Yooka-Laylee
Yooka-Laylee notably became famous before it was even released, since it broke a crowdfunding record, and this accomplishment, due to context, was glorious on its own. This is common knowledge to many readers, but just in case, a recap: A bit over 20 years ago Rareware made a series called Banjo-Kazooie that became possibly the most beloved 3D platformers of all time. A third game was announced but due to Rare getting sold to Microsoft, delayed a while, and what people ended up getting was a fairly unrelated vehicle-building game with the Banjo license grafted on; worse still, it’s publicity and script constantly lambasted the original formula as outmoded. The game bombed, many staff left Rare, and this was already karmic, but then the rogues went on to twist the knife by forming Playtonic, launched a Kickstarter promising a new game that brought back the old BK style, and made nearly 2 million pounds in under an hour. As such a huge middle finger to those in Rare who betrayed old fans, Playtonic deserves great applause. By now, though, Kickstarter has become infamous for how making profits from appealing concepts alone allows developers to skimp on their execution, and though not without its good points, Yooka-Laylee continues that trend.
– Real player with 44.4 hrs in game
Read More: Best Colorful Indie Games.
Huge, empty worlds that are gorgeous and exciting to explore for the first time, but are painfully tedious to scour for the last few collectables?
Only 5 worlds and a hub, but they’re all unnecessarily massive?
A bunch of annoying physics puzzles, racing challenges, and timers?
Hidden bonus challenges that make you want to tear your hair out?
Wait a minute, this isn’t Banjo-Kazooie. This is Super Mario Sunshine!
Seriously, Yooka-Laylee makes more sense when you look at it as a successor to Sunshine, a game that got just about as much hate as it got love. Like Sunshine, I feel that Yooka-Laylee simultaneously deserves all the love it gets, but also all the hate it gets. I haven’t felt so perfectly ambivalent over a game in a very long time. I had a lot of fun with this game, hence the thumbs-up, but I can perfectly understand why some people don’t like it. If you had a love/hate relationship with Sunshine, you can probably expect to feel exactly the same about Yooka-Laylee.
– Real player with 38.5 hrs in game
Knights And Bikes
Knights and Bikes!
I LOVED this game! I had never heard of Foam Sword prior to this game, but when I heard that Double Fine Presents was publishing it, I was immediately excited. At no point playing Knights and Bikes was I ever bored. The game had me enthralled from start to finish. Playing this game reminded me what it was like to be a kid at that awkward stage where you still believe in magic and fairy stories, but aren’t content to just read them anymore. You desperately want your own adventure. Running around in your bare feet, splashing in puddles on rainy days, and hanging out with your friends until the street lights came on. After completing the game, I felt wistful, joyous, and strangely– a little sad. It’s been awhile since a game has made me feel so many emotions.
– Real player with 77.8 hrs in game
Read More: Best Colorful Indie Games.
Knights and Bikes is one of the most magical, wonderful experiences I’ve had with a video game in a long time. It’s a beautiful, stunning masterpiece filled with puzzles, charm and heart. It’s a perfect game for anyone of almost any age - accessible without being basic, intuitive to play. It’s a fantastic game in co-op or solo, and the fact it works so well solo despite being clearly designed around co-op is a real achievement by itself.
It’s the kind of game I’m hesitant to say too much about, because a lot of the joy comes from the constantly surprising innovation on display. Demelza and Nessa are two of the most endearing protagonists I’ve encountered, and the game’s just filled with beautiful nostalgia for anyone who was ever a child at any point, which is like 99.4% of people. It’s also really quaint and quirky without being annoyingly twee; whereas in the wrong hands the plot could’ve been saccharine cringe, here it’s tonally spot on at every turn.
– Real player with 54.0 hrs in game
Guard Duty
Did not enjoy the gameplay even for a moment. Pains me to say it, because the graphics and animation were superb. The story was forgettable (I spent the first hour looking for my pants), and the voice acting was just okay (though plentiful).
