Escape This
For this one, I got along with a much more beautiful review written by Maxtimot here - basically, this game probably won’t make it on Steam for much time.
It’s utter crap and yeah, as he said better than me, it’s like when some indie guy has Unity (personal edition) and doesn’t know anything about it.
The game itself has five achievements which can be obtained within 10 minutes (they require you to pass a level or to die, or to die 5 times..) and apart from that, it’s completely fucked up.
The hitbox is insane, but let’s go from the beginning.
– Real player with 11.8 hrs in game
Read More: Best Perma Death Precision Platformer Games.
These days, although it may be sad, the moment I see something created with the Unity engine, I can already assume it will be a basic bare bone game that will look ugly and (if you are lucky) be almost playable.
So, what is there to say about this? Well, not much, because it’s another one of these games that feel like they had been done by students trying to make their first game. And while it is fine for students to do that, it’s a bit sad that they would think their game would be good enough to sell on Steam.
– Real player with 6.3 hrs in game
Cat-o-Combo!
Enter the Catacombs!
Funny cat Plexy with his own paws many a time dug up a treasure tray before becoming famous as one of the most legendary tomb raiders of modern times. That is why Professor Kotenhauer turned to him as he found the location of the Abandoned City. And that means it’s time to go on a trip! In the archaeological society there is a purr that countless treasures are kept inside the walls of the abandoned temples. And in the very heart there is the mystical All-Stone with the begging of the Catapocalypse foretold.
Features:
Collect all the treasures - take the challenge of the Abandoned City and put your paws on all the wealth in his fifty tombs. Each catacomb is more complicated than the previous one, and the further you go, the more tricky riddles will be and the more dangers you will face.
Watch your tail! - Kotzelcoatal, ruler of the Abandoned City, was known as a cruel tyrant. According to legends, he never gave his subjects those cat love bites! Uneducated curs believe that the All-Stone magical paw-er gave its owner nine lives! But do not believe these fairy tales for blind kittens! Every decent cat has only one life.
Simple mechanics - extremely simple game mechanics will not let you get lost in control. Forget about jumping, rolling or cat-ching. There is nothing like that – just go and play!
Do it in style - just collecting the treasures left by someone is boring! Do it in style! Combine the crystals according to their colour, do not waste your time and find yourself at the top of the leaderboard!
Pixel Van Cat - catacombs never been so colourful and cute! Purrrfect pixel art immerses you in an atmosphere of not-actually-so-creepy ancient civilizations. Each ear, whisker and tail is made with endless love for kitties.
Touch the classics - a game inspired by the immortal Boulder Dash and Supaplex takes a new form. Experienced players will appreciate the long-forgotten gameplay, and beginners will have an excellent opportunity to get acquainted with the classics. Hello from the 90s!
Read More: Best Perma Death Indie Games.
Oneiro
Disclaimer: My actual play time is about 15 hours and I have only seen half the game. Yes it’s difficult but in a great way.
Oneiro is perhaps the very definition of “greater than the sum of its parts.” On the surface, it may look like something you’ve seen or played before, but underneath… Ah… Underneath…
There is something beautiful to the “nightmare” of the labyrinth: a transcendent quality to the game wherein its dimensions coalesce into something more. You might say, “What TF is this dude on?” Well sit down and let me tell it to ya mostly straight because this game hooked my apathetic @ss like a grappling hook in a flying spear.
– Real player with 45.1 hrs in game
Read More: Best Perma Death Strategy Games.
Oneiro is a first-person roguelike action RPG featuring rock-solid gameplay, dead-serious challenge, and a shocking amount of extremely clever and effective design decisions. It’s honestly one of the best games I’ve played in years. If you love roguelikes, King’s Field, Morrowind, or just good action games, at this price it’s an absolute must-buy.
Its core combat is fundamentally well-designed because all damage can be avoided through skill, although doing so is easier said than done. There are several weapon types, each of which features primary and alternate (usually charge-up) attacks. Special mention goes to the default fist weapon, which has several alternate attacks depending on when you right-click during your auto-combo.
– Real player with 35.6 hrs in game
Age of Fear 3: The Legend
I might not have bothered with a review since I need to be either incredibly impressed or massively wound up by a game to do it, but some dwarves asked me to.
I’m not kidding. I finished the first expansion (which was dirt cheap, short, well made and pretty fun overall) and then my little dwarfy soldiers had a conversation where they talked about how reviews help indie games and asked me to post one. Normally this would really annoy me, but considering how much time I’ve put into the completely free ‘Age of Fear: The Free World’ and the fact it genuinely made me laugh I’ll go along with the beardy little gits and pen this. I’ll do the usual and write sections about the different bits of the game that jump out at me, but I will say that you can stop reading, go download the absolutely free ‘Age of Fear: The Free World’, play that and decide if you’ll like this game based on your experience there. It’s free, which I might have mentioned already, has everything but a main story arc and is constantly being updated, which is crazy. Free game, yet still gets big updates? Yeah. Anyways, back to AoF 3.
– Real player with 108.2 hrs in game
Very good games and I played for 60+ hours now in this series. ThoughI have some feelings and suggestions:
First I go with some defaults and potential improvement in my opinion.
1. Difference race is not very well balanced.
1.1 Death power is too OP in general because the catapult of death is the only accessible one to capture, and super OP and can be resurrected. In late game you can even set up a catapult legion. Also. a legion of Lich is also OP because they can resurrect each other. No mentioning wights can be the solution to almost all hard fights. Basically a legion made up of death hydra, catapult and lich is way powerful than any combination in other races: high aoe damage with morale decrease for all, all-resurrect-able and not influenced by morale. Even units as dark knights which would be quite popular units in other races but it is off the top 3 OP list in Death units.
