Rogue Legacy
I first played Rogue Legacy at a friend’s place, trading off the controller at each death. It wasn’t much, but it got me instantly hooked on how fun it was. So hooked, that I downloaded Steam, bought the game for the full $15, and bought a $30 wired Xbox 360 controller… and I don’t even have any Xboxes. All this for this one game… and it was worth it.
Rogue Legacy plays like Castlevania and Super Ghouls N Ghosts. You move, jump, attack, and use a secondary weapon. The uniqueness comes into play when you die, which you will… a lot. Once you die, you will be brought to a selection of three heirs to play as next. Each one has a random character class, secondary weapon, and set of traits. Classes determine certain stats and abilities. Secondary weapons, or spells as they are called, use up MP. That’s all pretty basic stuff. But the traits are very interesting. Some traits are helpful, like a speed increase. Others are harmful, like giving your attacks no enemy knockback. And some are just… well… neutral things… like making everything black and white. Your heirs have a chance of having two, one, or none of the traits at random. With all the random factors, you have to really get lucky… or pick the lesser of three evils. Is getting your prefered class worth the traits? Are the spells to your liking? It also makes you think about the next area… skills.
– Real player with 318.3 hrs in game
Read More: Best Roguevania Roguelike Games.
For context I played exclusively with a keyboard: Space to jump, ESDF for movement, W for right dash, R for left dash, J to attack, K for spells and I for class abilities. imo this is the best setup for non-controller players.
Rogue Legacy is Really Hard
My first life, I played as Sir Lee in the year 730 AD, and got through about 2 rooms before dying to a spinning picture frame. But ashes to ashes, dust to dust, and another life for the castle, and another, and another…
Each time I learned a little more about how to deal with enemies:
– Real player with 64.9 hrs in game
Abyss Odyssey
score: 2.5/5
tl;dr: clunky combat married with splendid art direction and severe lack of content
| difficulty: | 3/5 | time to finish: | 5-10h |
| fun-factor: | 3/5 | presentation: | 3.5/5 |
achievements
| difficulty: | 3.5/5 | time to 100%: | 20h+ |
| DLC: | - | multiplayer: | Online Champion |
| date-based: | - | glitched: | - |
– Real player with 27.9 hrs in game
Read More: Best Roguevania Action Games.
I’d like to break the game down for you in this review. I’m gonna talk about the combat mechanics, the visuals, and the various features that make it stand out as a platformer/fighting game. When reading about this game you see it compared to Super Smash Brothers, Dark Souls, ect. The truth is that with its combined features, Abyss Odyssey does not at all play like any of the games anyone is comparing it to. So, in an effort to give you a realistic perspective of what you can expect in this game, lets get started.
– Real player with 25.9 hrs in game
Red Bit Ninja
–-Update—
6/11/2015
Cards are finally enabled for this game and there are 8 [out of 15 for the badge] of them to collect. I’ve played the game and did not enjoy it. Now I can leave the game open to get the 8 card drops.
–-Update—
Steam store page lists Steam Trading Cards. No card drops after 8 hours. Something is obviously broken or the game was published claiming to have a feature it clearly doesn’t
– Real player with 13.3 hrs in game
Read More: Best Roguevania 2D Platformer Games.
A lot of the previous reviewers' gripes have been addressed. The windowed mode thing and the tutorial thing. My xbox 360 controller works fine with the game.
Unfortunately that leaves me to gripe about the actual gameplay. Not feeling it. Sorry, but it’s floaty garbage. It is what I imagine homemade soap would be like if you never made soap before. Not really enjoyable.
– Real player with 9.7 hrs in game
Sundered®: Eldritch Edition
After a few day’s worth of playtime on this game, I feel like I’d like to toss in my two cents on it. By two cents, I should clarify that I mean many paragraphs. this review will not be short, and I apologise. Sundered, on the whole, is a good game. There are several elements that merit critique in my eyes, though they didn’t detract from the game so much as to merit a negative review. With that out of the way, let’s dive in to some thoughts and ramblings.
