Katana ZERO
After finishing the story, I wasn’t entirely sure if this game warrants the overwhelmingly positive rating, as the story can be finished in about 4 hours.
The story is good, the combat is tight, works a bit like a puzzle - you can slow time, dodge, throw objects, deflect bullets, and slash with your sword, along with some other periphery mechanics like exploding barrels and steam to hide yourself in. All of this will be used to slaughter everyone, while avoiding every blow (you die in one hit) with a real-time replay to boot.
– Real player with 20.0 hrs in game
Read More: Best Pixel Graphics Platformer Games.
An assassin who sees a psychiatrist⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Slash! Bullets reflected ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Slash! Enemies slaughtered⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Part of me is a good guy, right?⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
more reviews like this: https://store.steampowered.com/developer/ddmeow/
– Real player with 17.0 hrs in game
Hyper Light Drifter
DISCLAIMER
I don’t write a lot of reviews so I know my review might be bad, but I had to for Hyper Light Drifter. It probably says I have 12 hours in this game, but at the time of writing this review, 7 of those hours are from the release build and the rest from the preview build.
Edit Reason: I forgot to talk about how it runs.. Sorry..
Edit Reason 2: Reworded a few things.
Edit Reason 3: 60 FPS patch and a new alternate character for another playthrough!
Kick Starter:
As a kick starter backer, this game has given more that I expected. The preview build of the game was amazing and hyped me up for the release. And I wasn’t let down at all.
– Real player with 75.3 hrs in game
Read More: Best Pixel Graphics Atmospheric Games.
It took me a bit of time to compose my thoughts and write up a little on this game. Overall this feels like a tribute to old zelda games mixed in with a sense of souls game type difficulty and execution.
After the intro, which will bore your eardrums you have a brief tutorial that adequatly teaches you how to play. There is your energy sword, gun, dash. Basics of combat and exploration. Outside of tooltips there is no actual text in the game (unless you count the created alphabet and messages with it that is part of the game). This is a story that if you want to fully understand you will have to work at it. Pay attention to detail and reason it out a bit. I personally don’t care. To me primarily gameplay is why I play games. This game at least had an appealing atmosphere and a good soundtrack to help set it.
– Real player with 73.0 hrs in game
DEADBOLT
I’m unsure where to begin, honestly. Let’s start with the premise. You, the Reaper, are tasked by your mysterious employer with investigating the significance of a strange new drug, called Ash, which unravels into a conspiracy between three undead gangs: the Zombie Kingz, the 1000 Year Royals, and the Dredged.
This game is often described as a cross between Hotline Miami and Gunpoint, which does paint a decent picture of what to expect. The game has a side on perspective like Gunpoint, though the gameplay is a little more slow-paced than Hotline Miami. Not all enemies drop their weapons, meaning ammo conservation and aiming for headshots is key to completing a level, and while running in and playing on reaction time alone is possible, you die in one hit, so it’s often better to plan out your assault.
– Real player with 798.4 hrs in game
Read More: Best Pixel Graphics Difficult Games.
DEADBOLT is a 2D sidescroller game which I would consider a hidden gem. The game is polished, has a lot of different weapons and unique levels that can be replayed in a lot of ways, with custom level support to add up to the replayability.
You take up the role of a reaper, working in a limbo-esque version of our world. There are still bars, strip clubs and rundown apartments, but the world is populated by all kinds of undead - zombies, vampires, skeletons, you name it! And your goal is to get rid of them.
– Real player with 647.0 hrs in game
Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number
a great game that continues the story of Hotline Miami and takes place, before, during and after the first game. The second game is told in kind of a Quentin Tarantino way, jumping back and fourth in the timeline. It is not necessary to play the first game before this one but i would recommend it, since i believe that the first one is also brilliant. If you are a fan of the first game there is no reason why you would’t enjoy this one.
– Real player with 563.7 hrs in game
I regret not playing this game sooner. As someone who loves fast-paced shooter games, Hotline Miami 2 hits the spot. In this game you have to embrace death in order to do well. Accept the fact that dying a lot is an inevitability or you won’t have a fun time playing this. I didn’t do that any of that initially and suffered greatly. Eventually I just decided to throw safety into the trash, and I did far better then before. My only real complaint is the level design. It ranges from: really well made, to okay, and then to downright annoying. Thankfully most of the levels fall under the first two categories.
– Real player with 83.6 hrs in game
Finding Paradise
This game’s music have hit just the right spot that I always tear up when I listen to it.
– Real player with 16.3 hrs in game
left me in tears thanks
if this was a triple A game i wud b paying 60$ for it undoubtedly maybe paying an xtra 60 for the soundtracks as well y not
Honorable mention : i loved to the moon equally btw but i personally think finding paradise is slighty a bit better i mean slightly for me thats it don’t get the wrong idea bout it
– Real player with 10.8 hrs in game
OneShot
OneShot is a game I first heard about in January of 2021, a very long time after its release and I finally got around to picking the game up on 22 November and, since then, I’ve already poured 30 hours into the game. Simply put, it is a fantastic game that I recommend to everyone, even those who are not fans of puzzle games - I’m not one and I still enjoyed the game greatly and it is one of my favorites of all time, if not my favorite.
I love just how unique the game is compared to other games I’ve played. For one, it stars a lovable protagonist and you can’t really go wrong with that. But, not only that, the game is well-written in its story and it makes you feel a connection to the protagonist (whom is named Niko) and the world around them. It is the only game I have ever played to make me feel an emotional attachment to the world and character. The game is very intricate in the details it provides and there aren’t any major plot holes, which helps make the experience more enjoyable, plus it is just a fun game overall.
