Damn Ropes
Damn Ropes is this one hard game nobody wants to play because it’s too difficult a challenge but you play it anyway (just don’t tell anyone you play on the ‘Not So Hard’ mode).
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There’s no running and jumping in this platformer game. Use your rope to swing from platform to platform. Perform impressive maneuvers, beat diverse challenges and speedrun your way through each level. Oh, did I mention you can fall all the way down to the beginning of each level?
Ah yes. Story. There is a story in this game. There’s actually a pretty deep story in here. But we can’t just throw massive dialogues at you while you try not to fall down. Pay attention to the background and other small details to understand the lore and deeper meaning of the games story. Or don’t. It’s up to you!
So you’re a fan of torturing yourself so you speedrun every single game you can find? Good thing we prepared the game for you! There’s a timer for every level as well as a global timer to track your records. The obvious route to the goal is not always the fastest one (spoiler: It never is).
So the game isn’t difficult enough for you? Then try activating a challenge. Or two. Or all of them. There are challenges like the ‘The Floor Is Not Lava But Very Dangerous’ challenge where you’ve to reach the goal without touching the ground. Or the ‘Your Rope Isn’t As Good As It Should Be’ challenge where you can’t expand or decrease it. If you can beat the whole game with every single challenge activated at once you gained our deepest respect.
We want to create a difficult game, but we also want everyone to enjoy it. So we implemented the ‘Not So Hard’ mode (it just sounds less rude than easy mode). This mode helps a lot when you’ve trouble beating the game. It’s easier to hit the environment with your rope and you can expand and decrease it further.
Read More: Best Difficult 2D Games.
RAD
Disclaimer: I have played this game for more than 100 hours during the closed beta. I’m unaffiliated with the developers and did not receive anything for free.
RAD is a roguelite heavily influenced by The Binding of Isaac and to a smaller degree by other similar games. It contains many elements that are the same as in BoI: More and more things will unlock as you play. Shops are upgradable (persistently). Pairs of procedurally generated levels for each biome which contain their own set of enemies, with alternative possibilities for boss fights. Mutations (which provide attack options and other effects), when paired, can have synergies, just like Isaac’s tear upgrades. There are keys (floppy disks) which open doors and chests. There are different types of hitpoints. Multiple ending cutscenes. There is even a timed daily challenge mode reminiscent of Dead Cells.
– Real player with 35.5 hrs in game
Read More: Best Difficult Action Roguelike Games.
In short - Worth a look.
In long? …
It’s kind of strange to see some of the anti-80s backlash against this in the face of so much nostalgia for that time, but everything wears out its welcome, and everyone’s tolerance and memory will be unique. Not everyone loved the 80s, I guess, and personal tastes are a wholly legitimate entitlement.
That said, if you haven’t OD’ed on 80s, this little rogue-like will be a fun distraction. While post apocalyptic settings, and even specifically alternate Cold War history settings are nothing new, the big kid on the block with that is of course Fallout, with a completely different aesthetic. This changes out 50s corn for 80s cheese, and that changes everything, other than the whole, post-post apocalypse bit.
– Real player with 31.0 hrs in game
Curse of Eternity
⚔️ Brutal Combat - Engage in stamina-based combat where you have to dodge, swing, shoot, and cast at the right time, or you’ll get your face stabbed clean off.
🔥 Epic Boss Fights - Overcome adversity and face off against Midrhada’s Guardians - beings of great power that have fed on the life force of the Cursed for 100 years.
🏹 Play to your Strengths - Begin the game with a misfit that strikes your fancy (Gladiator, Assassin, or Mage), then spice up your build with your favorite arrangement of weapons, proficiencies, skills, and spells. Your base class is just a starting point.
🧭 Explore the last Remnants of Humanity - On your journey through our handcrafted world you’ll find monsters, traps, puzzles, locks, keys, secrets, vistas, and more!
📜 Game Features
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Your journey is your own; you must venture out and find your path without quest markers or compass blips.
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Choices and consequences are permanent; progress is saved automatically.
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Our world seamlessly loads from one area to the next to keep you fully immersed.
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Defeat horrors, collect loot, and grow stronger as you move from one challenge to the next.
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Varying weapons and skills make up a unique play experience with several combos for you to try.
☠️This World Burns.
Nearly all who still survive are magically enslaved by the demigoddess, Midrhada. Whether it is luck, strength of will, or some blessing of the Gods, you’ve managed to resist the Curse for now.
The only way to achieve true freedom is to dethrone Midrhada. You must travel to every edge of the Viridian Empire, find her guardians, and slay them in order to cleave a path to the Empress herself. You’ll face countless enemies and beings of incredible power. Your tortuous path is laid with traps and obscured by tests of skill and wit. Can you defeat Midrhada and overcome this Curse of Eternity?
Read More: Best Difficult Exploration Games.
Thymesia
Story
A kingdom once thriving on the power of alchemy enters an age of calamity. After discovering the price behind alchemy, an attempt to stop the use of it backfired. Within a few days, the kingdom was in chaos and the streets infested with monsters.
