Target Acquired: Backspace Bouken

Backspace Bouken, from RNG Party Games, is a DOS-style dungeon crawler that features typing as its core mechanic. The game centers around Kana, a girl armed with a keyboard, who attempts to reach the top of the Tower of F8 on a quest to save her sisters. Each monster she encounters speaks to her - often using humorous dialogue or speaking in strange ways - and by typing out their sentences, she unleashes attacks. Creatures can attack as well, but Kana is able to dodge attacks, or attacks can be negated if she types quickly enough. She even regains health by stringing together multiple hits in succession. In this world, spaces are the key to defeating monsters, and there are a limited number of them, but Kana can conserve spaces by combining certain word pairs into contractions. Kana is able to refill her spaces by reading hint signs and backspacing over them, deleting the words and collecting the spaces for use in combat.

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

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Early Arrival: Kelipot

Kelipot (a.k.a. 形骸骑士), from Unlimited Fly Games (game tweets) is an action platformer with roguelike elements, in an adventure that spans multiple timelines. A strange illness has fallen over the town of Celephais, causing its populace to go mad, and they find themselves trapped in an endlessly-repeating night. Prince Abel ventures out to investigate its source by travelling to parallel worlds filled with enemies and bullet hell boss encounters, leading to many possible outcomes. Abel carries a sword, which he uses to slash and slice, and he is also able to make use of a number of magical abilities to dispatch his foes. The game features a dark yet colorful aesthetic with smooth hand-drawn character animations.

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.

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New Blip: Resolutiion

In Resolutiion, from Monolith of Minds, you take on the role of an aged killer who protects an artificial intelligence in a surreal world packed with baddies and dangerous creatures. You slash and dash through enemies and bosses with flourish and style while exploring a harsh landscape to find new weapons and piece together the history of your character and the world.

The game is coming to PC, Mac, and Linux in March of 2020.




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

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Target Acquired: SuperEpic: The Entertainment War

SuperEpic: The Entertainment War, from Undercoders, is a lighthearted metroidvania starring a pair of friends - a raccoon and a llama - who are on a mission to save the world from an evil video game company. In the year 2084 (a reference to Orwell's 1984), game studio buyouts and consolidations have left the world with only a single video game company: RegnantCorp. Run by literal pigs (a reference to Orwell's Animal Farm), the company creates purposely addictive games to distract and control the populace. But you have not fallen under the company's sway, so you hop on your llama and take the fight to the streets, slashing enemies, exploring nonlinear environments, and learning new skills that let you reach previously inaccessible areas. Your mission is to beat up anthropomorphic animals, take down huge bosses, and replace RegnantCorp's brainwashing games with classic retro games, which have been ruled illegal.

The game is available on PC via Steam, PS4 via PSN, Switch via eShop, and Xbox One via Microsoft Store.

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New Blip: Cover Your Eyes

Cover Your Eyes, from StarSkipp, is an isometric survival horror game inspired by modern horror titles and 16-bit classics. You take on the role of Chloe, a married woman with two children whose husband has been cheating on her, but soon after she learns of his affair, he disappears. This is no ordinary disappearance, however, as some kind of supernatural phenomenon seems to have overtaken the town, turning it into something dark and twisted. Chloe faces off against vile creatures in her formerly friendly town as she struggles to bring her family back together. She will do anything to protect them, and she finds herself looting buildings, gathering supplies, and packing away shotgun shells just in case. As a mother, the command of "cover your eyes" seems meant to protect her children from seeing the horrors around them... and the horrors that she must commit to protect them.

The game is coming to PC in Fall of 2020.




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

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Target Acquired: EarthNight

EarthNight, from Cleaversoft, is an auto-running action game with a simple control scheme set in a dragon apocalypse. You select a character and run across the back of a serpentine dragon as its body ripples up and down. Along the way, you take out a variety of enemies and surf along its back until you eventually reach the dragon’s head, at which point you rapidly punch it in the eye until you are flung off into the sky. From there, you freefall back toward the earth while flying dragons swarm below you. Line yourself up with one of these creatures and you will fall onto its back and begin the next stage.

The game is now available for PC and Mac via Steam, Switch via eShop, and iOS via App Store, and it's coming soon to PS4.

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Target Acquired: Armortale

Armortale, from RPG2 Heaven, is a lighthearted but tough platformer set in a world of fantasy where the kingdom is being assailed by baby demon foxes. A tower full of monsters has risen, and a plucky hero sets out to meet them in battle as he journeys through 10 themed locales. The hero has the ability to swap between four different sets of legendary armor on the fly, granting him new attacks and abilities, among which is the ability hang from the ceiling, deflect enemy projectiles, toss bombs, and even hover in the air with a winged helmet. These abilities roughly correspond to those found among the four playable characters in Little Samson, from which this game takes its inspiration. The world is bright and colorful, with enemies that tend toward the bulbous end of the spectrum, adding a bit of cuteness to their deadliness.

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

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