New Release: Cannon Dancer - Osman

An enhanced edition of a bombastic arcade actioner, from Mitchell Corporation and ININ Games

New Release: Hazard Saviour

An open world platformer inspired by Crazy Taxi, from Sinclair Strange

New Release: Ginsha

An open world action-adventure that takes place across multiple planets, from PolarityFlow

New Release: Haunted Lands: Burial Grounds

A tough and bloody DOS-style shooter, from Alexey Goryachev

New Release: Curse of the Sea Rats

An open world action-adventure featuring 2D animation and 3D environments, from Petoons Studio

October 30, 2016

Target Acquired: Butcher

Butcher, from Transhuman Design, is a gritty low-rez sidescrolling actioner inspired by 90's era corridor crawlers with a strong focus on loud blasts of gunfire, huge sprays of blood, and the pained screams of fallen enemies... with a deep thudding guitar hammering away beneath it all. The game world consists of open industrial environments with spinning saw blades and pits of acid, and the walls become soaked with blood as enemies are taken apart by shotgun blasts, machine gun fire, flamethrowers, and RPG's.

Players are able to move and aim independently with keyboard and mouse controls, similar to Abuse and a number of modern day twin-stick sidescrollers. Oh, and you can kick enemies around - and they scream when you do it - allowing you to knock them back into acid, toss them upward for some midair shotty action, or just kick their corpses around. As the game states, "Meating people has never been so fun."

Butcher is now available for PC, Mac, and Linux via Steam, GOG, Humble Store, Itch.io, and cdp.pl. Check our coverage here.




October 27, 2016

New Blip: Legacy of the Copper Skies

Legacy of the Copper Skies from Horrible Unicorn Game Studios (HUGS), features two playable characters, one who inhabits a world of life and color, while the other who inhabits a world driven by machines and industry. The pair must team up in a world-spanning action-adventure, defeating enemies, solving puzzles, and manipulating time. The player can swap control between the characters, or merge them together into a single being with a new set of abilities.

The game is coming to PC and Mac via Steam in 2017.




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

October 26, 2016

Arrival Delayed: Night in the Woods

Night in the Woods, from Alec Holowka (Aquaria, Towerfall) and Scott Benson, has been pushed back a tad. The game was originally expected to hit at the end of this year, but it look like Santa's sleigh will be sliding on by and dropping the game on January 10, 2017 instead.

Night in the Woods is a narrative-focused adventure game starring a number of colorful animal characters, including a cat with anger management issues and several of her friends, which include an alligator and a fox. You’ll be interacting with townsfolk in Possum Springs, uncovering the mysteries of the town after nightfall , running, jumping, occasionally astral projecting, solving puzzles, and eventually – of course – heading into the woods.

The game is coming to, PC, Mac, Linux, and PS4.




October 25, 2016

Early Arrival: Courier of the Crypts

Courier of the Crypts from Emberheart Games, is a top-down action adventure game featuring a courier with a magical torch on a mission to deliver a letter. The courier uses the torch to light his way and solve environmental puzzles, as well as ward of enemies, lure them to their deaths, or combat them directly. The world is filled with puzzles to solve and treasures to be found, along with numerous enemies that react to the light of your torch differently. But the torch needs to be fed, lest it burn out and leave you defenseless.

Courier of the Crypts is now available for PC and Mac via Steam Early Access.




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

October 23, 2016

Target Acquired: Salmon Ninja

Salmon Ninja, from Krax Games, is a grapple-based precision platformer starring a ninja who has entered the afterlife. Due to a bit of confusion, the ninja wanders away from the bright glowing light and finds himself on a path to Hell and trying to find a way back home for himself and his salmon companion. Despite its lighthearted tone, this is a game that is designed to kill players quickly and frequently, taking cues from numerous insta-death/insta-restart precision platformers. In addition to running and jumping, the ninja can slice enemies with his katana and can zip to any solid surface with his trusty grapple chain... but there is little room for error, as environments are packed with spikes, spinning saw blades, lava, and pits of acid.

The game is now available for PC via Steam. Check our coverage here.




October 21, 2016

News: Updated Version of Bad Caterpillar Released

In 2013, Fun Infused Games released Bad Caterpillar on Xbox Live Indie Games, and now they've returned with an enhanced Steam version. The game is obviously a take on Atari's classic Centipede (which has some of the best arcade cabinet art of all time), but this version features a selection of pilots with different speeds and ammo capacity, powerups that include a fast-firing laser, a 3-way shot, and a rail gun, and a number of pesky new enemy types. The game is now available for PC via Steam. Check our coverage of the original release here, along with an in-depth look at Centipede.




October 20, 2016

Target Acquired: Cursed Castilla (Maldita Castilla EX)

In 2012, Locomalito released Maldita Castilla for free on PC, and now the developer is revisiting the game with Cursed Castilla, a.k.a. Maldita Castilla EX, an enhanced version of the original game. The original game is excellent and is still available via the developer's website, and it's a must play for fans of the Ghosts ‘n Goblins series.

The EX version of the game features two new levels, as well as new enemies and bosses, plus an illustrated bestiary that unlocks as you defeat enemies. In addition, the developer has rebalanced the levels and improved some of the game's finer details like the camera and some enemy sprites, and the game features remastered audio and additional music tracks not included in the original release.

The game is now available for PC via Steam and Xbox One via XBLA, with a PS4 version planned for release later this year. For more information on this game and Locomalito's entire catalogue, check our coverage here.




October 18, 2016

Proximity Alert: Earth’s Dawn

Earth's Dawn, from developer OneorEight, was released last year in Japan as Earth Wars and now it's headed to the West. The game is a stylish sidescrolling action-RPG offering a 100-mission branching storyline, a crafting system, and a variety of skills to be learned and applied in combat, allowing for fast melee combos and projectile-based attacks. The Earth has been overrun by alien invaders, and you lead a team of rebels who are turning the aliens' technology against them in a battle to reclaim Earth.