Besides the fact that I was never invested in the story or the characters, this point and click adventure used a bunch of gameplay conventions that drove me crazy. Sometimes, there will be a scene where the landscape extends past the monitor, which is only visible by first walking to the boarder. Then, there would be scenes where items were inaccessible until something else happened, but there were no indicators that there were a new object hotspot. And lastly, the interaction of objects was not consistent, even the same object might be inaccessible at one time then be able to be pushed a few moments later.
– Real player with 9.6 hrs in game
Read More: Best Colorful Indie Games.
The adventure game genre seems a little oversaturated with somber detective stories. As much as I enjoy those, I love nothing more than some good laughs, some vibrant colors - and I’m a sucker for cartoons! Guard Duty fills that void on all counts.
It harkens back to gems of lo-res point&click comedy such as Simon the Sorcerer or Discworld. It’s got that lively, colorful, cartoony art and animation that’s just joy to these tired eyes. It’s crisp & elegant, with a well-chosen palette. Story-wise it might also remind you of the classic Discworld - as you assume the role of a member of the town guard. There’s magic, orcs and monsters, too! And time travel! If you enjoyed Sir Terry’s imaginative worlds (both the fantastic and the earlier sci-fi) & his sharp wit, you’ll be right at home - like in the novels, the main goal is simple: “Save the princess. Save the world”, but what elevates it is the characters, the interactions, and the humor. There’s some genuinely endearing slapstick, a few nods to the genre classics (concentrated in one spot mostly), but my favorite was the multi-layered bits, saturated with meta relating to modern culture, and even gaming. On the flipside - the game gets significantly darker when the main antagonist surfaces. Tondbert only gets glimpses of this dark side - but then, in the last act, we are transported into a bleak neon-lit future. Think Blade Runner or Terminator. It still manages to throw in a few jokes, and there’s your token geeky hacker girl to lighten up the mood - but other than that, it’s pretty straightforward sci-fi/cyberpunk. This bit feels shorter - with not much world to explore - but it makes sense. For one, given the situation, the world of the future wouldn’t be very lively & interesting to just roam around. Two: there’s been enough build-up, time for some decissive action!
– Real player with 9.2 hrs in game
Jenny LeClue - Detectivu
Note: When I wrote this review, Jenny LeClue had no voice acting, which is why the review doesn’t mention it. The game recently updated with the voice acting. It is extremely good, and on this replay, I can’t imagine going back to no voices. It turned a great game into an exceptional one.
Jenny LeClue is positively adorable. The eponymous hero, yes- exceedingly so- but also the game itself is just overall incredibly charming.
As far as gameplay goes, it’s nothing you haven’t seen before. There’s a lot of conversations between Jenny and the various residents of Arthurton, as she walks about a 2d world, flicking switches and pushing boxes. There’s some neat investigation sections that will feel very familiar to fans of Danganronpa or Phoenix Wright.
– Real player with 22.5 hrs in game
I first learned about Jenny LeClue a few years ago through Adventuregamers, after it had already been funded on Kickstarter. I followed the progression of the game through the developer’s page and eagerly awaited the arrival of this beautifully animated detective game, led by a young girl no less!
I regret to say that even though the developers obviously put a lot of effort in this game, it’s poorly constructed in terms of gameplay, plot and pace. After spending 21 hours of my life on it, which I’m never getting back, I feel a bit outraged – so forgive my long review and negative rant. I really regret being a completionist since I otherwise would have deserted the game maybe an hour after trying it.
– Real player with 21.7 hrs in game
Sentris
Sentris is definitely worth looking into if you have any interest in creating music. It reminds me of my days playing with software such as FruityLoops, but puts its own unique spin on things. I’ve enjoyed playing through the provided songs and am starting to create my own unique setups (as well as attempting to emulate some more widely-known music too).
