RED HOT VENGEANCE
This is an amazing game with an epic soundtrack, there’s only 10 levels and 30 challenges but there’s also new game+ once you’ve finished the normal game (which is the normal game but much harder). Additionally every level has 4 badges you can earn for them: No Mercy (kill all enemies), No Death (self explanatory), Speedrun (beat the par time) and the badge for finding the secret (this badge is only visible in level select). The difficulty curve throughout the levels is a bit wonky but it’s still very enjoyable to play. In my opinion all the levels are very replayable and there’s also user levels if you get bored of the campaign.
– Real player with 88.2 hrs in game
Read More: Best GameMaker Great Soundtrack Games.
RED HOT VENGEANCE serves almost as Hotline Miami with a camera angled differently, and with a radically different style. That’s not a complaint, however. The gameplay feels fun and incredibly smooth given the lack of need for the best graphics. The level editor is incredibly easy to use, and allows for a lot of unique creations (though not at the same level as the main game). As to the game itself, it’s essentially Hotline Miami’s gameplay combined with a John Wick plot on extra testosterone.
I do have some issues, however - I personally found that the level editor, though great to use, faced many crashing issues, and like I described earlier, the plot felt a little questionable, especially with a weird contrast of drawn art with the minimalist style of the rest of the game. I felt like its Hotline Miami inspiration also made me lose some respect in that the opening level similarly takes place in a train station.
– Real player with 9.6 hrs in game
Overcrowd: A Commute ‘Em Up
Note that I was a pre-release tester, however aside from the free key I was not paid for my time or under any obligation to play the game.
First thing to say is the art style is fantastic. If you like the screenshots then you won’t be disappointed! Occasionally things can be a bit hard to see due to the isometric viewpoint, however you can rotate the map 4 ways and view each level of your station individually if required.
In its current start of early access state I find the game really fun to play. You design your station as with any other sim type game but then you’ve also got to deal with the running of it. Staff can be equipped with tools and they will deal with problems (litter / crime / repairs etc.) within their area (perception), but if they don’t have the right tool or if the incident is too far away from them you’ll need to get involved. Some people get round this by having lots of staff with varying tools posted around, I personally like to micromanage a bit more and have less staff with better speed stats who I can use to react to problems as they come up. You also have to keep your staff rested so they don’t become useless!
– Real player with 65.6 hrs in game
Read More: Best GameMaker Simulation Games.
The short version: this is a great simulation game and it’s definitely worth the price, even as an Early Access game.
Good stuff
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The art is amazing and makes me wish I were back in London. (Would be wonderful to have art variations for certain assets, like billboards and coffee shops.)
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The spatial aspects are satisfying to solve in the long-term — e.g., planning how to connect different subway lines that are perpendicular to one another and separated by three levels, while also incorporating an additional station entrance somewhere in the middle.
– Real player with 32.6 hrs in game
Game Dev Tycoon
Game Dev Tycoon is one of those games that may look sort of boring from an outside perspective (Unless you decide to be a complete memelord on a Let’s Play or Livestream) but playing the game is a really satisfying and simple affair that is both equal parts trial and error, and also thought as to what does well.
You’ll need to think about what focus you put on each game, trying to think about what sort of aspect works well for what game, for the topic and genre it is. You do it right, and you get the satisfaction of watching those money and fan counters go up. But it’s not completely up to you to figure it out, as you play and as you create game reports in game, Game Dev Tycoon will keep notes on what works and what hasn’t worked meaning if you have the capital to try again, you can at least make another attempt at it.
– Real player with 70.0 hrs in game
Read More: Best GameMaker Simulation Games.
Fun for a good while. The actual system for designing games seems frustratingly inaccurate and arbitrary at times, mostly the “how much effort should we focus on area X and area Y of making the game”, but it does have a lot of fun moments in spite of that. If the devs were still working on it, a lot of these issues could likely be fixed with some quality of life improvements, but they’re gone now. With the game as it is, solid 7.5/10 from me.
– Real player with 33.4 hrs in game
Startup Panic
living the Dream
Manage your time as a bedroom programmer. Pick projects, contract-work and vacation days to get by, then start to build some passive income through your startup.
Beware though: Once you start hiring your first employees and upgrading your office, you’ll attract the attention of competing businesses…
don’t Panic!
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You decide how each project goes and what to focus on
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Spend a week training your staff, or earning money, or building features… but choose wisely!
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Upgrade your company in the skill tree: Will you take longer vacations or cheaper air-co?
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Hunt for new employees and hire the ones that fit your style: Social butterfly? Marketing expert? Lone Wolf?
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Compete with rival CEOs for new users in your region, and then expand out by building new headquarters on a world map!
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Hurting for cash? You can take out a loan or search for investors, but don’t think it’ll come for free…
Plaguepunk Justice
Great mix of roguelike and squad based strategy. Unique setting and mechanics for a zombie game. Love the art style and the music is very enjoyable and gives a nice tone. Very polished with no crashes or issues so far. Has that addictive “one more turn/mission”. Glad I found this hidden gem.
– Real player with 10.5 hrs in game
recently got this game on sale, got completely hooked within the first three missions
the style, dialogue, combat, and crafting system are all top notch, 10/10
some of the things that hold the game back in my eyes is the movement, often times passing through another person (or vice versa) can mess up my placement, but to be fair thats just a learning curve
the combat enforces high mobility because of the healing combat, and i think thats really interesting. It makes positioning, resource management, exploration, and map awareness very important. Also requires a little bit of tracking which “patients” you have already treated, etc
– Real player with 8.5 hrs in game
Vzerthos: The Heir of Thunder
This is one of those games you start and are a bit apprehensive about. It’s not a AAA, or a indie studio with 10 veterans, but rather 1 or 2 guys who have made a really nice, diamond in the rough.
Are there bugs, I’ve run across 2 map out-of-bound issues, that I reported and the dev was really responsive. Every time I start it up, I end up playing for a while.
It’s like Zelda meets Diablo. Constant progression, and a good pace of unlocking new abilities and weapons make this a really enjoyable experience. Once you get past your starting equipment you will start to feel more and more powerful, which is nice. It’s also easy to go back and get secrets you may have missed.
– Real player with 8.5 hrs in game
Vzerthos is a hybrid of a mouse-and-keyboard shooter and ARPG. The levels are all hand-crafted instead of randomly generated, and that’s a good thing because the best part of the game is hunting down all the secrets. You have a pretty big arsenal of ranged and melee weapons you unlock and upgrade, and some slightly overpowered skills you can buy with all that money you’ll get finding secrets. Secrets are also the only way to upgrade your HP max and mana max/regen so going back to previous areas to clean them up once you get more abilities is as advisable as it is fun.
– Real player with 7.8 hrs in game