Target Acquired: There Was a Caveman

There Was a Caveman, from developer Aamatniekss, is a retro-styled action-platformer inspired by Castlevania, Ghouls ‘n Ghosts, and Shovel Knight. In a world of dinosaurs, one caveman finds himself alone, with his entire kind apparently killed. He must battle his way through deadly dinos and avoid traps on a quest to find a female caveman (cavewoman?) with which to repopulate the world. Fortunately, the loincloth-wearing hero is trained in the art of platformery as he jumps, double jumps, dashes, and swims through the world, occasionally encountering objects that may be hurled at enemies, including rocks and bones. Javelins may be thrown as well and then used as platforms, Völgarr the Viking-style. Of course, nothing conks better than the caveman’s trusty club.

There Was a Caveman is now available for PC and Linux via Steam. Check our full coverage here.

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Target Acquired: 12 is Better Than 6

12 is Better Than 6 isn't exactly Hotline Miami with sombreros, but it is a top-down action game with lots of guns, huge sprays of blood, and occasional bouts of running and screaming and cursing (in Spanish) while shooting everything you see and going out in a blaze of glory. Developer Ink Stains Games (game site) presents a game that stars an escaped Mexican convict running from his pursuers in the lawless lands of 1873 North America. Backgrounds are presented in a blue and white pen-and-paper style, in stark contrast to the rampant flow of red blood that covers it when enemies are blasted in the face... or you can take a stealth approach if you choose. Players have the freedom to choose whether they want to be a good guy and help the innocent or a bad guy who robs banks and shoots on sight.

12 is Better Than 6 is now available for PC, Mac, and Linux via Steam.

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Target Acquired: Mighty Switch Force! Academy

Mighty Switch Force! Academy is the stage for Patricia Wagon's latest adventure. Patty has just entered the academy, which consists of a virtual training ground where she attempts to track down and arrest all of the Hooligan Sisters, just as she did in Mighty Switch Force. This time around, however, the action takes place from a zoomed-out perspective, and the player is able to see the entire stage at once. In addition, the environment wraps around on the edges, allowing the player to move off the edge of the screen and emerge on the other side, or fall down through the floor and pop out on the ceiling. And the game features some classic levels from the original game as well as 4P co-op.

Mighty Switch Force! Academy is currently available for PC via Steam. Check our full coverage here.

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Target Acquired: Nubs' Adventure

Nubs' Adventure, from IMakeGames, is an open-world platformer starring a little fellow with a boomerang who embarks on a grand adventure in the attempt to rebuild his home. Along the way, he visits a number of themed areas and tangles with the local wildlife, as well as the pair of ne'er-do-wells who destroyed his home to begin with. In addition to platforming, Nubs also has the ability to communicate with a couple of different creatures that allow him to complete specific challenges. One of these creatures is a giant snake that burrows quickly through the earth and bursts forth when emerging from the ground.

Nubs' Adventure is now available for PC, Mac, and Linux via Steam, as well as iOS and Android. Check our full coverage here.

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Target Acquired: Poncho

Poncho, from developer Delve Interactive (game site), may have missed its 2014 Kickstarter funding goals, but thanks to publisher Rising Star Games, it's still on its way to release. The game is an open world puzzle platformer that takes place centuries after mankind has gone extinct, but robots have lived on. A robot named Poncho searches for his maker in the overgrown ruins of the world. Environments are built around multiple layers, and Poncho is able to move between foreground and background layers to navigate around obstacles in his path, solve puzzles, and uncover hidden treasure. Players are free to explore the world as they like and speak with its citizens, as well as purchase upgrades that allow the robot to move into new areas.

Poncho is now available for PC, Mac, and Linux via Steam, PS4 via PSN, and it's also planned for Vita, as well as Wii U via eShop.

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New Blip: Aurion

Most role playing games take place in vaguely European locales, but Central African developer Kiro'o Games is creating a tale based on African fantasy. Aurion stars a prince who is betrayed by his brother-in-law on the day of his coronation. The would-be king and his bride are exiled in the coup d'etat, and left to wander the land. Using ancient arts called Aurionics, the pair are able to use the powers of their ancestors to achieve great strength, allowing them to take down enemies and bosses as they seek to regain their thrones. As players travel across six continents, they will interact with people of different ethnicities, discover the struggles of their day-to-day lives, and even recruit allies to fight alongside them as support characters.

Aurion is headed to PC via Steam early next year.




To find more promising 2D games currently under development, be sure to check out our Master List.

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New Blip: Fossil Echo

Fossil Echo, from Phil Crifo, is an adventure platformer inspired by the Oddworld series, as well as Ico and Shadow of the Colossus. The game stars a young boy who must climb a giant tower jutting up from the sea. The character’s backstory is told through wordless interactive flashbacks where the player must tackle platforming environments. The lead character is physically weak, so he must generally avoid contact with enemies and use stealth in order to elude them. The game is presented in an illustrative art style with pre-rendered backgrounds set in a fantasy world.

Fossil Echo is headed to PC, Mac, and Linux via Steam in 2015. UPDATE: The developer has reached out to inform us that the game will be releasing in early 2016.




To find more promising 2D games currently under development, be sure to check out our Master List.

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Target Acquired: Cataegis - The White Wind: Ziggurat Chapter

Cataegis - The White Wind: Ziggurat Chapter is here to Shinobi your pants off. Ácido Cinza has crafted an 8-bit retro actioner with melee-based combat, a restricted color palette, and a bit of sprite flicker. There’s even an elevator sequence! Players can jump, double jump, and ground slide their way through several challenging environments, avoiding spikes and other obstacles along the way, all while doing a bit of precision platforming. The player faces hordes of enemies and some tough bosses with an arsenal of selectable weapons and limited-use special attacks.

