Hades II is roguelike actioner and a follow-up to Hades, the breakout indie hit from Supergiant Games, the studio who also developed indie darlings Bastion and Transistor. The first game featured prince Zagreus, the defiant son of Hades, as he attempted to escape the underworld. This time around, you take on the role of Melinoë, Princess of the Underworld and sister to Zagreus, as she goes up against Chronos, the Titan of Time and father to Lord Hades. You'll once again be dungeon crawling your way through dark environments as you battle the denizens of the deep and interact with many legendary figures from Greek mythology. Melinoë is skilled in the art of witchcraft, which she uses to strike down her enemies, enhance her melee strikes, and tame familiars to stand at her side. Explore new areas, gain the support of the gods, and maybe... stop time itself.
The game's release date has yet to be determined, but an early access release is planned for PC sometime in 2023 (simultaneously on Steam and Epic), with console versions becoming available at a later date.
To find more promising 2D games currently under development, be sure to check out our 2D Watchlist.
Kynseed, from PixelCount Studios (made up of ex-Lionhead devs, best known for the Fable series), is set in the colorful and richly detailed world of Quill. The people of Quill live in relative harmony, despite being surrounded by dangerous forests filled with monstrous creatures. You have recently taken possession of the titular Kynseed, a magical acorn that grows into your family tree. You live and grow, have children, raise them, and eventually die... at which point you take on the role of your children and continue the story. This sandbox RPG has you exploring the open world, battling monsters, developing lasting relationships with NPC's, shopping, farming, crafting, and operating various sorts of businesses, including bartending, mixing potions, selling items, or acting as a smithy.
The game is now available for PC via Steam and GOG.
Astronite, from Dume Games Studio, is a lo-fi metroidvania starring an astronaut whose ship has crash landed... but rather than landing on some mysterious alien world, you are on your own home planet. An ancient being known as the Entity resides in the center of your planet, and while the people knew of this being and even studied it, the Entity remained inscrutable. But one day, the Entity commanded an army of nasty critters to the surface, which is now overrun. You must explore, grow your strength, and gain new abilities to take down enemies and bosses. As you explore, you'll be able to make use of a jetpack, swim underwater, and dash in order to reach new areas, and there are plenty of secrets for intrepid explorers to find along the way.
The game is now available for PC via Steam, Switch via eShop, PS4 and PS5 via PSN, and Xbox One and X/S via Microsoft Store.
Super Awesome Hyper Dimensional Mega Team, the (super awesome hyper dimensional mega) team behind Rise & Shine, returns with The Knight Witch, a metroidvania with shmup-style gameplay set in a lovely hand-drawn world. You take on the role of a Knight Witch who wields a projectile weapon and card-based spells to fight against the War Golem invasion. Build your deck with dozens of spell cards to alter your combat strategies, and grow your strength to fight more powerful enemies and hulking boss monsters. Being a witch, you are capable of flight, so you'll be exploring in every direction - and fighting enemies in every direction - as you traverse a large open world.
The game is out now for PC via Steam and GOG, and Switch via eShop, and it's coming to PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox X/S on Friday. Check our coverage here.
A few years back, a team of filmmakers released Turbo Kid, an 80's-style take on the post-apocalyptic future of 1997. In the film, a teenage boy with a BMX bike and a love for comics teams up with an oddly-mannered girl, and they discover the remains of a legendary hero known as Turbo Rider... along with the powerful weapon he once wielded, allowing them to rise up against Zeus, ruler of the wasteland. Oh, and for an 80's-style flick, it was surprisingly gory. Developer Outerminds Inc. offers a metroidvania sequel of the same name, and puts you in the kneepads of The Kid as you pop wasteland scumbags like 99 Bloodballoons. In addition to stealthing, platforming, slashing, and shooting, you also have your trusty bike, which allows you to dash through tight corridors, jump over pits of radioactive waste, and rip gnarly verts (how do you do, fellow bike punks?) to reach higher platforms. For the sake of convenience, the bike disappears and reappears on command, allowing you to transfer from halfpipe tricks to ledge grabs with the press of a button.
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.
Dungeon in a Bottle, from Strange Spaces, is a precision platformer set within the confines of a magic bottle. A thief named Reya comes across this magic bottle while doing some light breaking and entering, but when he attempts to steal it, he is sucked inside. Within this bottle are more than 100 trap-filled levels that will require every bit of Reya's acrobatic aptitude to overcome. At the start of the game, you primarily make use of a wall jump to overcome challenges as you hop up between narrow passageways, dodging spikes and flying over bottomless pits as you try to reach switches, keys, and coins. Later, you gain new types of jumps that allow you to reach greater heights and distances, but you must be careful which jump you use, lest you fling yourself face first into death.
The game is now available for PC and Mac via Steam and Itch. Check our coverage here.