“What is Sentris in 2 Minutes?” Video:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=502221656
Overall the game is a lot of fun, and quite a versatile tool once you get to grips with it. That said, there are a few features I would love to see implemented going forward. Primarily these are just additional expansions for added versatility when creating songs. It would be great to be able to select notes outside the standard scale that I choose, and to apply effects (such as reverb or echo) to specific instruments during remix.
– Real player with 7.6 hrs in game
I played an early version of this game at PAX last year and could not get my head around it. I dropped blocks haphazardly in to a wheel, not understanding what I was supposed to be doing and not enjoying the sounds I was creating. I walked away feeling embarrassed that I had failed to ‘get’ Sentris.
The tutorial in the release version immediately got me on the right track and removed my doubts about this game. Within five minutes I was creating funky loops that went beyond the tunes the game was feeding me and I felt the thrill of composition that I know the designer was aiming to inspire. There is a real satisfaction in building loops layer by layer and it is especially cool to see how the sound evolves as later layers start to push earlier ones out of the loop. The way the progression of songs helps you learn what the game has to offer in terms of depth is almost perfectly executed, the only thing that I struggled a little to figure out was how to change octaves in freestyle mode (you have to climb or descend the scale to reach the octave you want to play in).
– Real player with 5.0 hrs in game
Last Soul
LAST SOUL is a 2D Pixel-Art, Shooter, Action, Platformer with a compelling story about a future where mankind is losing its will to live.
Get cover
Use shields to protect yourself from the bullet hell that enemies spread towards you. You need to also use these shields as a platform when reaching the higher ground.
Dash
Dash and destroy. With dash, you are fast as F boi! Often the attack is the best defense.
Bullet time
Last Soul is a fast-paced game, and there is a lot’s going on around you. Control the time and use the bullet time to dodge enemies bullets.
Big guns
You need big guns to destroy big bosses. Collect them all and spread mayhem around you.
Fly like a hawk
Death from above! Use a jetpack and fly like a bird. Enemies don’t even notice what did hit them.
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Play as an AI robot tasked with saving humanity.
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Explore and fight your way through tens of distinct regions.
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Enjoy the amazing PixelArt graphic and an immersive music style.
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Evolve your character, unlock new and more powerful weapons and abilities.
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Master special powers, including bullet time, jet pack, and shields.
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Take on awesome boss fights, or die trying.
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Make your best speedrunner time and show off on the leaderboard
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Discover Easter Eggs, boost your points, and get a totally different skin from the rest
Tower Princess
Once upon a time, in a Far Away Land, an Evil Dragon took prisoner every royal heir he could meet. Lots of worthy suitors of every kingdom tried to face the beast, without success. Now it’s your turn! You’ll have to do your best to beat the dungeon, defeat the dragon, and manage the most perfect date!
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Every run is a unique adventure
A fresh gameplay combination of 3D platforming & roguelite. Choose your knight, invite the princess and take them to the Castle full of procedurally generated dungeons and traps!
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Choose the weapon that suits your playing style!
Take a sharp and mighty sword or a long rifle that allows you to fight from a distance and upgrade it with extra abilities!
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Cheerful & light-hearted atmosphere
Dive into the cheerful atmosphere full of encouragement and support. You don’t have to be a perfect knight to succeed!
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Let not the charming visual style trick you!
The game is inspired by the classic adventure games, 3D platformers and the Dark Souls series and not as casual as it may look at a first glance!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1138650/Tower_Princess/
The Adventure Pals
Recently, I’ve been into a lot of different stuff including everything, but not gaming. Busy schedule made me feel so sad about inability to spend more time on Steam playing everything I bought for the last few weeks.
My email notifications literally raped my ears with these message sounds regarding new price drops and game releases. Frankly speaking, I was kinda happy to see all these titles on sale and understanding that I will be ready soon enough to try them all warmed my heart.
One of these gems was Adventure Pals - game that I loved from the first sight by just only looking at screenshots. I was looking for an information regarding developers earlier games and their connection to Burrito Bison game made for mobiles but couldn’t find anything about it. The whole art style looks pretty much similar and some illustrations represent characters from the Burrito game. I am still a bit confused, let me know if you know more than me about the connection in the comments below.