Cataegis is now available for PC via Steam. Check our full coverage here.

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Early Arrival: The Bug Butcher

The Bug Butcher is an arcade-style shooter from Awfully Nice Studios, inspired by the classic Super Pang (a.k.a. Super Buster Bros.) where players run around and pop bouncing bubbles that split into smaller bubbles when destroyed. In The Bug Butcher, the bubbles are now represented by slimy bulbous bug creatures. As in the game that inspired it, the hero can only shoot upward, requiring that players use the proper tactics to avoid enemies as they bounce off the ground, and then move quickly under them to blast them away. The player has a number of destructive powerups at his disposal to supplement his basic pellet-chucker, with a strong laser, a rapid fire bullet spray, explosives, and an electrical pulse with a wide area of effect.

The Bug Butcher is currently available for PC and Mac via Steam Early Access, and it's coming to Android and iOS.




To find more promising 2D games currently under development, be sure to check out our Master List.

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New Blip: Splasher

Splasher, from the similarly-named Splashteam (game site), is an action-platformer that is all about splashing liquid. The player takes on the role of a Splasher who has escaped from the evil Inkorp, and now he's going back in, fully equipped with his Splasher gear, in order to free his companions. In addition to liquid-based projectiles, the player can also use liquids to splash onto walls and climb them, and he can release a spray that lets him jetpack high into the air. Players must blast enemies, dodge lasers and saw blades, escape rising pools of slime, and free his fellow Splashers imprisoned around the complex.

Splasher is planned for release on on Steam for PC and Mac in 2016. The developer has already released a playable demo.




To find more promising 2D games currently under development, be sure to check out our Master List.

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Target Acquired: Shovel Knight: Plague of Shadows

Last year, Yacht Club Games released Shovel Knight to much acclaim, starring a blue shovel-wielding knight in a retro-styled platformer inspired by 8-bit classics. The knight uses his shovel to uncover treasure and to defeat enemies with downward strikes. Now, one of his former foes is being showcased in Shovel Knight: Plague of Shadows a free expansion to the original game starring Plague Knight in his own adventure.

Rather than a simple re-skin of the Shovel Knight character, Plague Knight has an entirely new moveset, requiring that he tackle previously-visited levels in a very different way. Plague Knight uses his bombs for mobility in order to boost high into the sky and to deal with enemies at a distance. Throughout his adventure, he acquires a number of bomb upgrades that have different properties, allowing him to toss bouncing bombs, send them high into the air, extend their fuses, etc. For a detailed look at the Plague of Shadows expansion, check our coverage here.

Shovel Knight and the Plague Knight expansion are available for your platform of choice: PC, Mac, and Linux via Steam and GOG; PS4, PS3, and Vita via PSN; Xbox One via XBLA; and Wii U and 3DS via the eShop. You can also grab the game at retail for PS4, Wii U, and 3DS, with the original game and expansions included on the disc/cart. And if you're in Europe, you can get a boxed copy of the PC version as well.

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New Blip: Poncho

Poncho, from developer Delve Interactive (game site), may have missed its 2014 Kickstarter funding goals, but thanks to publisher Rising Star Games, it's still on its way to release, and some new platforms have been added. Originally announced for PC, Mac, Linux, and OUYA, things have changed a bit... The OUYA version has been scrapped due to the system's low processing power. The game is still headed to PC, Mac, and Linux via Steam, but now it's also coming for Wii U via the eShop as well as PS4 and Vita via PSN sometime later this year.

The game is an open world puzzle platformer that takes place centuries after mankind has gone extinct, but robots have lived on. A robot named Poncho searches for his maker in the overgrown ruins of the world. Environments are built around multiple layers, and Poncho is able to move between foreground and background layers to navigate around obstacles in his path, solve puzzles, and uncover hidden treasure. Players are free to explore the world as they like and speak with its citizens, as well as purchase upgrades that allow the robot to move into new areas.




To find more promising 2D games currently under development, be sure to check out our Master List.

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New Blip: Starr Mazer

Shmups and RPG's have intertwined on a few rare occasions, with such titles as The Guardian Legend, Wing Commander, and Sigma Star Saga, and now developer Imagos Softworks (game site) is merging genres again with Starr Mazer a combination of shmup and point-and-click adventure. The developer promises a seamless integration between the two genres with players engaging NPC's to inquire about ship upgrades, or learning new routes that may be taken during shmup sequences. Attacking non-hostile enemies during shump sequences may also impact future NPC conversations and have serious implications. You play as Brick M. Stonewood (and apparently, the "M" stands for "metal", making his name a combination of four types of building materials) a mercenary who emerges from a long hypersleep to pilot the Starr Wolf and possibly become the hero of the galaxy.

Starr Mazer was successfully funded via Kickstarter and is headed to PC, Mac, and Linux via Steam, but does not yet have an announced release date.




To find more promising 2D games currently under development, be sure to check out our Master List.

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Target Acquired: Pink Heaven

Before the release of Kero Blaster, Studio Pixel released a free prequel entitled Pink Hour, starring the pink office lady on a mission to locate a missing document. Now the the pink office lady returns in a direct follow-up to the original game, entitled Pink Heaven. This time, she sets out to rescue the blue shopkeeper after he is abducted by a UFO. This is another short adventure, offering just two levels (one more than the original game), with a couple of boss fights, a couple of different powerups, an unlockable Hard Mode, and multiple endings.

The new game is available for free on iOS and PC. The iOS version is available from the App Store, and the PC version can be downloaded from Playism.

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