P.U.G.S. Agents
P.U.G.S. Agents is a classic 2D Top-Down adventure in the 80’s style with completely new heroes. Two agents of the secret organization P.U.G.S. must solve the mystery of the mysterious explosion at the local factory S.N.A.C.K.S. The suspicion of Arch-Evil Jamnior arises and the agent KGB (Kiss & Good Bye) is seen near Fazita Fazinova.
In the game you will be able to relive the chilling adventure in the hearts of pugs, meet the heroes of different races, and what’s important to find the dog’s snacks.
Control agents, solve puzzles, use pugilistic equipment, discover the true nature of the pugs agents!
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Pug thrilling 2D Top-Down adventure
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Pug agents cooperation mode
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Quests, Puzzles and minigames
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Twisted storyline with different races heroes
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Special PUGS Agents suits, tools and devices
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and secret of the Snacks
Read More: Best Retro Funny Games.
Shining Force II
SF2 tells a bit more lore of the World of Runes compared to SF1 and we get a clearer picture in part of the world in our explore and its history of the 3 demon lords here.
Although it’s a SRPG, this game folds out more like a normal JRPG, with everything we can expect in a JRPG story completed in the game, from boat, to ship, to air ship… from hidden characters… hidden items… to final strongest weapon crafting… all the classic goodies of a JRPG is here. The tactic part falls on a random encounter basis, but instead of small fight, it’s a full map fight, so they lowered the encounter rate to super rare… which makes finding a random fight outside the main story battle in the game a wee bit harder than a normal JRPG.
– Real player with 6.3 hrs in game
Read More: Best Retro JRPG Games.
This along with its predecessor Shining Force I is an absolutely unique mix of tactical RPG and traditional JRPG town and overworld exploration.
In pure Strategy RPGs, what you get is usually a sequence of battles separated by cutscenes. Personally, that causes me to burn out pretty fast because of the repetition. The Shining Force games however have such a perfect mix of battle/exploration/story that my interest is constantly renewed. Combat can be challenging but the mechanics are light enough that it still feels relaxing to play.
– Real player with 0.6 hrs in game
Shining Force
This along with its sequel Shining Force II is an absolutely unique mix of tactical RPG and traditional JRPG town and overworld exploration.
In pure Strategy RPGs, what you get is usually a sequence of battles separated by cutscenes. Personally, that causes me to burn out pretty fast because of the repetition. These games however have such a perfect mix of battle/exploration/story that my interest is constantly renewed. Combat can be challenging but the mechanics are light enough that it still feels relaxing to play.
– Real player with 18.3 hrs in game
Read More: Best Retro JRPG Games.
Classic SRPG that’s pretty much fun and sticking to all the old school pattern with class upgrade, hidden objects on battle field, rpg style town explore and hidden characters to collect which adds to the replayability.
I was here because i wanted to start playing another Shining series but vaguely remember the game is supposed to be SRPG and not ARPG, so I came for a quick check but ended up finishing the whole game and probably will go for other series they have on SMD Steam before i move on to play the newer ones. Glad i did too! It’s fun, and the old and simple old school beats all the complex settings and story lore of the later series i guess… too complex makes them a burden to learn… I guess the simplicity is what makes the Classics so wonderful.
– Real player with 9.6 hrs in game
Crush the Industry
Work your way to the top of a big game studio in this roguelike deckbuilder inspired by classic JRPGs!
Features:
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Roguelike Gameplay: As a totally expendable employee, you can bet your bottom dollar that every career run will be unique!
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Work Your Way Up: Manage your schedule wisely as you progress through four different departments in the company. It’s up to you to decide when more risk is worth the reward.
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Strange Company: Encounter everything from toxic players and creative blocks to poorly-optimized code and grotesque meeting blobs!
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Go Nuts: Harness the unpredictable effects of losing your sanity.
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Valuable Experience: Unlock new skills, talents, and bosses by leveling up. Each rank comes with a unique job title that is absolutely pointless!
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Timed Hits: Some skills require a little more finesse. A perfectly-timed Schmooze might just save your skin…
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Labor of Love: Made by a couple who are passionate about roguelikes and retro games.
The Legion of Maelstrom
Great dialogue, fantastic sprite work, and fun battle system! I hopped on board with Andrew R at the last minute and composed the soundtrack for the game, and I’m so glad I was part of the team, as I’m thoroughly enjoying playing it much as I enjoyed writing the music!!!
– Real player with 35.9 hrs in game
I really liked this game for a multitude of reasons nobody cares about and I recommend it wholeheartedly but gushing reviews are useless to other people, so I’m going to instead list potential deal breakers.
A few reviews make mention of humor and dialog but there’s not much in this game. There’s actually only enough story to get you going then the game steps back and lets you do your thing undisturbed. The dialog that does exist is pleasant enough and while a few lines of lore are scattered across some bookshelves, I didn’t feel I needed more story than what was given. If you’re expecting some sprawling saga, a speaking protagonist, memorable characters, or love exposition, you won’t get that here.
– Real player with 24.7 hrs in game
Crimson Core
Kenji, a normal every day college student, was supposed to be meeting a very lovely acquaintance in the hopes of sparking a new and fruitful relationship. However, Kenji has the worst of luck. Stood up again and looking into the night sky, he hears the cries of someone calling out for help. Not the type of person to abandon someone in desperate need, Kenji rushes to the rescue only to find himself being the one that needs rescuing.