– Real player with 36.3 hrs in game
This game… Oh my god, this game. It was one of the best games I have ever played in my life. No other game has ever made me question my choices, even Undertale. I do not get attached to things or characters in games, but this one does that intentionally by making you someone that Niko (the protagonist) contacts directly.
! Another way it drags you into the world is by placing files or documents on your computer that help you solve puzzles; I have had no other game do that before.
– Real player with 20.6 hrs in game
Owlboy
Nine years is a large chunk of anybody’s lifetime, for those of us lucky to see a century, it’s almost a tenth of the precious, finite time we get to spend on this planet. I’ve been following the progress of this game since the first few morsels were public and admit to having forgotten about the game several times until inevitably finding more little delicious crumbs to follow until arriving at the 1st of November and a metaphorical cake, responsible for the delicious line of crumbs that preceded it waited to be eaten.
– Real player with 26.9 hrs in game
Revered, exalted, wise. These are just a few of the words I would use to describe Owlboy.
The developer D-Pad Studio took about a decade to make this game from conception to finish, and thankfully their efforts have made a masterpiece. I honestly would put Owlboy among the high echelons of indie games and other amazing games that have come before it. I am talking Shovel Knight, Binding of Isaac, Limbo, Fez; games that have shaped modern PC gaming as we know it. They have combined spectacular story telling, fantastic characters, dazzling design/artstyle, and from beginning to end enjoyable gameplay. This game was an absolute treat to play and is easily one of my choices for best game of the year, 2016.
– Real player with 24.6 hrs in game
The Last Door - Collector’s Edition
Who would have thought that the next great horror game would be a pixelated homage to Lovecraft and Poe? I had been following The Last Door’s development since its Kickstarter roots, and as soon as it popped up on Steam the game was in my cart and my wallet $10 lighter.
The game starts off ominous enough; a suicide, a letter, and a friend vowing to uncover the truth of it all. Set in the 1880’s, our protagonist Devitt embarks on a journey through forgotten memories that threaten to lead him to the depths of insanity itself. That’s not exactly what I was expecting from this game, but I am certainly not complaining.
– Real player with 20.3 hrs in game
‘The Last Door’ is a classic point and click adventure game. So much so that you can play the entire thing with only the use of the mouse. The graphics are beautifully designed pixel graphics that never feel like you are losing atmosphere. The story is intriguing and interesting with a feeling of The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe and has been called “A Love letter to H.P. Lovecraft” by Penny Arcade.
The music composed by Carlos Viola is phenomenal. In fact I would say that it is now in my top 3 most loved video game soundtracks after playing this game and worth the purchase price by itself. You can download the soundtrack from the website (https://thelastdoor.com/index.php/soundtrack) , although they have plans to include it in an update at some point in the Collector’s Edition on Steam. Here’s a bit of a taste from the Chapter 1 OST, which should give you some feeling as to the atmosphere of the game:
– Real player with 15.0 hrs in game
Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove
Shovel Knight is essentially the mascot for indie games, tied with Undertale in that regard, and for good reason. Shovel Knight provides a challenging yet fair and fun platforming game with the single best pixel art I have seen in a game. Period. There is no reason to not buy and play Shovel Knight, it has something for everyone and anyone.
– Real player with 142.3 hrs in game
I nearly quit gaming about a decade ago. Then I played Shovel Knight and it reminded me that games can just be charming and fun. Never looked back :)
All of these campaigns are well worth your time but it wouldn’t be a bad idea to space playing them out a bit. I played them as they were released so had no problems but I could easily see myself getting burnt out playing all 4 back-to-back. Your mileage may vary though.
Well worth picking up the soundtrack too - many of these make great ringtones :) Jake Kaufman is a genius.
– Real player with 53.3 hrs in game
A Bird Story
tl;dr - Join a mute, lock-and-key boy on his long acid trip where he nurses an injured bird back to health. 11/10 lackluster emotional ride.
A disclaimer before we begin: I have not played To the Moon yet. I currently have a cat, I had rabbits on two different occasions, and also a budgie. I did not play this game for 4 hours, it was more like ~1 - I left the game running while I went out because of its horrible checkpointing system; I refused to play through any scene again.
I got this game gifted to me by a generous friend, and was interested to see what the text/voiceless gameplay would be like.
– Real player with 4.7 hrs in game
A short, whimsical, bittersweet interactive story with surreal elements, lovingly detailed and narrated without any dialogues.
A bird story is one of those games where much of your enjoyment will depend in your pre-existing expectations of games, and in what you will read into the themes and the story. It is only mildly interactive and quite linear, and much of the time you are simply watching scenes unfold, yet I personally found some of the interactive moments all the more impactful because of that. It is simultaneously visually impressive for what it manages to create out of its tools, and pretty simplistic. The sometimes funny, sometimes sad visual story will be very evocative for some and almost saccharine for others, and I can easily understand both points of view. And yet I could vividly remember every detail of the 1 hour experience, a week after first playing the game. Emotionally, it hit all the marks for me. The way it manages to utilize the pixels, the colour palette, the music, the sound, the subtlest of animations to create its unspoken narrative is masterful. A second playthrough made me smile when I realised how much it uses little gaming conventions (taken out of their usual contexts) to help tell the story. There are just so many clever design details jam-packed into this tiny story, that a second playthrough actually felt worth the time, despite the fact that there is no new content to experience.
– Real player with 2.5 hrs in game