courier for the Cat Kingdom, delivering official letters and packages. One day, Lance wakes up and finds that the Cat Kingdom is in chaos. What’s worse, his friends seem to be responsible! What dark magic could be at work here? Lance will need all the help he can get on his adventure, both to save his friends and to save the Kingdom!
Abilities
Along the way, Lance will find abilities that can help him on his quest. You can equip and upgrade these abilities to enhance Lance’s strength and allow him to use more tools on his quest. Here are just some of the many abilities you can learn:
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Tubular Twister: Lance’s spin attack! Use this move to get over big gaps, attack enemies, hit gears and levers, open treasure chests, and much more.
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Shield: Lance can throw his shield to hit enemies from far away. He can also use it to solve puzzles, and upgrade it to give it more distance and range when he throws it.
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Cards: Lance throws a continual stream of cards from a seemingly endless deck. He can use this ability to take down multiple enemies at once.
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Dagger: Lance can aim this dagger and hit enemies from a great distance. This ability is good for people who like stealth – enemies wont even know what hit them!
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Bombs: Lance can use these bombs to open up the path to new areas, or to damage enemies from a distance. It’s explosive fun!
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Passive Abilities: You can find and equip passive abilities which grant you bonuses as long as they’re equipped, such as increased movement speed, surviving enemy combos, increasing the drop rate of goodies, and more! Be warned though – Equipping these passive abilities takes from your magic for as long as they’re equipped. Watch your magic meter!
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Upgrades: Lance can find upgrades to his health, magic, and attack that permanently boost his stats.
Collectibles
During your quest, you will find several types of collectibles! Here are some of the collectibles you can find:
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Pretty Petals: The currency of the Cat Kingdom. Use these to buy abilities and upgrades at shops.
Fish Scales: Each stage has a fixed number of Fish Scales. Use these to access new locations by train. Can you find all of them in each stage?
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LANCE Letters: Each stage has 5 LANCE letters for you to find. However, the stages are pretty big – you’ll have to check every nook and cranny if you want to find these!
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Cat Coin: Special currency of the Cat Kingdom. Use these to open doors and gain access to new areas.
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Key: Each stage has a set of keys that are only useful for that stage. If you find a locked door, keep an eye out for a key!
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Treasure Chest: Find treasure chests scattered throughout the land. It is a mystery what each one contains, but it (most likely) will aide you on your quest! If you find an ability you already have, you can sell it at the shop for Pretty Petals!
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Fish Statue: These will permanently increase Lance’s max health, so be sure to look for them!
Locations
During your quest, you will visit many locations throughout the Cat Kingdom. Here are just some of the places you’ll visit:
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Cat Castle Town: The central town of the Cat Kingdom. Here you will find many shops with items that will help you on your journey, as well as mini-games to pass the time with.
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Roo Express: The train that serves the Cat Kingdom. Ride this train to get around to different areas!
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Underground Forest: A place underground with plenty of trees and views of the sky above.
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Mt. Bophades: A volcanic mountain in the snowy north.
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Lignum Woods: A mysterious forest where Lance lives.
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Lake Fromonda: Scenic lake and home to an aquatic exhibit.
More locations are planned, but don’t have official names yet.
Friends
Along the way, you’ll meet many friends and make more friends. Here are just some of the people you’ll meet:
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Parker: Lance’s partner and also lead engineer of the Roo Express. Parker is a Kangaroo/Deer with a love of trains and the power to create magic portals.
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Ruby: A yee-haw beaver who has power over water, Ruby is in charge of the Aquatic Exhibit and studies marine life and liquid Metamagic.
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Suzette: A stoic leopard gecko who has power over the earth, Suzette can tunnel through the earth with ease. She lives in the Underground Forest and studies rocks and other hard Metamagic. Despite being so grounded, Suzette’s girlfriend Olivia is a bird who flies in the sky!
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Trent: A mischievous fox with the power over fire and ice, Trent lives in Mt. Bophades and helps keep the volcano under control – a job Trent does well, despite being slightly irresponsible.
