Guacamelee! 2
I was first introduced to the series via Guacamelee: Super Turbo Championship Edition. I played that game with a friend, and I’m pretty sure we finished it in a couple of Saturday afternoons. This game I finished alone in about the same amount of time.
Pretty much everything from that game makes an appearance in the sequel, save for the ‘Intenso’ mechanic. That’s a good thing, because Intenso trivialized most of the combat. Removing that puts the focus back on the ‘combat puzzle’ again.
Combat in this game is as fun as the first. The simple beat’m’up combos are just varied enough to be interesting, without getting overwhelming. The excellent wrinkle this time is that you’re now just as capable in chicken form (perhaps more so) as you are in human form. This leads to more fun twists on fights, switching between the two forms as appropriate, watching that combo meter climb up. I feel like there are more boxed-in arenas in which the combat is used, too. That’s good and bad. More combat is fun, but it did start to feel like it was just padding out the game toward the end, with similar arenas popping up.
– Real player with 92.2 hrs in game
Read More: Best Metroidvania Action Games.
The Short and Sweet
Guacamelee! 2 is, obviously, the sequel to Guacamelee!, both of which are 2D beat-em-up platforming games with a heavy focus on combos. Unlike some other sequels that can stand on their own, Guacamelee! 2 is heavily attached to the previous game in its story, and it relies on that connection to avoid having to reestablish characters that played prominent roles in the last title. I would recommend any prospective players take a look at the original Guacamelee! before considering this sequel, or even this review.
– Real player with 27.7 hrs in game
Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet
We’ve been waiting for this game since it came out exclusively XBLA to arrive on PC and now we’ve been waiting even longter for it to finally remove GFWL. Now we got that, too!
ITSP is a Metroidvania-type game where you control a flying saucer through an… well, an insanely twisted shadow planet! You gain new abilities and have to backtrack to other locations where your new ability will come in handy. The visual aesthetics are comical yet not ridiculous, the sound design is quite intense. The game’s cutscenes feature music by Dimmu Borgir, whereas the background music is more atmospheric yet not less fitting.
– Real player with 27.1 hrs in game
Read More: Best Metroidvania Indie Games.
Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet is a quite old indie game: it came out more than 9 years ago, when indie games were still a new concept to many people and Xbox Live Arcade was the biggest online shop that promoted them. Its old age can be inferred not only from its publisher, but also by the game itself.
At the time, indie games weren’t as established as today, so, to stand out, they had to provide interesting ideas that could’t be found in mainstream titles. On a superficial level, ITSP’s most standout feature is its art design: similarly to contemporary games like World of Goo and Limbo, the most used color is black, with other colors used for the background or to highlight important elements like interactables and enemies; this use of colors is what attracted a lot of people and it’s clearly the most important aspect of the game, as the title itself can attest.
– Real player with 25.4 hrs in game
Song of the Deep
Song of the Deep (Platformer-adventure)
Options include Subtitles, Resolution, Brightness and Language, plus separate sliders for Music, Sound Effects and Speech. You can play with Gamepad or Keyboard & Mouse, but they are NOT remappable. There are also three Difficulties to choose from: Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced.
Despite the fact that we are underwater, our sub (and later Merryn, herself) is highly maneuverable, though I might have felt differently if I had been playing with keyboard and mouse. I highly recommend a controller with this title, as I have a feeling that it would have become very frustrating for me if I hadn’t been using one.
– Real player with 19.0 hrs in game
Read More: Best Metroidvania Female Protagonist Games.
Thank you to the developer Insomniac Games and the publisher GameTrust Games for for creating and providing an ok game for me to escape, explore and enjoy.
I have been a fan of Insomniac for a long time. They are of course and foremost a AAA studio but lately they seem to be testing other avenues such as VR and in this case a smaller indie title, Song of the Deep. It’s a fun exploration and collectible game but that’s all it brings. I was disappointed in the story, combat and at times it feels incomplete.
– Real player with 15.4 hrs in game
7 Horizons
Will you accept the challenge?
Key Features:
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Rayman meets Mega Man
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Many playable, interesting characters
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Varied and rich levels
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On every one a little PEW PEW!
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but also platforming challenges.
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Hand-drawn comic book graphics…
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…and comic book humor.
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Powerful enemies,
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even more powerful bosses!
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And the goodies. Lots and lots of goodies.
