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

July 30, 2017

Target Acquired: A Bloody Night

A Bloody Night, from Emanuele Leoncilli (game site) is a fast-paced action game about a man rampaging through the countryside, slicing soldiers into bloody heaps to avenge the death of his sister. The mechanics are simple, with a basic 3-hit combo and strong attack, but there are a number of design elements that add complexity to the experience. So, rather than simply mashing the ATTACK button from one end of the level to the other, you must lure soldiers into chasing you, make strategic use of your limited-use strong attack, know when it is best to block, bash in soldiers' brains while avoiding incoming attacks, and occasionally enter into a furious rage and slice through swaths of foes with reckless abandon. Some soldiers fall quickly to your 3-hit combo, while others have shields that must be knocked away, and others must be knocked to the ground and bashed repeatedly until they die. The game has a lot of energy, with a pumping soundtrack, spewing blood, heavy clangs of metal-on-metal combat, and a driven anti-hero that brutally slays every living thing he comes in contact with.

The game is now available for PC and Mac via Steam and Itch.io, and is apparently planned for Xbox One if the trailer below is any indication. Check our coverage here.




Targets Acquired: Sundered and Pyre

Some hardware difficulties (a fried laptop) rendered us silent this week and ate most of our notes... but shiny new technology has been delivered, and we're scavenging through our backups. In the meantime, a couple of exciting new 2D games have arrived:

Thunder Lotus Games, the studio behind the solid and visually splendiferous Jotun, has returned with Sundered, a Lovecraftian metroidvania. The new game once again features hand-drawn visuals and battles against creatures many times the size of the protagonist. You take on the role of Eshe, exploring an eldritch underworld filled with horrific creatures, mysterious and powerful relics that grant new abilities, and titanic bosses, while attempting to retain your sanity in a darkly beautiful world.

The game is now available for PC, Mac, and Linux via Steam, GOG, and Humble Store, and PS4 via PSN. Check our coverage here.





Pyre is the latest game from Supergiant Games, the studio behind Bastion and Transistor (our 2014 Game of the Year). Their third game is a party-based RPG focusing on a group of individuals who have been exiled from the Commonwealth, but they learn of a secret competition that may allow them to return home with their transgressions forgiven. Each of the exiled characters has different abilities which aid them in the competition, and players must learn to use the strengths of each character cooperatively, as only one can be controlled at a time. Each team has a pyre on their end of the arena that they must defend, while also attempting to carry a glowing orb into the pyre of their opponents, which temporarily removes that player from the playfield. Players must take advantage of speed to get the orb to the other side of the arena, strategy to avoid attacks from competitors, and weapons to disable their foes and remove the orb from their possession.

The game is now available for PC via Steam and PS4 via PSN. Check our coverage here.




July 23, 2017

Target Acquired: Serious Sam's Bogus Detour

Serious Sam's Bogus Detour is a 2D Serious Sam game from developer Crackshell, the team behind the top-down dungeon crawler Hammerwatch. While Serious Sam is known primarily for his enemy-spewing 3D outings, this is not his first foray into the land of indie-developed 2D, as he has previously blown up baddies in Serious Sam: Double D XXL, Serious Sam: The Random Encounter, and Serious Sam: Kamikaze Attack!. In fitting with the developer's previous work, Sam's latest adventure sees him blasting his way through a top-down environment with his traditional array of armaments, from standard small arms to lasers, rocket launchers, and miniguns. Familiar foes return in the form of Gnaar, Kleer Skeletons, and the infamous Beheaded Kamikazes, spewing forth in large numbers, per series conventions. Players can move and aim independently, and destroyed enemies leave behind sprays of blood and chunky bits when killed. The game also offers online cooperative and competitive modes.

Serious Sam's Bogus Detour is now available for PC and Linux via Steam. Check our coverage here.




July 18, 2017

New Blip: The King's Bird

Serenity Forge, the developer behind Four Sided Fantasy, returns with The King's Bird, a momentum-based platformer with fluid movement inspired by Dustforce. You take on the role of a cape-wearing bird girl who navigates a dark world, sliding down slopes, jumping off walls and running across them, and hitting surfaces from every possible angle while traversing obstacle-laden environments. Something that separates this game from similar acrobatic platformers is the ability to use the girl's cape to glide quickly through open areas, building up speed when moving downward and then swooping back up to land on a platform or cling to a wall for a moment before dashing away again.

The game is coming to PC and Mac, and possibly consoles, 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.

