Happy Grumps
This is an incredibly cute game. Cute characters and cute writing. I just wanna make the clouds happy.
Game play wise, your objective is to get a direct line of sight on the enemies in each room, or indirectly by using the newly happy units to make others happy. The units move like chess pieces, and there are walls and other barriers that prevent movement and line of sight. The caveat is that you only have a certain amount of turns per level to find a key and defeat the boss. This means that the strategy comes from trying to use as few turns as possible to complete each room. This to me makes it feel kind of similar to match 3 games. You are trying to set up combos so you dont waste time moving things around individually. I think its pretty unique and fun.
– Real player with 10.3 hrs in game
Read More: Best Retro Dungeon Crawler Games.
Note about the “free product”: I purchased this but refunded it because a bug made it unplayable for me. As a courtesy I notified the developer, and he offered a free copy in exchange for some help finding and fixing the bug, which he was able to do quickly. This review was not solicited.
TLDR: It’s good. It’s unusual and a little confusing at first, but very much worth your time. Recommended.
Happy Grumps confused me initially (even after we got the bug figured out). It may not be what you expect, especially if you were searching on the “roguelike” tag. I think I’d call it a “chesslike”, since it’s played on a square grid with “happy” units which are under your control, and “grumpy” ones which you need to remove. Each room of the dungeon is one of these chessboards, and the number of turns it takes to remove all the grumpies is deducted from your total, which is kind of like hit points, fuel, and money combined.
– Real player with 2.9 hrs in game
Wager
I really want to give this a good review but I have only been playing for a bit (5h or so of play) and I think I am done? No progression, unlimited cash, most runs. If it goes no where then what is the point? I have done a few runs and it seems very limited in variety. ALso, fix the numbers, add notation or something to that at least we can see the big numbers. This game needs some work to be worth paying for.
– Real player with 3.0 hrs in game
Read More: Best Retro Strategy Games.
Fun little game, needs lots more items and has some balancing issues and bugs
On my first game I have found Assembly Line + Stacking Use ‘em is very broken, add some above and below 10 free money and you can catapult into the stratosphere very quickly.
I ended up getting so much money I caused a buffer overflow plunging me into negative coin values XD
Would like to see more than 28 items, as you get to know all of them and which ones are useful and which are not very quickly.
Needs some more work to make the gameplay interesting for much longer than half an hour or so
– Real player with 1.4 hrs in game
COMPOUND
It seems like most VR shooters fall into two categories: either arcade-y bullet-hell spray-and-pray endurance slogs, or cold, colorless Counter-Strike/Doom/Left 4 Dead clones.
What keeps me coming back to Compound is that it combines the best qualities of all these games. You jump right into the action with little fluff. The retro aesthetic is vibrant and playful, but don’t let that deceive you: there is plenty of challenge, along with a diverse assortment of beefy, satisfying weapons with unique mechanics. Ammo can be limited, so you can’t just blast away aimlessly, you have to make each shot count and use the environment to your advantage. Unlike static wave shooters, you can explore and progress through areas at your own pace, and even save your current game to come back to it later. The “mutations” offer various gameplay modifiers to spice things up.
– Real player with 188.1 hrs in game
Read More: Best Retro Shooter Games.
Ok, full disclosure, I bug test this game and know the developer. I’m gonna try to stay as unbiased as possible and give an objective review but just know that I might be a little biased. (I was the one who suggested the rpg should be homing and the charging laser should be nerfed haha goteem)
Compound is a very solid vr game. What makes it stand out from the crowd is its massive replayability, something that many vr games - even the most polished and well crafted - are still struggling to achieve.
– Real player with 160.1 hrs in game
EatWell
Like people say, the gameplay is a weird adaptation of pacman. The engaging mechanic is build up a combo of “dots” (think PAC-MAN 256). Once a certain number of dots in a row is achieved, a random power will drop. Those powers take the form of the roguelike comparison, like Binding of Isaac- random, unlockable new ones, odd effects, some good and some bad. It’s hard to make progress, and it’s a bit too punishing with little reward/incentive. But I find myself keep playing it. Maybe it hits that line of just simple enough to play with just enough complexity in its mechanics
– Real player with 8.8 hrs in game
So it’s like PAC-MAN mixed with Isaac, mixed with the aesthetic of Downwell, and I love it for all of those reasons, and more.
I’ve not played as much as I’d like to because in all fairness, it doesn’t play well (or at least for me) on a keyboard, and my 360 pad just died. I will however be picking it up and delving deeper when I recieve a new pad.
