The Messenger
Just a heads up:
So after 100% completion of the game, i decided to write a review. This will contain spoilers for both gameplay and story. I recommend you should go in blind, because the game has a nice twist around 2-3 hours in the game. The story is not the best, but it is interesting anyway. This my opinion, so you can disagree with me, and that’s fine. So let’s begin!
Gameplay:
The Messenger is a pretty good platformer. In the second half of the game, it transforms into a metroidvania. But you probably knew that.
– Real player with 20.6 hrs in game
Read More: Best Platformer Ninja Games.
The Messenger is a great platformer / metroidvania with retro aesthetics but a very modern level of polish, fluidity and user-friendliness. It features a rather unique take on a typical double jump called “cloudstepping” that recovers your jump when you hit an enemy, a projectile or an object before landing, allowing to jump again and again and again if you manage to, thus staying in the air for a long time and feeling like a cool ninja.
Another unusual trick of this game is that it consists of two distinct halves (though it’s not a 50/50 split in terms of runtime, more like 40/60 or even 30/70, but it’s still sort of like Act 1 and Act 2). The first one plays like a strictly linear, “keep moving to the right” platformer, while the second one lets you freely roam the old locations and discover their new secrets (as well as paths to some new locations). Metroidvania elements are still pretty light here, and you’re unlikely to get lost or to discover something wholly unexpected, but it does add a fair sense of exploration. I would agree with a common complaint about mild repetitiveness, though, as fast travel points are scarce and the map is not very interconnected, which leaves you to go through some parts over and over again.
– Real player with 18.7 hrs in game
Mega Man Legacy Collection
If you enjoyed this review, please consider following my Curator Page [url]Nep's Gaming Paradise (Nepiki Gaming)[/url] for more reviews! I'm also the owner of a friendly social community with the same name, which you can check out by joining the [url]Steam Group[/url], or checking out our [url]Discord![/url]
Nepiki’s Stats
| Overall length |
– Real player with 34.1 hrs in game
Read More: Best Platformer Classic Games.
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What is this?
A collection of the first 6 Mega Man platformers immaculately emulated with loads of extra content. |
The Best:
First timers: Challenging, fine-tuned gameplay from Mega Man 2 trough 6.
Longtime fans: Museum filled to the brim with behind the scenes content such as concept arts and unused Robot Masters' designs. |
|
Make Capcom great again:
1: Mega Man properly ported and available on Steam. |
– Real player with 33.2 hrs in game
Oniken: Unstoppable Edition
Oniken is a deceptively easy game. Deceptive in the same style of classics such as the Ninja Gaiden and Contra series in that each particular level feels impossibly difficult. That is, until you get enough experience with them, make note of enemy patterns, and get enough practice to memorize each obstacle to the point where you become proficient enough that the veil of difficulty is lifted and you realize that these games are actually far more easier than you initially realized. Despite these similarities, Oniken manages to have a considerably smaller difficulty curve than the NES games that it pays homage to. Even the average player will manage to complete the game within a few hours at most if they have even a modicum of patience. This is largely due to how small each level is and how few enemies there are in comparison to both Ninja Gaiden and Contra. It doesn’t necessarily make Oniken any less fun but there’s a discernible difference in how those old games threw never-ending barrages of enemies and projectiles at you and how this game paces them out almost sparingly. The combat is simplistic fun but I did feel the game would have been a bit better off had they sprinkled in just a few more enemies here and there.
– Real player with 13.9 hrs in game
Read More: Best Platformer Indie Games.
Oniken is definitely one of the best retro indies I’ve completed lately. And I definitely recommend it to anybody who was raised on NES games. Let me tell you why.
STORY
The plot is pretty simple, but still good. We assume the role of a cool swordsman called Zaku, a strong and silent type. He reminded me of Guts from Berserk series a bit, well he still has something unique in him anyway. Zaku joins the small resistance group who fight against the powerful military organization “Oniken”, who took control over the world during war crisis. So our hero fights against this organization and almost single-handedly defeats it. There will be some simple plot twists, but overall the story is quite straightforward. But anyway the characters are all good, I especially liked the bad guys. Oh yeah, and the cinematic cutscenes are just awesome, just like in the old ninja gaiden games, and even better.
– Real player with 6.2 hrs in game
Dungeon Escape
Its fun until you find out what the game’s focus is on…
Cons:
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Controls are too stiff - There is no option to fine tune your jump, you always jump the same height; predefined movement range when you touch the keys, makes finetunning your position impossible
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Jump is registered after movement, so if you want to move- jump (close to the edge or spikes) you have to jump first and then move while in the air; apparently its registered after everything else in the game, play level 49 to see for yourself
– Real player with 8.2 hrs in game
This game is one of these gameplay first games that’s really solid but didn’t sell a lot because it has very little coverage on social media and very little focus on visuals and sound.