July 16, 2017

Target Acquired: Cryptark

Cryptark is the latest game from AlienTrap Games, the developers behind Apotheon and Capsized. The player commands a small armed vessel which he uses to infiltrate a number of heavily defended procedurally-generated alien spacecraft. The ships' defenses come in the form of sentries, drone spawners, and robotic ships, all of which the player must destroy or bypass in order to reach the core and destroy it. The rewards the player receives can be used to upgrade his ship's arsenal to take on new targets of ever-increasing power on his way to the titular Cryptark itself.

The game is now available for PC, Mac, and Linux via Steam and PS4 via PSN. Check our coverage here.




July 13, 2017

New Blip: Yoku's Island Express

Over the years, many developers have experimented with mixing pinball mechanics into other genres, with examples including Pinball Quest, Odama, and Rollers of the Realm. Developer Villa Gorilla aims to do the same with Yoku's Island Express, an open world action adventure starring a dung beetle named Yoku who has recently accepted the role of postman on a tropical island. The dung beetle's ball acts as the game's pinball, with the beetle tethered to it, letting out cute squeaks and flailing about whenever the ball is launched. The player must use flippers to knock the ball around, bouncing it off of bumpers, activating switches, and breaking environmental objects in order to move across an array of themed environments. Along the way, he interacts with NPC's, goes on quests, and contend with giant creatures spread across the land.

The game is coming to PC via Steam, as well as Switch, Xbox One, and PS4 in 2018.




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

July 11, 2017

New Blip: Nightkeep

Do you like killing skeletons and seeing red numbers appear over their heads while they crumble into a pile of bones? Do you like maps made of blue rooms, red highlights, and white outlines that show interconnected areas? Do you like ascending clock towers? Then Nightkeep, from RPG2 Heaven, should be right up your vania. The game is an action adventure starring a young woman named Arietta who is armed with a magical sword that she uses to slash through hordes of monstrous creatures, and she also has access to a variety of throwing weapons straight outta the Belmont playbook, including knives and axes. Along the way, she discovers helpful items and relics that can boost her stats, as well as earning traditional metroidvania moves like a slide, double jump, and back dash that aid her in combat and allow her to reach new areas.

The game is coming to PC 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.

July 9, 2017

Target Acquired: Monolith

Monolith is a game cast by the 13-sided die (?) of Team D-13, which mixes several genres to create a twin-stick dungeon-crawling shmup with roguelike elements that delivers on fast-paced action and a solid amount of diversity from one run to the next. The game already features seven weapon types with 40 possible modifiers, plus numerous powerups and buffs, but a patch is being released tomorrow (July 10) that adds three new playable ships, five new weapon types, hundreds of new rooms, and a Hard mode (although we recommend the default difficulty setting for your first time through).

Players explore dungeons and look for treasure, while building up currency by blasting enemies and avoiding damage in order to make purchases from shops. After fighting a miniboss or two, the path to the level boss is opened, where things get a bit more shmuppy with complex bullet patterns, lots of dodging, and huge life bars to chip away at... let's just hope you brought plenty of ammo.

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




July 6, 2017

New Blip: Minit

Not much is known about Minit, but it's being developed by bunches of known factors among the peeps of gaming: Kitty Calis (Action Henk), Vlambeer-ian Jan Willem Nijman, musician Jukio/Kuabee (formerly Kozilek), and Dominik Johann (Dr. Langeskov, The Tiger, and The Terribly Cursed Emerald), and it's being published by Devolver Digital, a studio with a pretty solid track record when it comes to choosing indie games for publication. The game is an action-adventure with limited visuals (I'm counting about 2 colors here) starring a vaguely ducklike fellow who begins his adventure after finding a sword on a beach. You speak with NPC's, slash critters, water your garden, and take the occasional nap.

The game is coming to PC in 2017, and possibly consoles.




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

July 2, 2017

Target Acquired: Armed with Wings: Rearmed

Armed with Wings: Rearmed is a follow-up to Sun-Studios' original 2008 freeware release, Armed with Wings, and its sequels. This time around, Daniel Sun's one-man studio has created a full-fledged commercial release, offering many improvements over the previous games. The player takes on the role of a resurrected warrior wielding a number of possible melee weapons, and he must defend the world of Blackmist and ultimately defeat the tyrannical King Vandheer. The player engages foes in sword-based combat and can control an eagle that scouts ahead and solves environmental puzzles. The player works his way through 40 levels filled with enemies, bosses, spikes, and platforming challenges.

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