All Hell Breaks Loose.
Featuring:
-A Deep Original Story
Realms of Antiquity: The Shattered Crown
A good game that captures the spirit of games like Ultima 4 / Questron / Magic Candle… if you can afford to spend the time it requires to play it.
My gripe with it is that’s It’s sometimes slow paced, with only a few keyboard commands that don’t make party management user friendly.
It would be nice to have some kind of option since it’s emulated (like a key combo to speed up things as featured in some emulators) to speed up the game when the user wishes it so. Crossing large plains or fighting weak monsters is sometimes a chore.
– Real player with 151.7 hrs in game
This game is very interesting in a lot of ways.
It is very lateral, in that you can essentially go through out the world and explore wherever and not feel completely powerless even at level 1.
The leveling curve feels somehow both extremely important and powerful but utterly unimportant.
This is a game where you have to pay attention to what you read, and everything leads to something. I still haven’t beaten it and im 74 hours in. Average play through is 110 hours.
I learn new stuff constantly, and exploring is delightful. The story is more complex than expected too, every trope you think is going to pop up.. just somehow doesn’t.
– Real player with 127.9 hrs in game
Ambition of the Slimes
The first thing you should know about Ambition of the Slimes if you are considering picking it up is that although it is a strategy RPG, the emphasis is much more on the “strategy” than the “RPG”. Grinding will only help you so much; far more important is choosing the right slimes and making the right moves. If this sounds too stressful, then you may want to seek out another game (however, please note that there is an Easy difficulty which I didn’t touch– I stuck with Normal, plus replayed some levels on Hard and did a few Challenges– so YMMV).
– Real player with 42.2 hrs in game
very disappointed, the game is not balanced to give a fair difficulty to the player. Even easy mode will kick your ass. Enemies are too much powerful and, for reasons, some of them will be difficult to “claim”. Also you have very weak slimes, leveling them up is not very helpful, and you get new species randomly. Also in some levels you have a limited number of slimes vs hordes of enemies.
And…. seriously, why, for all the reasons in the world, the tutorial explains you how to use a very important slime with the stickyness ability, but when the tutorial ends you don’t have that slime anymore and you can’t find that anywhere? Why?
– Real player with 25.2 hrs in game
Guile & Glory: Firstborn
I just completed Guile & Glory: Firstborn (it took me 17 hours – story + delve runs), and I had a great time adventuring in the Drowned Lands. If you like turn-based tactics games, and if fighting epic battles against mythical beasts gets your blood pumping, you should definitely pick this game up.
Guile & Glory: Firstborn is described by its dev as being inspired by Into the Breach (gameplay) & the Golden Axe series (atmosphere), and this is exactly what the game delivers.
– Real player with 33.9 hrs in game
A lot of people compared this to Into the Breach, but it’s really more like Deadly Rooms of Death for people who aren’t masochists. Like DROD, there’s no miss chance, no random choices from the AI, and no excuses besides your own incompetence if you get yourself killed. But unlike DROD, you can level up, change your loadout, or even take a hit and accept a lower score. There are outcomes in between “choose exactly the sequence of steps the dev intended” and “die horribly,” and the bonus objectives encourage excellence without mandating it.
– Real player with 10.7 hrs in game
Rising Star 2
Overview
Let it be known that the developer specifically sought an opinion for Rising Star 2 from someone who enjoys simulation games and is a fan of Rock and/or Heavy Metal. Thankfully ReviewExperts has such an admin in ol' Il Pallino! There hasn’t been many games involving band management in the history of video games, but Rising Star 2 has something imperceptible that many great management sims lack. As expected, the player leads a band by designing the face and body of a musician, and once in game, recruits other band members, buys musical equipment, writes songs, and when enough material is had, the player goes about entering their band in “battle of the bands” competitions and finding gigs in dive bars as a supporting act. With enough popularity, the band can retain a manager who can perform a number of tasks, but the most important in the short term being to find gigs at larger venues, which increases band exposure, leading to more fans and more opportunities to sell merchandise. (Only managers can book shows at theaters and stadiums.) With enough grinding and traveling from city to city starting at the bottom, the player’s band can one day become mega-stars headlining in sold out stadiums.
– Real player with 324.8 hrs in game
EDIT on 7/8/2021 after 2 likes
Originally, I wrote a review after about 50 hours. In a nutshell, I wrote that it would be a good manager if not for two major mistakes and a gameplay, that unnecessarily makes it too much of a timesink. Since I was ready to give up, I gave it a thumbs down.
Well, I didn’t give up and here we are, 60 hours or so later. I still think, that a single manual save spot in a game like this is unacceptable. I still think, that it is a cardinal design flaw, that the player cannot choose, which effects equipment is used. And I still think that the (in-game) daily routine could be handled better. However, what I came to realize is that the progression of one’s band gets faster, once one hits the mid-game. In fact, I very much appreciate it that there is a noticeable step in between game phases. One has to re-think and re-design strategies. This came as unexpectedly as the original realization that the game has a strong strategic element to begin with.
– Real player with 192.0 hrs in game