Don’t be fooled by it looking pretty basic, it’s incredibly hard (as it should be) and rather than you feeling cheated, you’re more likely to want to just keep trying and persevering with it. At least that’s how I feel about it. Oh and things do get more colourful the further you go.
– Real player with 2.3 hrs in game
Nuke Zone
Take command of the virtual cyber-tank of your dreams as you blast through swarms of unrelenting enemies and massive bosses, on your path to the final showdown with the Arbiter, a corrupted military AI gone rogue! Tweak your tank power and overclock your systems for maximum efficiency and persistent destruction through thrilling adrenaline-fueled missions!
Upgrade your cybertank’s arsenal with a powerful combination of weapons, ultimates and mods. Each run is different, with randomized levels, loot, enemies and gameplay mutators. Restart your run with new challenges for better rewards!
Get in the flow with the musically reactive environments of the Nuke Zone. Even the landscape has its own electronic heartbeat, tuned to the pulsing rhythms of synthwave superstars Stilz and The Encounter.
Nuke Zone is still in development, which means your feedback can have direct influence! We’d love to hear your suggestions in the Nuke Zone Steam Community Hub, or join us on Discord to chat with the Devs! Last but definitely not least, a massive Thank You for your feedback, for playing the demo and for wishlisting Nuke Zone! We appreciate your ongoing support!
Ampersat
Ampersat is a shooty, slashy, RPG-y game mixing old-school/retro and modern sensibilities. A blend of influences from Gauntlet and Smash TV to Zelda and a dash of Angband, this is a handcrafted adventure with much appeal to fans of Roguelites. A labor of love from a solo developer, Ampersat distills some favorite childhood gaming experiences into a fresh, fun hybrid that sees you killing a lot of monsters, finding a lot of loot, freeing captured letters (um, what?) and growing from a world-weary warrior mage into a powerful smashing/blasting machine!
Main Features
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More than 50 handcrafted levels, many with exploration and light puzzles
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Optional endless procedural area
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Original gameplay elements based around freeing and capturing letters
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Flexible character progression with extensive skill tree
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Hundreds of unique pieces of loot find, buy, sell and augment
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Upgradeable town hub
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Tackle stages in the order you choose
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50 unique creature types with individual AI, 10 fiendish bosses
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Drop-in local async co-op (and online using Steam Remote Play Together) - suitable for young players to team up with their parents
You may notice the main character and enemies are ASCII letters - yes, this is an aesthetic throwback to the original Rogue games, and the blending of these with colorful 3D top-down environments was the idea that first spawned Ampersat. Likewise, Commodore 64 SID chip sound effects are used alongside real-world music for a distinctive experience. But just what is an “ampersat?” It’s the leading contender for the official name of the @ symbol, of course!
Overview
Gentlheim has been invaded by Lord Z, who has surrounded the village with 5 extraplanar towers and the dungeons beneath, filled with evil creatures. Even worse, he has stolen language itself from the townspeople! As the warrior mage Ampersat, you must venture deep into the dungeons and high above the land in the treacherous towers, defeat countless minions and restore language to Gentlheim so the townsfolk can communicate properly and help you defeat Lord Z himself.
Gentlheim
Gentlheim has shops to buy and sell goods; an Inn to heal up, level up, and stash gold to retrieve after death; and a deep Well leading to randomly generated procedural levels. There are various structures you can pay to upgrade and, as language returns to the village, townsfolk who may need something… Gentlheim hides a few surprises for the inquisitive gamer and provides a hub area to approach different stages in any order you like, or revisit levels you’ve already beaten.
The Well is where the “roguish” aesthetics are turned up to 11, providing short, sharp, loot-gathering deep delves once you repair it. There’s an old rumor that something very special is buried at the bottom of the well… but no one has ever reached those depths.
Co-op
Ampersat’s async co-op is true drop-in, drop-out at any time. The second player controls a fairy that hovers around Ampersat and also launches attacks. Will you trust them with your best spell? No? They might steal it anyway… While the fairy’s shots aren’t as powerful and contribute to overheating, it has the huge advantage of being invulnerable. The perfect partner… if you can get along.
Asteroids… But Roguelite
The progression/choice is super cool. It captures this feeling I like from games like Asteroids and Galaga, but adds a whole new dimension where score matters (because you get money for upgrades from it), and you’re given meaningful choices.