– Real player with 50.1 hrs in game
Doomsday Hunters
This is a great game! If you love rogue lights this is the game for you! A middle ground between binding of Isaac and Enter the Gungeon. I Dracula Genesis delivers with fun and varying game play. The game really can be a challenge too! One of the best rogue likes in the making!
I honestly have to say this is in my top 3 games of all time. Great game!
I would like to see a lot more content at the end of the game. I want more challenges to push through with powerful endgame builds. Fields of mobs that come at me. Over the top bosses. As of right now it feels amazing to get a victory on this game on universe 3. It’s a lot of fun, but it also feels like it kind of robs you short like you want to take on another challenge. There is always another run though, and it is a very difficult game! If you give it a try get ready for some real adrenaline moments when things get close!
– Real player with 180.0 hrs in game
At this point I feel I’ve played and seen enough of this game to recommend it. I, Dracula: Genesis (that is a Kingdom Hearts tier name right there) seems to have inherited a lot of great design philosophy from its predecessors like Enter the Gungeon and Nuclear Throne, and it does the most impressive job of mashing them together I’ve so far seen in the rogue-‘ish’ genre.
The first thing that stands out to me is how solid the interactive physics and gameplay model is. Right from the get go, you feel a unique weight and chunkiness to movement and shooting, and it gives the gamefeel a flavour that distinguishes from its contemporaries. The addition of a jump mechanic, with elements of light platforming throughout, is a really fun addition to the ‘shoot stuff’ gameplay, though individual platforming challenges often leave me scratching my head wondering “how the heck am I supposed to reach that”.
– Real player with 86.0 hrs in game
Exile Squadron
Absolutely LOVE this game!!! I haven’t had any super long gaming sessions in a very long time! Exile Squadron had me hooked instantly, and I played it for hours and hours!!! I couldn’t be more happy with this game!!!
– Real player with 16.1 hrs in game
First impressions - An underrated indie gem
–——————————————–
Solid writing. The writing is the point. Short and pregnant.
There are no grammar or spelling errors that throw you off.
Sure, that’s not a main aspect for this kind of game, but it
helps with the immersion.
Controls
Per statement of the developer the game orients itself on
classics and is therefore keyboard or controller only.
That might be off-putting for some, prefering mouse
controls.
But the controls are tight. You have full customization
– Real player with 6.0 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
PowBall Renaissance
Welcome to PowBall Renaissance
This isn’t your classic Breakout game or Arkanoid, however, given that is has open endless possibilities of making your own levels, refusing to purchase upgraded ammunition for your weaponry and adjusting levels to that, you can pretty much play this game in any form or shape you want. Classic, Retro, Modern, or PowBall style.
Make no mistake this game comes with over 300+ levels, including those from PowBall Deluxe, the original game for DOS/Windows.
Good news, game runs perfectly smooth, higher resolution support, and even 4K if you are into that. Level Editor that lets you comprise your own set of master levels with gimmicks of your choice using what the game engine has provided. Perhaps the game may require a Workshop functionality so players can share their own level sets for others to play as a bonus (that is entirely up to steam if I am not mistaken).
– Real player with 27.5 hrs in game
Another clone of arkanoid, but the one which tries a new approach to the genre rather than copying its sucess.
I played the original way back since its original release in 1996 and loved it right away, because it innovated the concept. And this remake is brilliant. Also, it is quite stable since it runs very well on my Toshiba laptop and hasn’t crashed not even once.
Even though I prefer the original, do not miss the chance to try this version. It is simply something you need to try before dismissing it as another Arkanoid rip-off. The concept is the same, the gameplay, is quite different. Go take a ride with it.
– Real player with 18.9 hrs in game
Templar Battleforce
I was in a mood for strategy and blowing things up one day. I found this game while I was cruising through my queue and pretty much bought it impulsively. How’d that turn out? Surprisingly well. While I haven’t gotten too far into the game yet, it did provide me with some inspiration to start a Let’s Play of something that wasn’t a dating sim. (And the dating sim Let’s Play didn’t even begin that long ago either.)
Before I get to the review, this is important to note. The thing about this game that may either attract or repel you is that it is heavily reliant on dice rolls.
– Real player with 152.7 hrs in game
Templar Battleforce is a sci-fi turn-based strategy game played on square grid maps with a focus on squad tactics. While it does have a story that accompanies the campaign, it is the gameplay, post-combat unit development, and a surprising amount of polish that makes this game so enjoyable. It doesn’t re-invent anything within the genre, but the mechanics are tight and well-explained, and the unit progression will hook players who, like me, love to work towards a better and better team.
TL;DR at the end.
– Real player with 116.2 hrs in game
The Bounty V2
monsters, traps, puzzles, dungeons, secrets, enemies, treasure chests - perhaps the best game i saw that is made with an rpg maker!
– Real player with 10.6 hrs in game
The Bounty has to be one of the most unique games I’ve ever played. Myself coming from Nex Machina and Pacman 256. I needed another high scoring nostalgia type of game. And this is where the Bounty comes in. This is not your ordinary RPG game. It’s a high scoring RPG. A humorous one at that. This is described as a Dragon Quest type of game. Which could be true but I’ve never played those. But this game reminds me of nes classics like Zelda, Final Fantasy and Uncle fester’s quest(music wise). The music is really good in this game. Really captures the feel of the 8 bit era. The game is not super hard but challenging enough. The puzzles really challenge your common sense. I can even use a Dog whistle to signal a partner for my battle. Overall. It’s a fun game. I recommend playing this especially for $4.99. It’s really worth it.
– Real player with 2.9 hrs in game