DeathStick, from TeamNora Games (game tweets), is a melee-based metroidvania starring a girl named Mako who is on a mission to prevent a bunch of ne'er-do-wells from resurrecting an ancient god and destroying the world (a well-known pastime among the ne'er-do-well community). When you're not slashing the stuffing out of baddies with your quarterstaff, you're swapping between light and dark versions of the world by flipping it around you. Throughout the game, you gain new attacks and abilities, allowing you to take down enemies more quickly, strike them from a distance, and unleash special attacks, and some attacks translate into environmental navigation tools, such as tossing a fan through a narrow opening and teleporting to its location.
The game is coming to PC and Switch in 2022.
To find more promising 2D games currently under development, be sure to check out our 2D Watchlist.
BitBull Ltd presents Jetboard Joust, or as it's also known: Jetboard Joust: Next-Generation Retro, a neo-retro arcade-style shmup in the bullet hell vein. You take on the role of a jetboarding badass who must save his/her babies from being abducted by aliens Defender-style and transformed into mutants. Fortunately, you can make use of several upgradeable weapons, including a flamethrower, grenade launcher, a gravity hammer, and an antimatter rifle, in order to take down your enemies. You can also jump off your jetboard for temporary invincibility, gaining a reprieve as you smash your jetboard into baddies and bosses to make them explode mightily. Gameplay takes place across multiple playfields on five planets, with bonuses awarded for clearing multiple levels in succession.
The game is now available for PC and Mac via Steam, and it's planned for release on Switch next year.
Hey, if there's one thing everyone likes, it's gravity... and nobody knows that better than John Watson, the developer behind Gravity Ace. There aren't a whole lot of gravity-based spaceship games on the market, but there have been a few standout examples over the years, including the seminal classic Gravitar, along with classics like Thrust and Oids, and a few modern takes on the genre, including the Gravitron and PixelJunk Shooter series. Of all these games, Gravity Ace seems to most closely mix elements from Thrust and the PixelJunk Shooter series. Like Thrust, you must descend into caverns, taking out dangers along the way, and retrieving a reactor core from deep within... and then fight to escape the planetoid's gravity in time. Whereas Thrust was a fairly slow and methodical experience (but still harrowing, mind), the PixelJunk Shooter series is more fast-paced, features much more shooting, and the need to rescue stranded astronauts. In the end, the game borrows from its predecessors but definitely stands on its own, offering a chunky explosion-heavy world with the ever-present danger of smashing into a wall of rock and meeting your untimely demise. The game offers multiple interconnected levels across three worlds and even some boss encounters to spice things up.
Gonner 2 (a.k.a. GONNER2), from developer Art in Heart, is a follow-up to the original Gonner, a procedurally-generated platformer -slash- roguelike. The first game was good - and hard - so if you enjoyed that one, and you want something else that's good and hard, then you'll probably want to check this out. You once again take on the role of Ikk in a procedural/roguelike world, and this time around, Death's lair has been overrun by... well, by something worse than Death. Levels are filled with fast action, pretty explosions, psychedelic colors, chaotic bombardment by enemies and projectiles, and wackadoodle bosses. Just be careful not to lose your head, because that's a thing that can totally happen, and you'll probably die quickly if it gets knocked off.
The game is now available for PC, Mac, and Linux via Steam, and Switch via eShop.
ScourgeBringer is the latest from NeuroVoider developer Flying Oak Games. You take on the role of a plucky badass named Kyhra as she hops and slashes her way through a sidescrolling roguelike world. Combat is fast and fluid, allowing Kyhra to move quickly from enemy to enemy to dispatch them with speedy swordery, intermixed with serious platforming skills that allow her wall jump, run up walls, and perform dashing downward strikes. Between bouts of bashing baddies and bosses, you delve into the depths to discover mysterious machinery... and maybe save the world. The game also features a cool sounds by Joonas Turner (Downwell, Nuclear Throne).
The game is now available for PC, Mac, and Linux via Steam and Epic, Switch via eShop, and Xbox One via Microsoft Store.
Nolla Games is a studio made up of Petri Purho (Crayon Physics Deluxe), Olli Harjola (The Swapper), and Arvi "Hempuli" Teikari (Environmental Station Alpha), and they have returned with Noita. The game is a physics-based action platformer, but what sets it apart from the other games in the genre is the fact that physics are applied to every pixel in the game world, bringing about shenanigans you haven't seen since the PixelJunk Shooter series, only this time in a chunky pixellated world. You can freeze water and then blast through chunks of ice, smash objects to make them break and collapse, cause lava to flow into an open space, electrify pools of water, or burn through flammable gasses to ignite the air in a room and burn through your enemies... or yourself if you're not careful. This is a roguelike game featuring spellcrafting, permadeath, and procedurally generated environments filled with dangerous enemies and elements.
The game just left early access and is now available for PC via Steam and GOG. Check our coverage here.
Aethyr, from Labyrinth, is set in a ruined world where the last of humanity ekes out what existence they can, all the while surrounded by the mysteries of their past. You take on the role of an adventurer who hopes to uncover those mysteries and discover what caused the end of the world, with the help of the old gods. You delve into ancient ruins and across the large open land of Aethyr, fighting enemies, learning new skills, and crafting weapons, armor, and items along the way. You can make use of blades, axes, bludgeoning weapons, throwables, bows and arrows, and a variety of spells - as well as some kind of crazy grapple claw - in fast-paced battles against hordes of enemies and gigantic bosses.
The game is coming to PC, but does not yet have an announced release date.
To find more promising 2D games currently under development, be sure to check out our 2D Watchlist.
In 2017, Elden Pixels released Alwa’s Awakening, an open-world metroidania starring Zoe, who used her magical staff to fight against a great evil that had overtaken the land of Alwa... and apparently, she was not successful in her mission. At the end of the first game, Zoe walks to an altar and is struck down by a beam of light, rendering her unconscious as her body aged several years. Alwa’s Legacy picks up where that story left off. Zoe once again awakens and is told that she must face this great evil, and hopefully she'll get it right this time. Zoe makes use of several new abilities, as welll as the three spells she had in the original game, but now all of these can be upgraded to unlock various secondary effects, some of which are quite useful for fighting enemies or exploring the environment. The game has been given a substantial visual upgrade over the original, featuring more detailed obstacles, enemies, and backgrounds, and the player is given the same level of freedom to explore the world as he chooses.
The game is now available for PC, Mac, and Linux via Steam and GOG, and Switch via eShop. Check our coverage here.