Vampire Bloody Star X
Really great, shmup/bullet hell game with great style and gameplay. Would highly recommend.
Gameplay vid:
– Real player with 0.4 hrs in game
Read More: Best Psychedelic 2D Games.
That’s funny, I don’t remember smoking DMT tonight.
It’s hardly the game of the year, but this is the type of unique, experimental oddity I always hope to find in the Steam bargain bin trash pile, yet rarely do. Weird and intense and loud and pretty good.
– Real player with 0.3 hrs in game
POP: Methodology Experiment One
What is POP: Methodology Experiment One ?
Genre: adventure, told in different, non-canonical scenes
Setting: different 20th century themed scenes, both famous and common, to be travelled by the player
Difficulty: 0/10 – you progress, no matter what. 9/10 if going for achievements
Length: about an hour for a single playthrough
Mode: singleplayer campaign, replayable “vignettes” (=scenes)
The positive aspects:
- different scenes from 20th century’s history, such as manned spaceflight, mignight air raid, boarding a helicopter in a war territory
– Real player with 3.3 hrs in game
Read More: Best Psychedelic Pixel Graphics Games.
Full Disclosure: I won this title during the Steam Winter 2014 Auction (look at the braggart) and basically got it for free.
Being up front, I would wait for this title to go on sale and pick up the Deluxe.
I love WTF/Mind destroying games/experiences. So when I saw the trailer for this I got very excited.
The first time playing through is somewhat magical, you’re in complete wonderlust. Meanwhile, your constantly dancing with the sweet release of death from drowning from your own blood as it pours from your eroded eye and ear holes into your big dumb gaping maw.
– Real player with 2.3 hrs in game
Thumper
Disclaimer: This review is considerably lengthy. The abridged version is: buy it. I have been obsessed with this game for the past few days and that train, much like the space beetle you play as, is not stopping anytime soon. If you’re interested in reading about how I believe Thumper applies play conditioning, minimalism and cosmic horror to create a brilliant game filled with gorgeous graphics, an intense score and absurd replay value – go ahead!
This strange game is an incredibly satisfying trifecta of psychedelic art, rhythm-based play and horror tension. Seriously, somehow developers Drool have managed to make a game described as, a space beetle travelling through the void, a uniquely terrifying and intense experience. I want to focus the majority of my review on a concept I think Thumper executes brilliantly. It’s a term known as play conditioning, and it’s not mine – I first heard its use by film and games essayist Hbomberguy. He coined the term vis-à-vis Thumper; so, with this in mind, I believe it to be intellectually honest for me to present his argument given that I will proceed to apply, expand and comment on it.
– Real player with 69.5 hrs in game
Read More: Best Psychedelic Music Games.
I understand that hearing “rhythm violence” or “rhythm horror” might be a bit concerning or confusing, so I am going to try to explain it. It is incredibly difficult to know what this game means by those things without trying it.
This game has no gore, no jumpscares, no typical horror tropes, no dismemberment, etc. What Thumper does is give you a feeling of tension and sheer adrenaline. Everything builds up to different points and then releases that tension, thus giving you that feeling of “dread” and adrenaline.
– Real player with 63.8 hrs in game
Shatter
Shatter is the best Breakout game I have ever played, It took the best of the classic and improved on it, You can suck, blow, shoot, shield, Fire as many balls as you want and there even are bosses.
The game has a bunch of gamemodes, Story mode which takes you through the 10 chapters which all have a bunch of levels, Some are horizontal some are vertical some are even round, And at the end of each chapter there is a boss level, Which is just super cool, Boss levels in a breakout game, The bosses are very well made, After the boss level you get a bonus level and then on to the next chapter.
– Real player with 104.5 hrs in game
Shatter is a visually amazing brick breaking game with the best soundtrack of its genre. Whether you keep it old school and rely solely on your skills of maneuvering the “bat” and hitting the ball at the right angle or if you use the new “Suck” & “Blow” gameplay mechanics to help guide the ball where you need it to be, this easy to play yet challenging to master game will give you hours upon hours of enjoyment. And don’t forget the “Shard Storm” should you need help taking out some bricks or just want to eliminate the bosses faster.
– Real player with 39.8 hrs in game
Everhood
Play Everhood!! (and nominate the game for best soundtrack!)
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How did this slip my radar?
How are none of my friends talking about this game?
Every year if I am lucky I come across a game so good I wish I could go back in time just to play it for the first time again - and that game always becomes by Game of The Year. That game for me this year is Everhood. And I knew that within 30 minutes of playing the game. I’m nominating the game for Best Soundtrack – cause the OST is amazing and I feel it has a better chance of winning a nomination in that category but it was hard not to vote it as GOTY just from my personal experience with the game.
– Real player with 23.2 hrs in game
Everhood is probably one of my favorite games I’ve played this year!! I’m nominating it for best soundtrack because oh my god. There is not one song in this game’s OST that I actively dislike.
