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
Read More: Best Pixel Graphics Retro Games.
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
Mission in Snowdriftland - Snowlogue
These are the first 3 levels of the remake of the online advent calendar platformer game from 2006, when I was a kid! I feel beamed back to my childhood…
It plays fantastic and the controls are not slippery, but right on spot - since you are playing a snowman in a icy environment. It plays smooth and easy, but still it’s challenging and reminds a lot of classic games. Which is quite logic, since Mission in Snowdriftland was and is meant as a tribute to the classic Super Mario platformer games.
– Real player with 9.4 hrs in game
Read More: Best Pixel Graphics 2D Platformer Games.
I remember when the Wii was released and dropped this online promotion. I was constantly playing it around November of 2006? It was so different from the flash games that I played at the time, the stages were short and sweet, hidden hearts, snow flake coins?, and was well polished. Playing this game again made me feel real nostalgic. The Dev team really knew how to make a platformer. I wish they would add secrets or something to collect for rewards, for example, the Star Coins in New Super Mario Bros series but all in all, it’s a good game, has it’s own identity but with a Mario like charm. Good game, would recommend.
– Real player with 1.0 hrs in game
Out There Somewhere
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnnQir6N090&list=PLIb_a695uFXA5m1O8CyM9kCUBmyzLxRou&index=1
First Impressions
With this game only costing $1 full price, and with such favorable reviews, I saw no reason not to get Out There Somewhere (OTS) when it showed up in a bundle. It looked like an interesting platformer, and the space theme made me curious how the game would play. I played the game years ago on my laptop, using the keyboard to control it, and though I could beat the game, I knew I wasn’t set up to earn all the achievements. Coming back to it again, this time with a controller, I got all of the achievements and cleaned up the game easily enough. It was fun to play on a better set-up for my preferences, and reminded me why I had put up with a less than ideal control scheme in the first place.
– Real player with 6.0 hrs in game
Read More: Best Pixel Graphics Adventure Games.
Out There Somewhere is a well-built game, and a pretty good time – well worth the asking price. It’s clever, but I wouldn’t go so far as to call it an “incredibly clever action-puzzle platformer,” as the store page does. It’s rewarding, and quite fun to play, but it’s not remarkably challenging.
Most players will probably beat it within an hour on the first go, and it’s not a terrible grind to dip back in for the remaining achievements – which will probably take another 2 playthroughs. One is a speedrun achievement for beating the game in 20m, and even this is not terribly challenging once you know your way around.
– Real player with 3.6 hrs in game
Camera Obscura
Camera Obscura is a platformer with an interesting mechanic, but some glaring issues when you’re going for 100% completion. If you’re not, it’s an ok game, but you’ll need some patience anyway. It has alot of unfair and unnecessarily annoying sections, that have not much to do with difficulty and platforming skills but are just plain bad level design.
- horrible collision detection with enemies. The hitbox is a box with always the same size, even though some animation frames make enemies very small, filling only a tiny spot in that box (slime’s fall animation, for example, for those how already know the game)
– Real player with 24.1 hrs in game
Camera Obscura, at face value, is a very simple game: you play as a girl with a camera, making her way through/up a tower towards the top. The story itself is fairly engaging (while not being the most important part of the game), and reveals itself through “mementos” - collectable photographs containing a piece of the story (if you collect them out of order, things might not make much sense; luckily, you can read all of the collected mementos from the main menu). What truly sets this game apart is the camera, and the mechanics behind it.
– Real player with 15.6 hrs in game
Curse Crackers: For Whom the Belle Toils
STORY
Help Belle and Chime, her lovable pet of questionable origins, recover her kidnapped boyfriend from her nefarious rival Bonnie. Not only has she stolen your beau but the bunny-eared necromancer has spread a curse and scattered her undead minions across the region to cover her escape. Crack the curse and stop the spread of the dead!
FEATURES
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A delightfully energetic original soundtrack paired with beautifully hand crafted pixel environments
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Secrets and magical artifacts hidden throughout the game
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Mages
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Delicious baked treats that grant you special powers
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A colorful cast of characters and daunting bosses
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A light-hearted narrative with some surprising twists and turns
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The ability to play the game multiple ways with Adventure, Arcade and Malice mode
Deep Therapy
Deep Therapy is a pixel art platform game, where you take control of a psychologist.