The key to understanding all of this is in Corvus’ hands, but he has lost his memory. The truth can only be found within his memories, but every time he dives back in, he only finds more secrets.
Features
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Harness the Plague: Seize the disease from gruesome bosses and wield them as weapons. Give them a taste of their own medicine. This is the only way to survive this desolate kingdom.
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Embrace the Raven: Shift into your raven form during battle. Throw your feathers like daggers and execute enemies with the swiftness of a raptor.
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Fight Your Way: Upgrade and modify your basic movements and plague weapons. Build your very own play-style and prepare for the challenges in your way.
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Shattered Memories: Recover your memories through adventures. With different choices you’ve made and items you’ve collected, you’ll get different endings. Stitch together your own truth.
Danger Gazers
I have had my first glance on the game and will continue to update the review as I progress.
So far with less than an hour in a game - I love the style.
Style of everything: environment and enemy visuals (with tons of their variety), game progression on the campaign map, looting system, art of special characters' “rooms”.
And the audio - pure awesomness.
Everyone’s comparing this game to some other games that I haven’t yet played, but I personally find it a bit simillar to Edmund McMillen’s classic - Binding of Isaac. Maybe the color scheme of the graphics and randomly generated levels does the trick, but I love the similar feeling these two share.
– Real player with 34.5 hrs in game
EDITED 1/6/20
About five hours in as of writing this, and I’m very happy to see a good indie roguelike start off well in 2020. Danger Gazers has a lot going for it, as I’ll (somewhat) briefly detail. It’s addictive, has great replayability, and is a welcome addition to any roguelike fan’s library.
Quickly I’ll just pay the “Game It’s Like” toll - it’s close to Nuclear Throne, with some twists. Also, gotta name-drop NL for giving this game a go and piquing my interest.
The gameplay is responsive and controls well with KB/M. I don’t play roguelikes like these with a controller, so I can’t give you my input there (pun intended). The curve of starting out a new run and adding items/tarot cards to your character works beautifully. At first you start out slow in a small arena, gradually getting stronger as you progress through each location as you fight stronger and faster enemies. You’ll find companions to help you along the way (think “followers” in Binding of Isaac or guon stones in Enter the Gungeon - ack! I paid the toll thrice!) and many of the items come with trade-offs.
– Real player with 15.9 hrs in game
Undungeon
I’ve got thousands upon thousands of hours invested in ARPG’s of all types, and I absolutely love Sci-Fi. Was looking for something that hit the spot in that department. I am about 8 or 9 hours in so far and this has not disappointed at all. I’d still be playing but I gotta sleep. So I can get up and play again tomorrow!
I did receive a copy to review, but am not being compensated for my thoughts. This is my personal honest opinion.
TLDR: Would I recommend? Yeah! I enjoyed my time very much. Love the aesthetic, the unique mechanics/features but the real gem is the story!
– Real player with 55.6 hrs in game
A decent game that can still have some polish
First about what is good
Game has a great visual style, has a lot fun smaller details in environment and character designs and overall decent though very repeatable combat, interesting initial plot and character design. Also looks like devs very inspired by Hyper Light drifter =)
Then what could be improved
I really wanted to finish this game but in the second half it gets like reeeeeeally boring
! Finishing Q-Dimention I thought that the game will be over and was surprised when saw absolutely same world but now green withsame stuff to do again And one of the reasons is that there is no character development in means of items or combat abilities and the story is same as in the first half but in different decorations. I mean items should be really redesigned and rebalanced. When Void gets the weapon type that is called torpid something or somehow like that you just have to stick with it because otherwise you don’t get enough resources unless you do the extra action trying to finish the enemy with the knife every time. So the game forces you to ether play with weapon you like and experiment with other weapons or get the precious resources so you can craft the organs that brake all damn time. Same with the flaming core and some organs that helps you farm essence and give health buff when you have particular nodes equipped. Without this synergy you just won’t be able to play normally and will die so player is forced to use items from mid game because the items you get later in the game are just not worth it. The game is ether not working properly or has not that good item description because when I equipped ancient core and had max essence I didn’t see any buff to damage so I don’t know guys, please think of more informative item descriptions. The fact that there are no sound effects for character speech doesn’t add to the atmosphere of the game. It would be great if you would add some speech imitation rumble like they used to do in older 8 and 16 bit games
– Real player with 25.3 hrs in game
Unsouled
I was a backer of this project and have play-tested the early builds before the developer has announced that this game is going to be published by Neowiz. If you really want to see the game that pushes the limitation of stamina-action game mechanics (AKA souls-like), You guys need to play this game. Imagine someone mixed Hyper Light Drifter, Sekiro, 3D Ninja Gaiden, and Tekken in an iron pot and condensed it into 5~8 hour game. Definitely one of the best action games in 2021, even without the context that this game was developed by one person for five years.