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Olivia: A cockatiel who flies through the skies and has power over the wind, Olivia is the leader of the Sky Cat Airship Fleet, the Cat Kingdom’s air travel service.
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Claire: The leader of the Knights of the Shield Cats, Claire takes her job seriously and does whatever she can to help protect the kingdom.
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King King Cat the Cat: The king of the Cat Kingdom, King King Cat the Cat was elected to rule and, despite being clumsy and forgetful, does his job well.
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Willow: Willow is a magical fox that appears to some people. It is said that she can record your journey and come to you in times of trouble to give you a second chance.
Game Modes
The game supports different difficulty levels and play modes, which are detailed below! Please note that achievements will only be given on the lowest difficulty used on that play file.
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Difficulty – Chill: An easier mode where enemies do less damage and are less aggressive, and drop more items and whatnot to help you on your journey. For younger players or players who just want to enoy the game.
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Difficulty – Regular: The intended game experience, exactly as it was designed.
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Difficulty – Tough: Enemies are tougher and also tougher to defeat, and drop less items and whatnot. This mode is for people who really want to test their skills.
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Difficulty – Wild: In this mode, Lance’s attack is doubled, but so are enemy attacks! This mode is for people who like fast paced action and is the ultimate test of players skills.
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Difficulty – Custom: Experience the game the way you like! Change Lance and enemy modifiers, drop rates, and more! Note that achievements cannot be obtained in this mode – It’s just for fun!
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Speedrun Options: Various options can be enabled for speedrunners, including an in-game timer, automatically skipping cutscenes, reduced scene transition times, and a quick restart button that erases your file and starts from the beginning.
Demo
Currently, there is not a demo available for Shield Cat. To allow people to still play the game, I’m offering a playtest, in which you can play a non-feature complete build of the game! You can’t “beat” this demo and many things are not available, but you can check out how the development is going as I work toward the Chapter 1 demo. Please check it out!
Thank you!
Thank you for checking out my game!
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Soulmate
one mans made this game, good stuff
– Real player with 0.7 hrs in game
Animus: Revenant
Unbalanced, slow and laggy trash.
– Real player with 2.0 hrs in game
Is this a bad game? I dont think so but it feels very rough. I personally would not recommend it based on other big title souls-likes and even smaller titles. It would of course be unfair to compare it to Dark Souls but even compared to the smaller titles I just feel as though it needs more polish.
My concerns are the lack of a proper roll, the lack of keyboard support, some poor telegraphs and bit unfair enemy tracking. Biggest thing is probably ranged enemies can hit you from off screen and you’ll have no idea where they are given the fixed camera.
– Real player with 0.3 hrs in game
Dungeon Avenger
You awake with a pounding headache and a fuzzy memory of being nabbed on a dark road. You try not to panic as the dark, dank surroundings begin to remind you of a childhood tale you were told about the world’s deadliest prison. A commotion stirs outside your room - in a language you’ve never heard. A dagger and shield lay nearby and as you grab them, only two things are on your mind: getting out & getting revenge.
You’re 12 floors down and running out of time!
Key features:
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Every mob looks different – face and body features are randomly assigned at runtime
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Mobs come in different sizes: the bigger they are, the harder they hit!
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Escaping the dungeon requires a lot of skill and a little luck
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Worldwide leaderboards show how you’re measuring up against other players
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Advanced mob AI results in leading-edge and unexpected behaviors
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Critical Hits / Near Misses (mobs ONLY) / Backstabs / Blocks
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Optimized for lower-end hardware
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Gaussian distribution (bell-shaped curve) is heavily utilized in-game to ensure more reasonable dice rolls
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Press the F1 function key in-game to submit a bug report or idea for improvement!
MetaMorph: Dungeon Creatures
Truth in reviewing: I was a late addition to the beta team and got a copy for free.
I’ve enjoyed my time with MetaMorph. It’s a good, solid dungeon crawler with some fine carnage and tight, well-paced levels. It doesn’t do anything particularly revolutionary with the Gauntlet template, but it has a samurai bunny rabbit and flying buzzsaws. It’s the little things.