Ghost Song, from developer Matt White, is a metroidvania title. More than that, it draws heavy influences from the design and style of the mother of all metroidvanias: Super Metroid. The game focuses heavily on atmosphere, with detailed subterranean environments and a haunting soundtrack. You have set out to explore a moon known as Lorian V, a mysterious place in which many have perished, leaving ghosts behind in the form of roaming corpses full of anger. But by destroying their bodies, the ghosts can be freed. In addition to the wandering dead, you will also face a number of creatures, many of which are hostile, as well as some large boss creatures. As is typical of the genre, acquiring new weapons and abilities allows you to proceed through the large open world, although there are numerous optional items to be found for those who explore thoroughly.
The game is now available for PC via Steam, Switch via eShop, PS4 and PS5 via PSN, and Xbox One and X/S via Microsoft Store.
The submarine-based metroidvania subgenre is a sparsely-populated one, with the only other notable entries being The Aquatic Adventure of the Last Human and Song of the Deep... but Bomb Shelter Games is here to change that with Depths of Sanity. You take on the role of the commander of a submarine called The Baroness (not just a sultry G.I. Joe villain any more) who is investigating a deep sea vibration that may be some kind of signal of unknown origin. The game takes place across a large interconnected world divided into themed areas, and you face incredible dangers as you descend into the depths. In order to fight off dangerous sea life and menacing bosses, you'll need to make use of an arsenal of weapons that you unlock over the course of your adventure. The game also features exploration and sees you navigating heavy currents using tow cables and moving through the darkness with only sonar pings to guide you forward... just try not to go insane.
The game is now available for PC via Steam, and it's also coming to Switch and Xbox in 2023.
Planet Cube: Edge, from Sunna Entertainment, is a run and gun platformer that takes place on a cube-shaped planet (called Planet Cube). You take on the role of a similarly cube-shaped engineer named Edge who uses a prototype photon blaster to fight his way through a subaquatic weapons lab to thwart a planetary invasion. Speed an agility are key as you take on room after room filled with dangerous foes, many of whom fire projectiles of their own. To aid in your mission of shooty-scooty-shooty, you can perform air dashes and butt stomps, allowing you to avoid enemy fire while delivering the hurt in multiple directions. And the fact that you're in an underwater facility means you'll need to do a bit of swimming through flooded areas when the walls are breached. The game offers a GameBoy-style color palette with very un-GameBoy-like crisp environments and smooth animations.
The game is coming to PC and Mac in 2023. A demo is available on Steam.
To find more promising 2D games currently under development, be sure to check out our 2D Watchlist.
Lucid, from The Matte Black Studio, is a neon-infused action adventure that offers an open world to explore and puzzlish dungeons to overcome. You take on the role of Oenn, one of the last remaining sentinels that stands guard over a world that was nearly destroyed by the Lucid Giant in an event now known as the Great Fall. You must explore the dark depths of the world, ascend to its greatest heights, and traverse the many ruins as you speak with NPC's, discover secrets, and fight your way through enemies and bosses. Combat and maneuverability go hand-in-hand as you string together midair slashes and dashes to reach new heights and close ground on enemies to deliver devastating combos, with new movement and combat options unlocked as you make progress.
The game is coming to PC and consoles in 2024.
To find more promising 2D games currently under development, be sure to check out our 2D Watchlist.
Astronite, from Dume Games Studio, is a lo-fi metroidvania starring an astronaut whose ship has crash landed... but rather than landing on some mysterious alien world, you are on your own home planet. An ancient being known as the Entity resides in the center of your planet, and while the people knew of this being and even studied it, the Entity remained inscrutable. But one day, the Entity commanded an army of nasty critters to the surface, which is now overrun. You must explore, grow your strength, and gain new abilities to take down enemies and bosses. As you explore, you'll be able to make use of a jetpack, swim underwater, and dash in order to reach new areas, and there are plenty of secrets for intrepid explorers to find along the way.
The game is coming to PC, Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox X/S on November 30.
To find more promising 2D games currently under development, be sure to check out our 2D Watchlist.
Gigabuster, from Waller, is an actioner heavily influenced by the Mega Man X and Mega Man Zero series, and stars Liz, a blonde-haired scarf-wearing fighter who is taking down CEO's one-by-one to stop them from funding "Happiness". You must break into nine different companies - offered in blocks of three that may be played in any order - using your ability to grapple, climb, dash, wall jump, and grind rails to make your way to the CEO offices to give them the beat-downs they deserve. Along the way, you slash enemies to build up a combo meter that lets you unleash a huge laser, and you can acquire upgrades, armor, and a number of melee weapons to help you in your fight.