– Real player with 33.2 hrs in game
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Review by Gaming Masterpieces - The greatest games of all time on Steam.
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Is this game a masterpiece? No, I don’t think so, at least not for everyone. It is a very combo-focused, fast action RPG. The pixel art is good (your character and enemies are quite small), but the combat is something to get used to. You won’t get very far with just normal attacks, you really need to learn those combos and execute them lightning fast and with good aim. If you like that, and normal button mashing combat is too easy or repetitive for you, then take a closer look at this game. You will not be disappointed.
– Real player with 11.8 hrs in game
Ghost Grab 3000
Ghost Grab is a great arcade title, about catching and popping ghosts after the apocalypse. What starts with a simple grab and dodge mechanic quickly becomes a fast paced, bullet dodge game, where the players must use emps, nukes and dashes to wrangle a horde of spirits. Really fun, quick game. Much more forgiving than Switch N Shoot for beginners, too.
– Real player with 3.5 hrs in game
Game Review from 30 Minutes of Play
Reminding myself if I should revisit and if you should purchase.
ELEVATOR PITCH: Bullethell Megaman
LIKED: Easy to learn, hard to master gameplay. Love the pixel art and chip-tune throwback.
DISLIKED: Starting levels can get tedious causing some early mistakes in what would be perfect play.
===== Mood After 30mins =====
☑ Addicted
☐ Afternoon delight
☐ Grindfest
☐ Frustrated
===== Will I Revisit =====
☑ Yes, I aim to 100% complete
– Real player with 3.3 hrs in game
NEO Scavenger
NEO Scavenger is a turn-based, post-apocalyptic, survival roguelike with perma-death. I also now sometimes fondly call it a Procedural Death Michigan. It’s mean, immersive, annoyingly addictive and seems to strongly dislike players wearing right boots (left boots are fine).
Basically, you scavenge around (and die after the building crumbles on you), fight other people scavenging around (and die valiantly with monkey wrench in hand) or try to talk to them (and die a turn later by drinking a celebratory made-it-through-the-turn sip of poisoned water), try to kill creatures that would like to eat you almost as much as you’d like to eat them (and die hungry), craft items to help you survive (and die warm because your fire alerted every deadly thing around), keep track of your hunger, thirst, diseases and injuries (and die very informed) or try to get to the seemingly last big hub of civilization (and die trying to get there; or trying to get in; or after you get in; or on your way back out).
– Real player with 389.2 hrs in game
Picked this up on a lark, as I am heavily into survival games lately. I was hesitant due to the low res, pixel graphics, but man am I glad I took a chance on this!
What stands out immediately is choice and consequence. You can’t have it all. You have to build a character with weaknesses, and weaknesses can just be not having some of the skills you might like to have, or it can be actual weaknesses to give you points to get more benefits.
You might take Fragile for example, making you take more damage than normal if you get hit, and you might do this because you really want the points it gives you to take Trapping so you can make fire right away at the start of the game.
– Real player with 168.4 hrs in game
Rain World
Where to even begin with Rain World? There are three problems I have with Rain World: lack of player agency, occasionally broken controls and, screen changes.
The game tells you almost nothing. It shows you the very basics and then goes “Eat stuff and don’t be eaten”. It’s a Metroidvainia style roguelike where you pick up items in certain areas to help you better survive the game. But, listen to this. To get this game’s version of heart containers to increase your max health you have to find an area of the world where everything is all fuzzy, then die. Then you have to come back to that same area with full health and talk to a spirit. How is any player supposed to figure that out without a guide? Oh and, btw the “spirit” is also a giant, black, floating tentacle monster. The first one you encounter is before you’ll see any friendly creatures so any new player would probably just leave the area immediately and never get the life max increase. It’s just bad design, plain and simple. That’s just one example of which there are many. This is my biggest problem with the game, as a whole. It’s absurd to make a game about exploration and discovery but design it in such a way that you NEED a walkthrough just to play it.
– Real player with 167.2 hrs in game
Rain World is an absolutely exceptional game I’m not afraid to call the masterpiece of the modern game industry.
Rain World is a well crafted combination of gameplay mechanics, philosophical ideas and charming aesthetics. This creation is unfair and absolutely is a niche game. It will make you frustrated and is not for everyone. For me Rain World became one of the most important video games of my life. Let’s get to the point:
- The world that feels alive. Getting chased by a Lizard while running under a random Dropwig waiting for pray making it jump on you but actually attacking The Lizard and making them lose interest in you while they fight for their lives. While you’re watching this scene no longer as a pray with momentary sigh of relief the Scavengers invade the area and start throwing spears towards the Lizard that is already carrying new prey in its jaws while a wild Vulture appears trying to steal a hard-earned meal from this beautiful creature. Do you think this is a rare situation in this game? Not at all. Rain World ecosphere feels as alive as it can get and physics based environment emphasizes this very well. Creatures hunt, fight, fool around and survive the same as you. AI in this game is simply amazing and even simply observing it is fun.
– Real player with 152.1 hrs in game