Rhythm Hero
What.
– Real player with 0.2 hrs in game
Read More: Best Dark Fantasy Point & Click Games.
Thumper
Disclaimer: This review is considerably lengthy. The abridged version is: buy it. I have been obsessed with this game for the past few days and that train, much like the space beetle you play as, is not stopping anytime soon. If you’re interested in reading about how I believe Thumper applies play conditioning, minimalism and cosmic horror to create a brilliant game filled with gorgeous graphics, an intense score and absurd replay value – go ahead!
This strange game is an incredibly satisfying trifecta of psychedelic art, rhythm-based play and horror tension. Seriously, somehow developers Drool have managed to make a game described as, a space beetle travelling through the void, a uniquely terrifying and intense experience. I want to focus the majority of my review on a concept I think Thumper executes brilliantly. It’s a term known as play conditioning, and it’s not mine – I first heard its use by film and games essayist Hbomberguy. He coined the term vis-à-vis Thumper; so, with this in mind, I believe it to be intellectually honest for me to present his argument given that I will proceed to apply, expand and comment on it.
– Real player with 69.5 hrs in game
Read More: Best Dark Fantasy Psychedelic Games.
I understand that hearing “rhythm violence” or “rhythm horror” might be a bit concerning or confusing, so I am going to try to explain it. It is incredibly difficult to know what this game means by those things without trying it.
This game has no gore, no jumpscares, no typical horror tropes, no dismemberment, etc. What Thumper does is give you a feeling of tension and sheer adrenaline. Everything builds up to different points and then releases that tension, thus giving you that feeling of “dread” and adrenaline.
– Real player with 63.8 hrs in game
Metal: Hellsinger
Part human, part demon, and obsessed with vengeance. Become The Unknown, and fight through the fiercest domains of Hell. Destroy the demon hordes and their leaders to set yourself up for an epic showdown with The Red Judge herself.
Metal: Hellsinger is a rhythm FPS, where your ability to shoot on the beat will enhance your gameplay experience. The more in sync you are with the rhythm, the more intense the music will become and the more destruction you will cause.
Defeat the demon hordes with a skull-clad blade or a wide range of murderous guns. Each weapon has its own ultimate ability, such as Murder of Crows or The Big Goodbye.
Play through an epic storyline, narrated by award-winning actor Troy Baker. Then conquer the leaderboards or challenge your friends to beat your score in Challenge Mode.
Although commonly known as Hell, The Infernal Planes is in reality a union of a thousand Hells, all of which are terrifying and diabolical in their own way. In order to dethrone The Red Judge, you must fight your way through the fiercest corners, from the icy world of Voke to the maddening world of Stygia.
Metal: Hellsinger is created by an experienced FPS team at The Outsiders and is the passion project of David Goldfarb, Game Director on Payday 2 and Lead Designer on Battlefield 3 and Battlefield: Bad Company 2.
Every track is created specifically for the game with vocals by metal icons, such as Matt Heafy (Trivium), Mikael Stanne (Dark Tranquillity), Björn Strid (Soilwork), Alissa White-Gluz (Arch Enemy) and Tatiana Shmailyuk (Jinjer).
Website
http://www.metalhellsinger.com
https://twitter.com/metalhellsinger
https://www.facebook.com/MetalHellsinger
Read More: Best Dark Fantasy Shooter Games.
BLACK BIRD
BLACK BIRD has easily been one of my biggest shmup related surprises of the year. I follow shmup releases as close as possible and as a result I feel that I’m aware of most upcoming STGs on Steam. The first time I heard about this game was around the time CAVE employees streamed it on their Twitch channel. I came across it again by chance in the 2018 Winter Sale and decided to purchase it.
This game is the debut of Japanese indie developer Onion Games on Steam. I’m not familiar with them but evidently they’re known for a few games including Million Onion Hotel. BLACK BIRD’s story is about a little girl that dies in the street. After dying she is reborn as a crow and starts to destroy everything. The story, graphics, music, and environments are all well designed. I’d call it almost a steam punk style opera type of aesthetic. When I originally saw the game on CAVE TV the style didn’t connect with me, but when I actually played the game I enjoyed it.
– Real player with 14.8 hrs in game
Imagine a remake of Fantasy Zone with Tim Burton’s flavor of adorable bleakness, japanese attention to gameplay detail and quirkiness. The game starts with a young girl reborn from despair as a Black Bird to destroy the world. The more you kill, the bigger and more powerful you’ll grow. This dark premise is offset by cute spritework, silly animations and a very eccentric soundtrack. It’s just a delight to consume the cruel world, which left you to die. The gameplay and its scoring is well tuned. The player is constantly managing risk, reward and greed. Nuking a whole screen at max combo with a completely pumped up bird is the most satisfying climax very few shoot ‘em ups manage to pull off. The first play through is easy mode and completion unlocks the slightly harder true mode. Online leader board for global score chasing just adds to the replay value.