As a psychologist you will deal with hostile minds that will try to “disconnect” you from it.
The design, the mechanics, the music … Always pay attention, because every detail has a meaning!
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Explore the patients minds
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The more levels you advance, the more difficult it becomes
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Collect lost memories
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Interpret their minds and memories
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Give the final diagnosis
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Precise controls
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Challenging Levels
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Unlockable hard mode
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Puzzles
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Gamepad and Keyboard compatibility
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Achievements
Kolobok: the Return
An atmospheric and emotional 2D pixel art platformer based on a Russian folklore fairy tale.
Hunger and misery has driven an old couple towards complete insanity and they have decided to eat their own grandson, Kolobok! However, he manages to escape to the Dark Forest. WIll he manage to survive and keep his humanity throughout the horrors of the woods?
Magnetta
As of version 1.1 -
Overall I have had a very positive experience with Magnetta. The game play is solid, the mechanics are easy to learn and the level design is creative and interesting. In true NES-style the game requires some planning and memorization to get through each level. Each stage has taken me about 4-5 tries to truly learn the best way to navigate them. The enemies are also diverse enough to keep the challenge up. Even with these challenging aspects the game is forgiving enough and saves your progress as you complete stages. Each stage also has added replay value as you revisit them to collect circuits or challenge yourself in the glitch-mode. During my time with the game I have come across some very minor bugs and Heliocentric Studios has been incredibly kind and quick to resond. Most reported issues were patched within a few hours. Magnetta is highly recommended for any fan of jumpin' and shootin'!
– Real player with 25.9 hrs in game
Polished and pristine.
Heliocentric Studios, you’ve brought back fond memories.
Huge, unique levels, solid difficulty, nice enemy variety, and unexpectedly forgiving (depending on your difficulty choice).
Terrific particle effects and transitional backgrounds.
It’s the little touches that make me smile; Magnetta’s blowing hair, her shimmer, idle interactions.
This game will make you think at times, not so much to puzzle, but how to optimize.
Power-ups and secrets a-plenty.
Glitch-Me-Not!
Magnetta, Mega Man…you two are one.
– Real player with 12.5 hrs in game
Mission in Snowdriftland
an extraordinary platforming game, with beautiful visuals, impressive sound design, and unique level design. i cannot recommend this game enough. speedrunning this game is extremely plausible, as there is a built in timer, which allows for enjoyable replayability.
mission in snowdriftland can be played as either an advent calendar, in which a single level that corresponds to each date of december is played each day, or as a regular platformer, where you are free to play the game at your own pace. although the game can be beaten without acquiring the snowflakes from each level, it is preferable to collect all the snowflakes, to allow you to unlock a bonus level, and help with pacing.
– Real player with 14.2 hrs in game
I only have a few things to say about this game:
1. I found this game from a YouTuber (Nick Robinson) whom made a video over this game’s history.
2. The controls are unlike any platformer I’ve tried so getting all collectibles in first few levels was challenging but fun.
3. I am gamer and I have an Ultrawide 2560x1080 res, 2.37:1 aspect ratio. Game doesn’t have option for this size screen :(
4. Tried the game on 4:3 & 16:9 aspect ratios. Widescreen is best as it actually fills up the screen & 4:3 has vertical bars.
– Real player with 4.3 hrs in game
Otto and the Ancient Worlds
Otto and the Ancient Worlds is an 8-bit 2D adventure platformer about an archaeologist who discovers an ancient library filled with magical books. Each book contains a living story of a mythology or folklore, and a mysterious evil figure releases them into Otto’s world! Otto must return the mythology and folklore back to their books and destroy this unknown evil in the process.
- Game Features -
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Play as the archaeologist Otto, and use his whip to uncover artifacts and explore forgotten worlds in a stunningly beautiful 8-bit adventure.
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Fight your way through 6 selectable stages, each with a unique boss.
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After defeating a boss, collect their artifact weapon to give Otto a special ability that also transforms his outfit.
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Each boss has a unique weakness to an artifact weapon, therefore choosing the order in which the levels are played can be a critical component of the gameplay.
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Each stage is based off of a historical mythology or folklore from stories all around the world.
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Encounter a vast variety of historical figures from mythologies and folklore to help you in your journey.