Catventure
Help the white kitten gain strength and become an adult cat with super-powers! You and him will have to overcome many holes, bumps, puddles and ravines, and also face different creatures, kind and not so. Collect gold coins, unlock heavy doors, sneak into secret places to get to new abilities. Explore this funny world and help the locals, they will be grateful and will definitely share something!
Dr. Atominus
Exactly what is says on the can. Small, but pretty diverse. The story is fun.
Utilises the good old enemy stomping mechanic, which is rarely seen these days.
– Real player with 2.8 hrs in game
This is a VERY good game that will unfortunately ( probably ) be lost in the sea of platformers.
– Real player with 2.5 hrs in game
DurDanto
Set in a beautiful pixel art environment, DurDanto is a story of a fallen city & the birth of 3 elemental sorceries named “Jolt”, “Flame” & “Frost”! The ones that managed to control them started to attack & loot from people to thrive in the ruined city. A young boy named Zubok has his own “Arcane” sorcery & wants to eradicate these elemental sorceries so that the ones controlling them become powerless to rule!
You play as Zubok & make your way to the different areas of the city uncovering secrets & eliminate your enemies on your way. Your trusty Sword, a Bow & special skills will help you along the way to achieve your goal!
So what’s in DurDanto?
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Beautiful Pixel Art environments with some good retro musics.
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4 different sorcery modes available each having their own unique ability & skills.
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Pixel art enemies each with their own unique skillsets & variations.
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MetroidVania themed gameplay & level design with World Map feature.
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Use Elemental Abilities to unlock your paths, escape traps & solve puzzles.
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Unlock skills by defeating enemies.
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Mana based spells that give fatal blows to your enemies.
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Roguelike styled dungeon areas where rooms are randomized at each play session.
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Unique bosses that’ll test your wits!
Haiku, the Robot
Haiku, the Robot is a cute, exploration and adventure game where you play as a small robot tasked with saving the world.
∼ Explore a land of corrupt robots and machinery ∽
Get lost in a machine world fallen to decay, map unexplored areas, and encounter quirky robots, both friend and foe.
∼ Discover different items and abilities to reach new areas ∽
Find items and abilities that help you travel through the world. Become stronger as you master your moveset and the world around you.
∼ Fight deadly foes and unravel the world’s secrets ∽
Battle fierce machines and piece together secrets to save the world from a mysterious, evil corruption.
∼ Features ∽
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Classic side-scrolling action in a modernized retro pixel art style
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Sharp and precise character movement and attack abilities
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Hand-drawn pixel art brought to life with frame-by-frame animation
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Metroidvania at heart, heavily focused on exploring and being rewarded for it
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A large, interconnected world with secrets, enemies, and quirky little robots
∼ Add the game to your Wishlist to be reminded when it releases ∽
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1231880/Haiku_the_Robot/
Islets
Iko is an aspiring yet hopeful warrior exploring the land and sky to reunite a series of floating islands. With his rickety airship, he must travel from island to island in order to reignite each one’s magnetic core while fighting off the many adversaries standing in his way.
Islets is a surprisingly wholesome metroidvania about making connections with the people around you. By reuniting the islands and befriending a cast of charming characters, the world expands and reveals new parts of each area for Iko to explore. Scour every nook and cranny in order to collect the many upgrades hidden around this world and face its numerous hidden challenges!
There’s also a tour guide to show you around, but you should be careful. The guy’s got some really weird vibes…
Features
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Connect the islands like a puzzle to discover new ways to explore previous areas and reunite the vast world around you.
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Fight back against terrifying monsters and ruthless sky pirates in epic boss battles.
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Discover upgrades to help you on your journey by completing challenges and uncover the islands’ many secrets.
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Make friends with a wide cast of charming characters—including a pretentious warrior classmate, a suspiciously friendly frog, and so many others.
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Become immersed in a visually stunning hand-painted world with lush, vivid environments for you to experience.
Jude
In the atmospheric world of Jude:
Exploring -Exploring is a great logical tactic to complete the goal ahead of you. By understanding the structure of your current location you might allow yourself to complete the objective with more efficacy.
Survive - Be sure to always be ready to be on the run but in most cases you will need short strategic plans, precision mixed with skills, and a lot of patience to stay alive. You will understand.
Collect - You will need to keep an eye out. Your eyes will not betray you, you will need them to always be active. This will become the most important thing you do.