The character design and writing is SO good and I found myself liking almost every single one I’ve encountered.
This game can be so weird and funny but at the same time I’ve cried just thinking about the ending!!!
It’s just… REALLY good, I can’t think of much else to say. Putting things into words is really hard for me, but I hope this got my feelings across well.
– Real player with 21.1 hrs in game
Hotline Miami
Awesome game if u are a maniac killer: great soundtracks + great gameplay + a simple storyline + too much blood + 2D Pixel graphics = Awesome Mix!
– Real player with 43.1 hrs in game
Music is perfection, gameplay is solid, if a bit goofy at times, especially dealing with knocked down enemies and poorly placed doors that either block bullets, or don’t swing open all the way, blocking your spray. The story is enjoyable, but the music does most of the heavy lifting for setting the tone of the scene, which isn’t a bad thing, since every single track is a masterpiece.
The game runs alright for the most part, even on my potato of a pc, but the frame rate grinds to a halt on Push It, and if you’re on Mac, moving your cursor to the top of the screen opens your task bar, which freezes the game for a second, leading to some frustrating deaths.
– Real player with 28.3 hrs in game
Low Desert Punk
Low Desert Punk is a high octane single player free roaming driver where your only real mission is to stay alive by not crashing. Enemies however have a different goal in mind and will swarm you relentlessly trying to crash you up. Definitely a lot of hand/eye coordination required here. Combined with the catchy music, this small Unity value game delivers some fun!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wmle5FkF2ss
Controls couldn’t be simpler. WASD used on the keyboard, no mouse required. W to go, S to slow, A & D to swirve your truck left and right. The Space bar gives you a Nitro boost but is limited by a cool down. Hit the targets, and use Nitro to allow you to get some revenge on the swarming enemies. Hitting more targets faster helps get you a bigger multiplier to get bigger score totals. The game keeps track of the top 9 Steam scores so you’ll always have a target score total to aspire to reach, which is nice for a game like this.
– Real player with 1.5 hrs in game
A game that is really challenging and that leaves you completely absorbed in your mechanics.
The game makes you stay focused on hitting your score and beating your friends in a ranking system that always encourages you to play again.
If you want some good fun and some fun, play Low Desert Punk !!
– Real player with 0.4 hrs in game
Roundabout 3
Very disappointed at this time. Currently there is NO infinity mode for ANY of the levels in the game. In R2 I could get lost in any level for half an hour or more, but now I feel sluggish. I know I only mastered (and near mastered) a few levels in this iteration, but soon I’ll have to put down the game because trying to high-score in this time trial mode is not my style. All I need is a button in practice mode to let me have it my way, but you decided to not implement it. Am I supposed to go back an iteration to NGs to have it my way?
– Real player with 7.1 hrs in game
it´s okay
– Real player with 7.1 hrs in game
Spinch
LSD isn’t legal. Spinch is!
EDIT [going beyond my trivial and obvious ~joke~]
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In my personal opinion, the game has the ideal difficulty, once it’s not hard enough to be annoying and far from being easy enough to be boring
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The difficulty progression is also very balanced, with the game becoming more challenging while you develop your skills and get used to its physics
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Talking about physics: it’s very unique and different from other platform games (character’s acceleration is kinda weird), but I also like it. I think it fits the lysergic experience and it becomes cool after a while
– Real player with 20.4 hrs in game
Spinch is colorful, beautiful, solid, fun, and brutally punishing.
It’s been out a year and only 90 reviews? What gives?
I’d describe this as a 90s throwback with crazy psychedelic art. Each enemy, boss, nearly every part of the level is some part rainbow and flashing. It’s super psychedelic, the animations are fantastic, the whole game is a feast for the eyes. If you have epilepsy, DO NOT PLAY THIS GAME. Despite being so colorful, isometric, and somewhat busy, the levels are easily navigable and you never feel lost or that you aren’t hitting the right part of the “3D” object or determining background/foreground. Love the enemies and the art style, each level brings a new environment and themes challenges to fit. These levels are hand crafted and each one has a new piece of rainbow art to add to this strange world.
– Real player with 13.1 hrs in game
The Artful Escape
A cyberpunk mix of Bill & Ted, The Hitchhikers Guide & Ziggy Stardust. The immortal tale of the lost prince, played out with guitars and the best stylized graphics this side of Alpha Centauri.
– Real player with 8.2 hrs in game
For quite a while now, I’d missed that feeling of being fully convinced by a game. There was always something that left a bit of an unpleasant aftertaste, or there was nothing really wrong but I just didn’t quite feel it. Some of the games I loved at first, but got kind of tired of them towards the end. Might well be because I haven’t exactly had a good year.
But THIS game - there were a few things that bothered me a bit, I mean, even starting with the fact that I hate platformers. But all those things felt insignificant, because 95% of the time this game genuinely made me feel good and enjoy myself, and it left me glowing.
– Real player with 6.2 hrs in game