Unichrome: A 1-Bit Unicorn Adventure, from Super8bitRafa, is a platformer-shooter set in a glitchy world and starring a cute rainbow unicorn named Itchi. After she and several other animals awaken from stasis, the power-hungry Century steals a set of color-coded gems, thereby draining color from the world. Itchi must blast her way through TV heads and other enemies as she makes her way to each of Century's minions to defeat them and collect their gems. Along the way, she must complete platforming challenges while avoiding spikes, dashing over bottomless pits, and swinging through the air with her grappling hook... but most of her problems are solved with guns and sass. Throughout the game, Itchi finds an array of weapons, including a shotgun, machine gun, and flamethrower, each of which can be upgraded individually, allowing her smart-aleck mouth to write checks that her feisty ass can indeed cash.
The game is now available for PC via Steam and Itch, Switch via eShop, PS4 and PS5 via PSN, and Xbox One and X/S via Microsoft Store. Check our coverage here.
Dark Light, from Mirari+Co., is a gritty sci-fi actioner set in a cyberpunk world populated by supernatural creatures that are invisible to the naked eye. You take on the role of a Dark Hunter, and you use light from a hovering drone to detect these invisible enemies. Once they have been revealed, you can smash them with your trusty sledgehammer, or use one of many guns, melee weapons, or throwables that you encounter during your mission. Enemies range from loping ghouls to flying dragons to hulking abominations, along with more advanced foes capable of wielding weapons and shields. The game offers nonlinear progression and the ability to upgrade weapons and skills by collecting shards from defeated enemies.
The game is now available for PC and Mac via Steam.
Moonscars, from Black Mermaid (game tweets), is a soulslike slasher set in a dark and unforgiving world. You take on the role of a clayborne warrior known as Grey Irma who is on a mission to find the Sculptor and learn more about her existence. Per genre conventions, the challenge level is high, and the only way to make your way forward is to die, learn, and die again. The game offers nonlinear exploration in a lovely (mostly grey) world, along with slick and brutal combat animations as you use magic and cleave your way through creatures of the night and grotesque bosses.
Here's a game back from the dead... Black Witchcraft was originally announced for release at the end of 2015, but after it missed that target, and social media updates stopped in 2017, we dropped it from our Watchlist. But Quattro Gear has finally delivered their combo-based action-RPG inspired by the works of Edgar Allan Poe. The game features high-rez gothic artwork and some dark and twisted enemy and boss designs. Players control a witch with mechanical legs who carries a suitcase with a big red eye on the side. The suitcase is able to transform into a number of weapons, including a spear and a scythe for up-close action, and it can extend into a minigun for long-range asskickery.
The game is now availalbe for PC via Steam, and it's also planned for consoles... but I don't think that Vita release is still gonna happen.
Momodora: Moonlit Farewell, from Bombservice, is the latest in a long running series that got its start more than a decade ago, consisting of Momodora 1-3 and a prequel entitled Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight. The studio took a break from this series of dark female-led metroidvanias and actioners to make Minoria, a dark female-led metroidvania actioner... so hey they're stickin' with what works! For those who haven't played a boatload of Momodora games (like us), the series stars two main protagonists: Momo and Dora. Dora, high priestess of Koho village, takes the lead role once again to save her village from an evil bellringer who has called forth an army of demons. The game is set five years after the events of Momodora III, and while it is built upon those foundations, it's intended to be enjoyed by veterans and newcomers alike. This metroidvania features fast combat with melee combos, a snappy dash maneuver, and projectile-based combat with a bow and arrows. As the series has grown and improved, so too has the quality of the art and animations, with this latest outing offering stunning character designs, foreboding environments, nasty-looking monsters, and menacing bosses.
The game is coming to PC, but it 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.
Yacht Club Games returns with another tale in the Shovel Knight saga, this time teaming up with Nitrome, the studio behind Bomb Chicken and numerous mobile titles. Shovel Knight Dig sees everyone's favorite knight of shovelry - with increased graphical fidelity - in a descent-based adventure that mixes elements of the Dig Dug / Mr. Driller series and 1-on-1 Mega Man-style boss battles. Shovel Knight still fights enemies and grabs treasure, but this time around, he gains new abilities that let him hurl bouncing projectiles, blast nearby enemies with a great horn, and shrink down to a minuscule size to fit through small openings.
No Place for Bravery, from developer Glitch Factory, is brutal top-down action adventure set in a cruel and violent world. You take on the role of Thorn, a former soldier who hopes to settle down and live the quiet life... but when he spots the man who abducted his daughter, he finds himself pulled back into his warrior ways. Thorn faces a relentless onslaught of enemies and environmental challenges as he leaves a trail of blood and bodies in his wake. Players must dodge, parry, and counterattack if they hope to survive, and new weapons are be discovered along the way that offer advantages in combat.
The game is now available for PC via Steam and Switch via eShop.