– Real player with 12.8 hrs in game
FIGHT KNIGHT
It’s a terrific game. Fight Knight has a lot of uniqueness to it and doesn’t follow gaming trends much at all, beyond a bedrock of mostly old school foundations. A dungeon crawler with combat a bit like Punch Out and God Hand, it lacks almost all now standard progression mechanics and instead focuses on the actual game you play. Difficulty ramps about linearly, not many games can claim that, and it never becomes trivially easy. The bosses are highlights and the basic framework of combat and how enemies mix and match gives a lot of variety to encounters. The different gauntlets you equip are surprisingly different from one another and provide actually different playstyles as opposed to very minor moveset reworks.
– Real player with 146.4 hrs in game
fight knight is an all around fantastic game. it’s a unique blend of dungeon crawling mixed with a first person punch em up.
the combat is a lot like God Hand; it’s challenging and has tons of situational moves you gotta use at the right time. there’s lots of enemy variety and encounters that kept me on my toes. the different weapon upgrades also each had different playstyles. i got filtered by a few bosses, but after changing strategies and equipment, i did eventually manage to beat them, which was intensely satisfying.
– Real player with 20.3 hrs in game
Samurai Simulator
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1440340/Cannon_Foundry_Simulator/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1403850/Mars_Colony_Builder/
You are a young warrior training in the art of bushido. Born in the turbulent times, you cross the country to find your life’s purpose in service to one of the powerful Daimyo. Find a lord whose ideals you hold dear, pledge allegiance to him, and lead his family to victory in the struggle for influence and power. Become a true legend among both samurai and local people. Make the right choices and defend your honour to live to old age and train your followers! Rise through the ranks or… start your own clan!
Samurai Simulator is an expansive life simulation game set in feudal Japan and inspired by the best RPGs on the market. Travel through a huge, open-world and perform various quests. Through them, you will gain experience that will allow you to develop your skills, and become a powerful warrior through one of several extensive skill trees. Feudal Japan is full of untold mysteries. Spread the glory of your lord across the region and you may also have to prove your strength against deities and local demons.
Be a lone traveller or build your clan, and your disciples and supporters will fight alongside you during the most demanding battles. Meet historical characters and perform interesting and complex tasks for them. Let the whole country know your name, so your clan becomes the most powerful clan in the region!
Game Features:
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An open world full of mysteries just waiting to be discovered
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Extensive RPG mechanics inspired by the classics of the genre
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Lead the samurai through his life and become a legendary warrior!
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Be whoever you want to be: a lone warrior, an army commander or village, castle or city owner
Sekiro™: Shadows Die Twice - GOTY Edition
My proudest gaming achievement.
Sekiro is a rock hard, unforgiving, thrilling, beautiful, roller coaster of a ride. Any Souls game experience you have will actually work against you in Sekiro for the most part. It takes the From Software formula in a completely new direction that was initially frustrating for me but ended up be incredibly fulfilling.
My initial playthrough was going along great until I ran into Shinobi Hunter Enshin of Misen. That guy was the biggest brick wall of any From Software game for me. I actually gave up for awhile but eventually it clicked. I Got Gud as they say.
– Real player with 508.6 hrs in game
★░░░░░░░░░░░████░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░★ ★░░░░░░░░░███░██░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░★ ★░░░░░░░░░██░░░█░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░★ ★░░░░░░░░░██░░░██░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░★ ★░░░░░░░░░░██░░░███░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░★ ★░░░░░░░░░░░██░░░░██░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░★ ★░░░░░░░░░░░██░░░░░███░░░░░░░░░░░░░░★ ★░░░░░░░░░░░░██░░░░░░██░░░░░░░░░░░░░★ ★░░░░░░░███████░░░░░░░██░░░░░░░░░░░░★ ★░░░░█████░░░░░░░░░░░░░░███░██░░░░░░★ ★░░░██░░░░░████░░░░░░░░░░██████░░░░░★ ★░░░██░░████░░███░░░░░░░░░░░░░██░░░░★ ★░░░██░░░░░░░░███░░░░░░░░░░░░░██░░░░★ ★░░░░██████████░███░░░░░░░░░░░██░░░░★ ★░░░░██░░░░░░░░████░░░░░░░░░░░██░░░░★ ★░░░░███████████░░██░░░░░░░░░░██░░░░★ ★░░░░░░██░░░░░░░████░░░░░██████░░░░░★ ★░░░░░░██████████░██░░░░███░██░░░░░░★ ★░░░░░░░░░██░░░░░████░███░░░░░░░░░░░★ ★░░░░░░░░░█████████████░░░░░░░░░░░░░★ ★░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░★
– Real player with 144.6 hrs in game