Convergence Compulsion
Addicting game with simple controls! Works best with a controller. Each round starts off slow but quickly picks up pace until you can’t keep up.
– Real player with 11.6 hrs in game
Read More: Best Fast-Paced Score Attack Games.
I’ve been playing this game since Alpha and the Steam release version is my favorite. The developer has been responsive with squashing bugs and implementing fixes and design changes.
The game itself is addictive. The concept is simple but there is a lot of depth to obstacle placement and power up usage. I feel like my skill matters more than luck, which is great for a score attack game like this, and every game I play I can see things I can improve to get better. The global leaderboard is a great addition that keeps me hooked trying to get the top spot.
– Real player with 8.2 hrs in game
Soarocity
A retro-gameplay inspired 2d platformer focused on speed and rotation. Take control of the D.A.V.E. to save the people of a distant planet. Soarocity offers over 200 levels with an overall design philosophy that the levels are the characters.
Read More: Best Fast-Paced Platformer Games.
Boomerang X
Boomerang X is an insanely fast paced fling and zing game.
I see a lot of people leaving reviews saying that they are upset with the fact the base game takes only 2 hours to beat.
What they always fail to mention is that those 2 hours are packed to the brim with just about all the content you need. The arguably short playtime required means the game will never feel dull and every 10 minutes or so you will be introduce with a new environment, possibly new ability, and more knowledge on how to beat the next level. It’s addicting to go through the motions of progressing in this game which is why I think it’s so appealing to speedrunning.
– Real player with 48.2 hrs in game
Read More: Best Fast-Paced Arena Shooter Games.
$20 for such a short game is fairly steep (1-3 hours with New Game+), so I can only recommend this game to anyone interested in speed running and gyro. I’d honestly put this game at $5 - $10 max regardless of it being a speed run game. The only reason I paid the full $20 was because of Flick Stick.
An issue I’ve seen brought up is that Flux (slow motion) is too strong. You can use it every time you throw the boomerang. This feels like it was balanced for New Game+ as enemy density basically forces you to constantly use it. Since there is a super meter in the game (Comet Mode), I think there is an obvious solution. Make it so taking out enemies not only fills Comet Mode but using Flux will also drain it. Since the game was made for speed running though, I don’t think any changes will be made to Flux.
– Real player with 21.8 hrs in game
Dashing Fire
Finding the game very fun, i haven’t beaten it yet but i find the game tense and tight. The design is very thoughtful and encourages tactical decision making. Also the art of the game is very nice. The few things i have against the game is I fins it much too easy to buy shortcuts before you’ve been to an area, practically disincentives playing the game, the other thing is that after playing for a while some of the areas can get quite repetitive. Other than those small gripes the games is great and would definitely recommend to any fans of rogue likes.
– Real player with 13.4 hrs in game
This is such a cool little indie game! It’s so worth it! It’s basically a point and click rogue-like but it has way more depth to it then just that. There are 4 worlds for you to discover and traverse around, each with their own unique gameplay mechanic. In each world, there are 3 levels which once completed you will face one of three random bosses for that area. If you complete all 4 worlds, you fight the final boss to complete the story but there is so much replayability as you can earn currency to spend on lore and short-cuts.
– Real player with 9.5 hrs in game
Hour of the Snake
Welcome to the Hour of the Snake – fast and very challenging classic snake game.
Two-button controls
Yes. Just two buttons. One to turn left and the other to turn right.
Three game modes
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Campaign (70 levels, 3 difficulty levels)
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Endless (5 arenas)
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Fruit Hunt
Appearance customization
Play, unlock new elements and customize your snake. There are over 100,000 possible combinations.
Rifter
This game is amazing. You should buy it.
There are certain games that are just special. This is one of them. I put it up there with Nex Machina as an impeccable arcade experience that will have you throwing your control in frustration and then rushing to the store to buy another.
It’s will feel wierd at first, but once you “get it”, the experience is invigorating. The speed, the precision, the challenge.
You’ve probably noticed the amazing aesthetic + music, which provides a lovely backdrop for your hours of playing the same level over and over trying to shave off seconds or complete one of the games devious challenges. Good stuff, but the real meat here is the gameplay.
– Real player with 67.7 hrs in game
Super fun fast-paced grappling hook platformer with smooth acrobatic movement, fantastic level and enemy design, and satisfying dash-into-enemies combat that will make you wonder why other grappling hook games don’t do combat this way. The controls make it very easy to pick up, especially considering it’s a grappling hook game, but it’s still ridiculously hard to master; I’d argue that some of the optional end-game challenge levels are even harder than the equivalent levels in Celeste.