The gimmick of the game is simple enough: you play a fantasy critter that can (eventually) morph between three forms. You’ve got your sword-wielding rabbit (fast and deadly), your ogre (big and smashy), and a fire nymph that can toast enemies at range. Your job is to obliterate all the monsters in each level and scoot to the exit. Each form has its own stengths and special attacks, so the trick is to use the right Morph at the right time for maximum effectiveness, and also to not die so much. Enemies tend to bunch up and march as a horde, which CAN lead to some need for kiting (that’s bad!), but can also lead to situations where you obliterate a zillion guys at once with good timing. (That’s good!)
– Real player with 21.5 hrs in game
One of the most fun ARPGs I’ve played. Each level is less than 4 minutes long and works like a puzzle. There are no useless loot drops every couple of minutes like some other ARPGs and the progression is simple but very satsifying. unlocking new spirit forms and unlocking abilites for them is always exciting.
Each of the forms work VERY differently from the others and you will HAVE to shuffle between them dr=uring gameplay because of their abilites. Add to that the excellent level design and you have yourself a VERY enjoyable and simplified arpg where the only thing that matters is gameplay.
– Real player with 6.1 hrs in game
Wirewalk()↳
As an old school (S)NES RPG player I was really pleased to play this game, the gameplay feels like playing Zelda - A Link to the Past, with a Megaman like soundtrack ! The story shows a not so far future where people is even more dependent on technology in a clear criticism to our current society, I won’t do spoilers here but the jokes about this society are clever and made me laugh more than once. I felt like the game was fairly easy (maybe because I’m used to this kind of game) and made me want more, an expansion with more levels/bosses would be great. In a nutshell, entertaining with a nice message to the player.
– Real player with 6.5 hrs in game
Disclaimer, for transparency’s sake: the developer is a friend of mine however I’ll be reviewing this game as unbiased as possible.
Wirewalk is a typical Gameboy dungeon crawler adventure game in the molds of the first Zelda titles with a top-down gameplay and retro graphics.
First, the story: It is rather straightforward - you’re a girl named Rada who lives in a town suddenly plagued by a mysterious computer virus that renders technology inoperable. Fortunately, Rada knows her way around computers and has developed a program nicknamed “Wirewalk” in which she’s able to “go inside the code” to fix people’s various devices.
– Real player with 4.5 hrs in game
Gimmick in the Chaos Dimension
Fun little maze climber. Each enemy has their own behavior type and learning what to do in each situation and which powerups to use to get as far as possible is satisfying!
– Real player with 5.5 hrs in game
Gimmick in the Chaos Dimension is a delightful romp back to the times of coin-op arcade games. Times where you put in a quarter, went until you died, then did it again. Except now there’s also skills that you can level up between games! Nothing could stop me from unlocking every achivement. I streamed it for hours. There’s even record keeping of your best runs! I can’t wait to see what they do next, and look forward to the next Gimmick game!
– Real player with 5.4 hrs in game
Nemithia - Tale of the Legendary Saviors
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Nemithia is a 2D RPG made in a style reminiscent to the old school RPGs from the 90s-2000s with a modern twist.
Join Leo, Max, and Fred on their journey to save Earth and their home planet of Nemithia from the Drakians and meet new friends along the way!
Note: At release, only the first chapter of the story will be available with the option to explore the map after completing it, the rest of the chapters will be released at a later date for free.
Recruit new team members
Along the journey, you’ll meet new characters and have the possibility to recruit them.
Learn and improve your spells
While exploring the map you’ll have the chance to find new spells for your team members which can be leveled up with use over time.
Level up your team
During the 1st chapter’s story, you’ll unlock the ability to train your party member’s stats by playing minigames and level them up by facing training specific characters.
Nathan Scott (@caffi_nate on twitter) for the awesome font - Abaddon
Vitaly Kuznetsov on artstation for the awesome skill/spell animations from their Unity Bundle
7soul1 on deviantart for their awesome RPG Graphics Pack
Wine Wang/lbwbwyf on artstation for the backgrounds for the fight scenes from their Unity Package