– Real player with 17.5 hrs in game
This game is awesoooome! It’s an action-adventure platformer with cute artstyle, good animations and silly quests and dialogues.
You will explore 5 different worlds on your quest to save your dad from antagonist who is kidnapping old folks to turn them into hot dogs for his evil plan. Along your way you’ll meet all kinds of weirdos that will give you quests, which just happen to be in areas you need to go to for progression of main objectives anyway.
I liked the level design. It’s simple but interesting and fun to go through. Each area in the world has five stages and your goal in each stage is to reach the well you’ll use to travel to the next stage and so on until you reach the final stage which will have an item you need for main quest. Each area has one collectable sticker to find in one of the stages and each stage has one cupcake to find which you will use to feed fat cat that poops eggs containing hats for your main character and his companion rock.
– Real player with 12.8 hrs in game
Hidden Animals: English - Spanish
A nice game as such, but containing unforgivable mistakes in the vocabulary that it’s supposed to teach you, and badly optimised in my opinion.
I bought this game for my 9 year old daughter, who likes hidden object games and is quite good in them - but there aren’t that many suitable for children, so I was happy to find this one. Since we are neither English nor Spanish native speakers, I was prepared to translate for her and the game wasn’t meant as an educational tool, but she learns English in school, so I hoped she would also pick up a few animal names while playing. But very early she got frustrated by the fact, that it seemed simply impossible to get three golden stars and thus uncover more pieces of the bonus puzzle, no matter how quick she was or how hard she tried (I tried to help with that and didn’t succeed either) - so she stopped playing because it was driving her to tears, and I bought her Hidden Animals Photo Hunt instead to make up for this disappointment.
– Real player with 7.3 hrs in game
Hey, want to have a good game? Check this indie out! :)
In Hidden Animals you will learn animal names too, while finding them - I don’t even know why they don’t teach languages like this; awesome idea. Speaking of awesomeness I liked the music so much, that I just had to stop at the main menu, just to listen. Nice pictures, user-friendly design. I also liked that it was a good fun my daughter as well: she likes animals and stages can be completed in minutes.
– Real player with 4.8 hrs in game
Aurion: Legacy of the Kori-Odan
For lack of a better words to describe what this is, this is a JRPG. It also draws on Shonen genre of manga. It has a structure similar to many of the older japanese RPG games. This is a very vague term to use though, because there are a diverse set of games under that category. Regardless, if you have played that sort of game the gameplay outside combat will be immediately familiar. It even has overworld bits where you walk a tiny sprite between towns.
Finally, I say it is Shonen because it is reminiscent of a certain kind of manga and anime for young males. You pretty much play African Goku. You do not pilot increasingly larger robots but you do sorta gain Stands. Whether that appeals to you or not is a matter of personal preference. If you like badarsery, this game has you covered. Very powerful people perform superhuman feats and have very flashy duels after frankly talking about why they have to fight. A young man discovers himself and his place in the world. Lessons are learned. It is that kind of tale.
– Real player with 83.6 hrs in game
The story follows young prince Enzo Kori-Odan who is to become king of a peaceful little country Zama, although he is doubting his skills in the first place. On his coronation day he is also marrying his beloved Erine. Future looks bright and full of happiness, what could go wrong? Everything.
Zama finds itself under attack in an attempt of coup d’état and despite great effort from Enzo in defending his people he is defeated. Nama, teacher and master of Enzo, saves the newlywed young couple from the worst case scenario. The king and his queen, who stood by his side, are then exiled. Both of them are for the first time away from Zama and are confronted with harsh unforgiving reality. The difference between Zama and other countries surprised them. World and people around them are full of misery, cruelty, hate and so on. They have to become more powerful to be able to come back home victorious. Their travels across the land will test them, put them on the edge of their strength, to see if they can become the truthful King and Queen of Zama.
– Real player with 36.1 hrs in game