It’s a respectable game. The physics are frame-perfect solid, and every obstacle feels like has been tested to be doable while following a decent difficulty curve. It’s a good way to spend a bit of time.
Although… I’d like to mention something about the game, but I’ll put it in spoilers because I feel like this is something I was thrilled to discover.
– Real player with 6.7 hrs in game
Brathian
Brathian feels like a game straight from the beginning of 90’s. Literally. It means, it’s hard, frustrating, unfriendly to newbies and forgives no errors in player’s moves, but still brings satisfaction to those who managed to finish it.
Description like this is often appears to be a marketing trick, but in this case it’s completely valid: this game have simplistic gameplay mechanics, relatively high difficulty and relatively low play time (if you’re not new to the genre you will meet the final boss in 2 hours or less). At the beginning of the game players will feel constant frustration, but the more they play, the more skills-of-how-to-play-it-right they will gain. This project is not as hard as a NES-inspired rage games like You Have to Win the Game (from Minor Key Games), but at some moments you will definitely want to perform a rage quit – and I can’t say that it’s bad, because the genre itself means it.
– Real player with 2.7 hrs in game
It was short but fun. Worked well with remote play together.
There is a bugged screen where player two starts inside of a wall, locking the camera in place and forcing player one to try to progress while offscreen. Fortunately, you can use the downstab to bounce on the other player and reach higher platforms than a normal jump would let you. This allowed us to sequence break past the buggy segment and skip one of the bosses. Felt like a retro classic. I appreciate it.
– Real player with 1.9 hrs in game
Kid Chameleon™
Kid Chameleon is 1-player platforming game for Sega Genesis that was developed by Sega of America’s own division: STI – Sega Technical Institute. Kinda funny to think that STI was supposed to create IPs when none of their games ever got a sequel, ha. It was released in 1992 and came on 8 Megabit cartridge, quite standard by that time.
And yep, I just called it 1-player, despite the game having 2-players option. That’s because it’s not real simultaneous multiplayer, instead it’s old-school “taking turns” one, where game switches between two separate game sessions.
– Real player with 0.3 hrs in game
– Real player with 0.1 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 Small Robot Story
Absolutely love A Small Robot Story. Never been one to really play a lot of platformers, but the charm of the story - to me - makes the frustration well worth it. Art and music are both incredibly beautiful, the gameplay is challenging but also really rewarding… Overall a fantastic experience. Would definitely recommend, hands down.
– Real player with 13.2 hrs in game
What a nice game! I’ll admit I’m a sucker for story-based games and platformers alike, and this one makes me feel just a bit nostalgic for when I was beating Cave Story+ for the first time.
The arcade-y, roguelike system means that this isn’t a game you save and pick up later. It’s short-ish, but you have to complete it in one go. Effectively, you have nine lives, although the game’s pretty generous with healing.
The learning curve is really satisfying: every time you get smashed to pieces in seconds by the level boss, you’re thinking, how am I supposed to get past this? You’ll probably get pulverized by each boss until you run out of continues once or twice, but then somehow you learn and react faster and beat it. It’s not a strategy thing, it’s a rhythm/reaction time/muscle memory thing. You don’t have to think too much about it.
– Real player with 11.3 hrs in game
Albert’s Journey
Albert’s Journey is a story about a small brave creature who never gives up. His body is fragile but strong in mind he is. One day he gets lost in space and is forced to find a way back home. During the journey, he discovers new strange worlds and new beings who are either friendly or hostile. Albert doesn’t use violence. He is a pacifist but it does not mean he will not protect himself.
Full game contains at least thirteen levels of full playable adventure, while by accident Albert will be forced to land on unknown planet. During his journey he will find out what (or who) lives on this planet and what to do leave it. Main character will develop his skills during a journey and in the final act he will have to make a serious decision, that have impact on the all living creatures on the planet.
The game is going to be in a old school platformer style but with a new look and new approach.
Alien Soldier
Alien Soldier is a shoot-em-up game that is pretty much a boss rush for 25 stages for Mega Drive. 1 player-only this time around. It was developed by Treasure and released in 1995. Published by Sega, aha. It wasn’t released in North America. Well, it apparently was Sega Channel exclusive there, which was a monthly subscription service that allowed you to download a bunch of games onto special cartridge. And according to the devs the game was only half-finished due to Mega Drive market collapsing, for example they had to cut a lot of world building things and is also the reason why Seven Force has only five forms. 4 number passwords, 16 Megabits of awesome.
– Real player with 0.3 hrs in game
– Real player with 0.1 hrs in game