It has a ton of levels, hidden collectibles and optional challenges, e.g. “finish this stage without touching the ground” or “finish this stage without using the grappling hook more than X times”, like the similar “only use X portals” challenges in Portal. I bought this after randomly seeing it in my Steam discovery queue and ended up getting waaaay more polish and content than I expected, along with super tight momentum-based controls. Highly recommended!
– Real player with 26.4 hrs in game
Hardest Harvest
Tired of fame and realm-saving heroic quests, you decided it was better to retire from adventuring and lead a calmer life dedicated to farming. But peaceful times were not meant to last, as a rift bursting with foul energy split open the ground in front of your house, devouring the farmland and all of its inhabitants. Trusty pitchfork in hand, you get ready to dive for one more adventure, for what will become your Hardest Harvest.
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Experience intense and fast action, reminiscent of the classic arena shooters.
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Stand your ground on a rock plummeting through 3 different biomes, each hosting its own plant monstrosities.
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Banish endless hordes of corrupted creatures.
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Survive the swarm long enough and draw the attention of massive plant leaders.
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Save your veggies! Each friendly vegetable holds a temporary power up that can get you out of the direst situations.
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Shoot a stream of magic bolts and unleash powerful exploding orbs.
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Fluid movement and a simple control scheme lets you to traverse the map quickly.
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Use advanced techniques like bunny hopping and pole vaulting to dodge the fastest enemies.
Kick Bot – 2-Btns, 100% wall-jumping!
Kick Bot - the TWO BUTTON platformer where you can’t walk – only wall-jump!
Save humanity from a giant robot leg attached to the moon that wants to KICK THE EARTH!
An evil AI banished to the moon is out for revenge! Stop the AI’s giant robot GigaLeg from kicking Earth into oblivion. Play as Kick Bot, humanity’s last hope! Infiltrate the GigaLeg and defeat the AI deep in the Lunar Cortex.
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Wall jump, slide, butt stomp, and dash through 7 unique worlds of tough-as-nails levels.
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Simple two-button controls, but many challenging maneuvers to master.
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Respawn fast! There’s no time to waste.
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Unlock secret extra-challenging levels.
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Crisp pixel-art visuals inspired by the 16-bit handheld console generation.
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Heart-pounding electronic soundtrack by Jake Mercer
PAWARUMI
Pawarumi is a fantastic vertical shmup and one of the best of all time. Great graphics, great music, three different difficulty settings with the easiest being super easy and laid back for newcomers and the hardest being perfect for those looking for a traditional bullet hell challenge featuring a crazy true final boss encounter at the end w/ a true ending.
Includes an in-game gallery achievement menu, a Practice mode to play individual stages (and being able to go for achievements that can be unlocked on those specific stages). The game’s three color weapon/enemy color system is quick and easy to pick up on and the game implements the system perfectly, allowing you to score more points, refill your health meter (Shield) and refill your bomb meter (Super). Each stage is really well designed and different from one another, with each section throwing something entirely new at you beyond just new enemy ship types. Highly recommended for anyone looking for a fun and challenging vertical shmup with tons of replay value =)
– Real player with 33.5 hrs in game
I kickstarted this game and haven’t been disappointed. To call it an indie game really doesn’t do it justice - the level of polish is very high. Nice 2.5D graphics that are reminiscent of Radiant Silvergun or Zero Gunner 2, interesting weapon mechanics and a deep scoring system really make Pawarumi stand out among ‘indie’ games, and with just about the right level of difficulty not to scare beginners off. The game has 5 levels each with it’s own unique theme - first level is a snow base, second is a weapons factory set in industry and lava, find the rest out for yourself :-p. With mid bosses and bosses that you can blow bits off to maximize score, anyone who’s played shooters before will be right at home. Only real omission is the lack of a 2 player mode. Definitely worth £12.99 of anyone’s money!
– Real player with 16.8 hrs in game
Super Astrovade
Super Astrovade is a fast-paced action arcade game where you evade enemies and absorb stardust to unleash a powerful supernova bomb that destroys everything around you. It’s a shoot-em up with no shooting and a bullet hell without bullets. A new take on the SHMUP genre that is more approachable for new-comers. Levels require quick-thinking to avoid enemies instead of strict pattern memorization. Easy to play but hard to master if you want to achieve the best times and ranks.
Features
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Evade enemies using quick-thinking and reflexes instead of memorizing patterns
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Short, fast-paced level design to keep the action from getting boring
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Over 35 levels to master
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No lives - death doesn’t end the level, but you’ll want to avoid it to earn the best rank possible