The game is headed to PS4 via PSN and Xbox One via XBLA on November 1, with a PC version to follow, as well as a physical release on PS4.




October 16, 2016

Target Acquired: River City: Tokyo Rumble

River City: Tokyo Rumble, from Natsume, is the latest game in the Kunio-kun series. For those unfamiliar, the series consists of Renegade, Super Dodge Ball, River City Ransom, and loads of other games, most of which never made it out of Japan. The new game is a proper sequel, starring the hotheaded Kunio and his band of ne'er-do-well friends as they tear it up in Tokyo, fighting kids from rival schools and eventually taking on a series of street gangs. Just like River City Ransom, the game takes place in a world made up of freely accessible interconnected areas, and beating up enemies earns cash that can be spent on health restoratives, stat-increasing clothing, and new combat moves. Aside from basic punching and kicking, the player can learn more than a dozen new moves during his face-punching journey. While the main game is single player only, players can fight alongside one of several AI companions, and there are download-and-play versions of free-for-all brawling and dodgeball that allow up to 4P competitive action.

The game is a 3DS exclusive and is now available via the eShop, as well as in physical form. Check our coverage here.



October 13, 2016

New Blip: Moonlighter

Moonlighter from Digital Sun Games is a roguelike action-RPG starring a shopkeeper named Will who dreams of becoming a hero. By venturing into the nearby dungeons, Will is able to acquire rare items for sale in his shop, which in turn further funds his adventures, allowing him to upgrade his shop, purchase better weapons and equipment, and craft new items. Of course, he also has to manage his shop and make determinations as to whether he should keep or sell valuable artifacts, and how much he should sell items for. He can also fulfill requests for customers who request specific items... and try to prevent customers from stealing his hard-fought goods! The game offers randomly-generated dungeons and loot drops with loads of tough enemies to face, leading to greater rewards for players who make it further in, with dungeon bosses offering rare items when defeated.

The game is coming to PC, Mac, and Linux via Steam in 2017, with planned ports to Xbox One and PS4 to follow. The developers have also released a short arcade-style bonus game set in the Moonlighter world, entitled Kill Will, which is available on their Itch.io page for free.




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

October 11, 2016

Early Arrival: Giga Wrecker

Game Freak is the developer behind a certain monster capturing battling game (Pokémon), as well as a handful of sidescrolling action games, including Pulseman and Drill Dozer, and now they're back with an experimental game entitled Giga Wrecker. In this physics-based action puzzler, you play as a cyborg girl who is able to combine scraps of metal to create new objects, including weapons. Your world has been invaded by robots, and you must use your abilities to smash through obstacles, build platforms to reach new areas, create objects of different shapes to solve environmental puzzles, and tear robotic baddies to bits.

The game is currently available for PC via Steam Early Access.




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

October 9, 2016

Target Acquired: Pankapu

Pankapu, a.k.a. Pankapu: the Dreamkeeper, from Too Kind Studio, is an action-platformer starring the eponymous Pankapu, a warrior created by the God of Dreams to defeat dark beings that have passed through the Veil, the realm separating the the World of Nightmares from the World of Dreams. The warrior is able to change between three forms on the fly, altering his abilities as he does so, in order to take on his foes in different ways. His brave form has is strong and fights with melee attacks; his passionate form has a bow and arrows, as well as a double jump and dash; and his faithful form uses magic. The game is presented as a storybook tale told to a young girl, and the world is a construction of her imagination.

The game is being released in two parts for PC, Mac, and Linux, with Part 1 currently available via Steam. Parts 1 and 2 will be combined for the console release on PS4, Xbox One, and NX, due in 2017. Check our coverage here.




October 6, 2016

New Blip: Tiny Thor's Revenge

Tiny Thor's Revenge, from Asylum Square, stars Thor as an 8-year-old boy who just received his mighty hammer as a birthday present. Soon thereafter, all of the gods suddenly vanish, and Thor must set out to save them, battling enemies with his hammer, while collecting treasure along the way, and eating ice cream cones to restore his health. Along the way, Thor earns upgrades for his hammer that let him smash through blocks to further explore the environment, and being able to toss out multiple rapid-fire hammers to take down enemies and bosses. The game is presented in a colorful 16-bit art style.

The game is headed to PC, Mac, Linux, Xbox One, 3DS, iOS, and Android later this year.




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

October 4, 2016

Proximity Alert: Thoth

Developer Jeppe Carlsen is mostly known for his work with Playdead Games on Limbo and Inside, but he also spends some time working on games of his own, including the minimalist puzzle-platformer 140. Now he's back with Thoth, a twin-stick shooter that requires a bit of puzzle-solving to complete each level, along with the typical arcade-style reflex-based dodgy-shooty. The game is aesthetically similar to 140 with enemies made up of simple geometric shapes and backgrounds that are literally just the 2-digit level numbers. Players can twin-stick alone or go quad-stickin' with a friend in 2P co-op.

The game will be released for PC and Mac via Steam this Friday (10/7).




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

October 2, 2016

Target Acquired: RIVE

Two Tribes, the developer behind Toki Tori and a number of other titles, has returned with a fast-paced shooter called RIVE starring a mechanical critter that can aim its turret of death in any direction while it runs through the environment, jumps on platforms, and delivers a buttery spray of projectiles at an array of robotic baddies. But there’s more than just shootery here, as the bot can hack other bots to alter their behaviors or use their abilities to his advantage, such as using a hovering bot to fly through the sky.

RIVE is now available for PC, Mac and Linux via Steam and PS4 via PSN, and is also planned for release on Xbox One and Wii U. Check our coverage here.