Firstly, I should say also that this game has quickly become one of my all time favorites. The atmosphere, the artwork, the enemy design and storytelling all are favorites of mine, and I think they’re exceedingly clever and engaging. However, even when you take away my biased opinions, the game stands up to scrutiny, with well designed gameplay and mechanics (as well as story and the other previously mentioned aspects).
– Real player with 82.7 hrs in game
Well, you can tell by my hours of gameplay that I really enjoyed this game and got the most out of it, even the bad out of it.
The harshness of the reviews left me really unsure, in the first few minutes, no matter how much I was enjoying, the game design made me fear for what people have said, so let me clarify a few things.
TL:DR
Great game, very challenging, beautiful animation, exploration is rewarded, so is proper strategy (Change your routes and upgrade luck early, please). The randomness is not unfair, it is not unfair, your skills matter. Bosses are great, minibosses often suck. The major flaw is making the “good” path so poor, but the rest is brillant. If you want to have 1 run and the best experience, I’d say “Put the hardest difficulty and fully embrace”
– Real player with 58.2 hrs in game
Aura of Worlds
I have been playing video games all my life, throughout the 80’s and 90’s the video arcade was my second home.
Playing Aura of World brought back a lot of memories from those times. It is a game that is reminiscent of many games from the golden age of video arcades. Games like Rygar, Black Tiger, Ghosts n Goblins, Wonderboy and others.
This game does not tell an epic saga and it doesn’t have AAA graphics, BUT what it does have is engaging gameplay, great mechanics and features and the sounds, music and effects all combine to make a game that is engaging, fun and easy to get into. Also it does not require a huge investment of time, the Rogue-Like nature of the game means you can play for 10 minutes and put it down, then come back to it later for a slightly different adventure. Play a different way, use different gear, get further and further every time you play.
– Real player with 12.7 hrs in game
I will try to review this game from a Game Developer point of view and from a 40 years old player that has grown up playing arcades and early computer/console games.
GAME DEVELOPER POINT OF VIEW
I develop video games and being part of many communities I have noticed this game and its progress through the time. Its many features and approach to solving the same problem has caught my interest and pushed me to purchase it to investigate more.
I usually don’t develop platform games, actually, they aren’t even my favourite kind of games to play, aside for a few exceptions. However, I work also as a freelancer and there are many potential customers requiring a platform game. To me, this game is a great source of ideas that are well blended together.
– Real player with 10.4 hrs in game
Rising Hell
If you’re browsing reviews and trying to figure out if this game is worth your time and money then here is a quick answer for you: YES. It’s a must have game for anyone who enjoys action packed platformers!
What attracted me when I first saw this game was its overall concept. I will keep it simple for you: you control a demonic creature who’s mission is to escape Hell. And you gotta love the devs take on Hell in this game. It’s basically a vertical tower-like place which you have to ascend in order to make your way out of this demons infested nightmare. Pretty creative in my opinion. So I guess that makes it a vertical action platformer where you fight through hordes of demons trying to ascend higher and higher.
– Real player with 115.2 hrs in game
I’ve been eyeing this game for a while, waiting for it to enter full 1.0 release. I bought it immediately, and so far, I am so, so impressed.
The core controls are simple: you have your attack, you have your jump (which doubles as a cool aerial finisher), and you have your i-frame dash. It’s simple, but it works; movement and attacking is buttery smooth, and opens up the real core of the game: the platforming and movement. The platforming and environmental design is simply wonderful. You’ll be double-jumping and wall-clinging around as you endlessly climb upwards, using enemies to bolster your height as you dodge saw blades, spikes, and burrowing thorns. As a huge platforming fan, I’m very pleased to see it have such a strong place in the core game design, especially on special zones like the Slaughter Spire, which has you rushing upwards using enemies as platforms while a row of saws rises quickly beneath you. It’s challenging, it’s frenetic, and, most importantly, it’s a ton of fun. It’s also worth mentioning the aesthetic is great, too - backgrounds, enemies, and traps are very detailed without becoming cluttered or unclear.
– Real player with 8.9 hrs in game
Koboo: The Tree Spirit
Recruit a unique combination of Spirit Animals giving you a fresh set of abilities each run and acquire the right upgrades to help you defend against a specific human faction.
Befriend animals, go friendly fishing, take care of plants in the forest to unlock new Spirit Animals and upgrades making every run feel fresh and rewarding you after each run so you don’t have to worry about lost runs.