There’s a couple ways I’ve played it; 1. just trying to get the perfect score streak/multiplier through precision, or 2. brute forcing it with epic upgrades. I am #2 on the leaderboard at the time of my writing, and I felt somewhat godlike with my bombs, shotgun lasers, sniper, shield, max health, etc…
– Real player with 11.9 hrs in game
I originally bought this game back when it was first released on Itch.io, and it’s definitely had some improvements since. Unfortunately that also means several exploits/cheap tactics I used to use to reach the top of the leaderboard, have been patched. I suppose it was inevitable.
–———————–
Asteroids… But Roguelite is exactly what it claims to be, and it does a damn good job at it. It starts you off as a weak ship, and you find yourself needing to increase your power at a very quick pace to stand a challenge against enemies.
– Real player with 3.0 hrs in game
Roguelite 2
RECOMMENDED 7/10
Roguelite 2 is an inexpensive and fun implementation of the traditional rogue game using RPG maker graphics.
What I like most about this game is the “persistence” mechanics.
Each dungeon run has a chance to complete a series of quest-like achievements. These achievements, when completed, will then open up some small bonuses in future dungeon run. These bonuses can come in the form of unlocking new classes, better starting weapons and armor, or even some useful consumables like healing and resurrecting potions, etc. So, when you play this game, the best strategy is to focus on fulfilling the quest requirements and then your next dungeon run will be better.
– Real player with 32.0 hrs in game
JRPG style rougelite as the title suggests, but mostly turn-based so it might be better to call it a rougelike if one bothers to make the distinction.
Pros:
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Feels very relaxing and familiar as some one who has played a lot of (J)RPGs & rougelites.
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Has good humor and well drawn characters that make it feel enjoyable.
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Runs with a 4-person party, which adds a bit of depth which would otherwise be lacking.
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Auto-saves at the begging of each floor.
Cons:
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Lacks the greater depth and complexity of other rougelites and thus ends up as more of a casual game than a serious intricate challenge of a game.
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Graphics will sometimes freeze in a fight forcing you to redo a floor. This is mitigated fairly well by the auto-save which happens after the floor randomization so you will find the same loot & enemies on the replay of the floor.
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Boss fights occur every 5 floors & are one of the big limiting factors in succeeding in a run, but are not particularly randomized which is disappointing as it hurts the enjoyment of replayability once the player has become comfortable with each of the bosses after fighting them a few times.
– Real player with 24.1 hrs in game
Scarlett’s Dungeon
I enjoyed the game very much, it is relatively small but it is also the first game he did. Graphically I like it very much, it reminds me of my childhood and that gives bonus points: P
As I said the game itself is small but, he has given himself effort, you can walk into every House in the city and everyone has their own stories and I think that’s great.
If you are in a dungeon, you can always go back to the city to buy new items such as new swords or a new life, weapons there is no big choice, there are 3 different swords and there are currently no more weapons but I think more weapons would not be needed, for the 15 levels that’s enough.
– Real player with 5.0 hrs in game
Just finished the game, playtime: 58 minutes.
Let’s write a review…
PROS!
+Pixel game with cool graphics
+Palette Village which was quite small, but nice
+3 shops, where you could buy weapons, heal yourself, skills
+15 floors of dungeon with 2 bosses!
+Price
+made by 20-years-old guy, it’s his first bigger game!
+Very nice soundtracks
CONS!
-Too short
-Only 3 weapons available
-After you finish the game you must start new game…
-Only one main skill
-No stats
-You only get damage bonus when you reach new level
– Real player with 2.5 hrs in game
BulletGarden
Reviewing for J-Indie Arcade: Bullet Garden is a roguelite vertical STG with random enemy waves and around 300 weapons. The game has a a lot of style from the red and white graphics, weapons that add rhythm to the soundtrack and the wide range of weapon display and design. Mission Mode helps you get used to the weapons and gameplay as well as giving you seeds to unlock new weapons. Set up your unlocked weapons in 5 different custom power-up loadouts and go for an endless score attack. If you go in expecting a typical STG, you will be frustrated by the randomness and auto-fire, but as a roguelite, it’s great for short sessions, but with enough depth to keep coming back.
– Real player with 8.1 hrs in game
Really fun vertical shooter with a simple pixel art aesthetic. Entirely focused around the huge variety of weapons, which have impressively different effects or looks, like cats which leave pawprints or bombs which rain from the top. You can play a mission mode comprised of fixed objectives with determined loadouts, or an endless score attack mode using loadouts you customize yourself. To earn the weapons for your customized loadout, you do gacha pulls (the “planter”) using a meta-currency you obtain from defeated enemies.
– Real player with 4.2 hrs in game