Koboo can dash to dodge enemy attacks, hit enemies' weak spots for bonus damage, throw sharp leaves during vulnerable moments, and combo aerial attacks to stay in the air longer. Mastering all these skills will make defending the forest a breeze.
Unravels the secrets of the mysterious forest and uncover the warring human factions' plans to industrialize the forest.
Koboo: The Tree Spirit is being made with the help of the community so you can follow its development, be a part of testing the game later during its development and talk to me (Jerome) live on Discord. Thank you to those who have already supported Koboo to help make this game possible! ❤
Project Delta
Overview
Project Delta is a Metroid-like game which uses procedural generation inspired by Area and Item Randomizers of Retro Metroidvania titles.
The game will require you to choose what order you want to receive power ups in and generates a world which adheres to that order. Discover new map structures which require more and more powerups as you try to track down the powers of darkness which is trying to gain power over the multiverse.
Content
At this point the first 4 map structures are available on the base steam branch, the beginning of the midgame is available on the beta branch. After finishing the content in the base branch (around 1 hr play time), if you wish to continue playing switch to the demo branch (roughly 2 more hours of playtime).
Controls
At this point the game requires using the D-Pad for movement.
Face Buttons:
Left button = Shoot, Hold for Charge. Charge restores ammo and if your charge shot hits it heals.
Top Button = Bombs
Right button = Run. Pressing Right Button in air will result in a somersault which changes air physics and makes your collider smaller.
Bottom Button = Jump.
Shoulder:
Left Shoulder = Diagonal Aim. Press up or down while holding this to change if you’re aiming diagonal up or down.
Right Shoulder = Essence Arrows. If you have this powerup you can attach your bombs to your arrows by holding right shoulder. Consumes ammo
Quick Powerups Access:
Using a combination of your Left Analog and Right Analog you can change which powerups are active.
Left Analog Up = Movement Menu
Left Analog Left = Arrows Menu
Left Analog Down = Set Time Scale (requires powerup not currently in game)
Left Analog Right = Change essence practice (bomb type)
Weapon Hacker
I indicated as “received for free” even if I supported the create a while ago!
This game started as a web game then the programmer decided to make it a native application for performance reasons.
So, now it runs smoothly on top of being interesting.
This is a metroidvania that is randomized with a twist: items, rooms, enemies types within the room.
All enemies are recognizable and have specific patterns. That may make it looks easy: it’s not!
As of today, there is 3 distinct area in a run. A run is about 1h when you start to master the game. There is enough variety for replayability. Each area introduce new mechanics.
– Real player with 34.5 hrs in game
I’ve been playing this game since its previous incarnation, “Infinitroid”. It’s improved quite a bit since then as well.
Weapon Hacker is a charming-enough ‘metroidvania’ roguelike. Controls are responsive, the view is clear. Some of the enemies are kinda cute too (until you messily splorch’em), googly eye and all.
You play a bright yellow hazard suit (presumably with some kind of disposable employee or maybe clone in it) that has a gun. As inferred by the title, throughout your runs you find mods, batteries and additional weapon types, and can, in the weapon menu, make presets to swap between them (and eventually combine up to three weapons), freely installing as many mods as your batteries currently allow (these can be shared across all weapons at once, or set to an individual one). They don’t discharge, it’s just “mod space”/capacity.
– Real player with 25.5 hrs in game
Mezmeratu
like Celery Emblem’s other games, this one’s completely insane. sort of like how Primus made each album sound more like the negative feedback from the last one, many of the levels are based around something people tend not to like in platformers, such as upside down controls, ice physics, auto-scrollers, etc. occasionally the rogue level generation will spit some areas out that take a really long time to get through with no challenge.
but that all contributes to the magic of it. the art and the music and everything is so off the wall surreal and the level design almost feels like a parody of video games and it builds to this overwhelming, eerie atmosphere. ONLY Celery Emblem could have made this game and i think it’s really special.
– Real player with 5.8 hrs in game
Extremely difficult but great visuals and music, super punishing but surprisingly fair, expect to replay things a lot as you get better.
– Real player with 3.4 hrs in game