There is No Light, from Zelart (game tweets), is a dark action-RPG set in a world where most of the population has been wiped out by some great catastrophe... but one man takes a stand. Now the world is filled with demons and other grotesque monstrosities that view you as a tasty morsel, and everything is covered in fleshy globs, spider webs, and piles of corpses. With a bit of skill, you can push the demons back and possibly save the world, which reacts to your actions, for better or worse. Armed with a sword and a healthy dodge roll, you fight through hordes of enemy creatures and hellish boss creatures across a nonlinear world, stringing together combos to fuel your rage and unleash more powerful attacks.
The game is now available for PC via Steam and GOG, and it's also planned for release on Switch, PS4, Xbox One, and Xbox X/S.
Developer Playtra Games is partnering with an LGTBQ+ non-profit organization called the It Gets Better Project, which supports LGBTQ+ youth around the world. The studio developed Grid Force - Mask Of The Goddess, offering an all-female cast with LGBTQ+ representation and diverse cultural backgrounds for its 45 playable characters. Your goal is to befriend companions to assist you in battle, developing their skills and unlocking new abilities along the way, as well as acquiring powerful masks from defeated goddesses. Combat takes place on a grid, Mega Man Battle Network-style, with the player on the left side of the arena and the enemy on the right. Your decisions impact the narrative as well, as it is up to you whether to spare or kill the goddesses you fight, and many characters you encounter have difficulties that you must help them overcome. All the while, you are attempting to save the world from an endless loop of collapse and reboot.
The game is now available for PC via Steam, and it's also planned for release on Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox X/S.
The furry heroines of Freedom Planet have returned in Freedom Planet 2, from GalaxyTrail, and this time around they're joined by a new friend. Players take on the role of the speedy dragon Lilac, the brawling wildcat Carol, the sleuthing hound dog Milla, and a powerful frost giant named Neera. This skilled quartet explores the massive world of Avalice and interacts with dozens of animal NPC's on their quest to take down Merga, an ancient and terrible water dragon who has recently reemerged into the world. Players can expect to explore a beautiful world full of charming characters, engage in fast-paced combat, compete in battle arenas, equip items for new effects, and even mix some potions to gain the upper hand in battle... all in the charm and spirit of the Sega CD era.
The game is now available for PC via Steam and Itch, and it is also planned for release on Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox X/S.
In Doko Roko, from Eric Mack, you take on the role of a small adventurer with a big sword who must make his way up The Tower, which extends thousands of feet into the sky and passes beyond the clouds, with each section containing its own inhabitants and ecosystem. Along the way, you'll have access to magical artifacts and a variety of swords from across the world to protect you against the tower's more hostile elements, allowing you to attack your foes, parry enemy strikes, and deflect projectiles. The game is intended to be light on story but heavy on atmosphere as you make changes to the world within the tower, and it also changes you.
The game is now available for PC, Mac, and Linux via Steam.
Linked Mask, from Spoonman Games, is a Game Boy-style platformer set in a wasteland where six grand towers have been erected, each of which is home to a deity that is worshiped by the people below. Each tower also contains a mask that grants control over one of the elements, and it is up to you to acquire each of these masks, defeat the deities who guard them, and free the masses from their rule. Each time you acquire a mask, you gain a new weapon and environmental traversal skill, which allows you to revisit previous towers and discover new areas. Players can jet through the air between electrical nodes, jump up along vertical surfaces, and smash through blocks.
D-Pad Studio, the team behind Owlboy – one of the finest 2D action adventures of the last decade – has returned with Vikings on Trampolines, a game about... er, Vikings (on trampolines). The game offers a single player adventure, local 4P multiplayer, PvP, and minigames. You take on the role of one of four Vikings as you hop between springy trampolines and bouncy balloons attempting to knock your opponents off the edge in Versus mode. Or you can take down enemies and gigantic boss creatures in Adventure mode as you embark on a mission to collect the king's toy animals and rescue the king himself. Minigames offer some variations on basic boing-boinging with bouncy sportsball, competitive balloon popping, and more. Per the studio's pedigree, the game is absolutely packed with beautiful pixel art, stylish character designs, and a punchy soundtrack.
The game is coming to PC soon, but it does not yet have an official release date... but it probably won't be in development for 10 years like Owlboy.
To find more promising 2D games currently under development, be sure to check out our 2D Watchlist.
Chenso Club, from Pixadome (developers of Hayfever), is a brawler-platformer starring five girls on a mission to save the world from an alien invasion. There's Blue, an android girl with a chainsaw; Carmine, an armored guard with a huge spiked hammer; Plum, a witch who uses a broom casts magical projectiles; Alice, a mountain climber who uses ice axes and a grappling hook; and Molly, a firefighter who tosses globs of water... and grenades! The girls manage to find a way to use the aliens' life force to imbue themselves with great power, allowing them to dash and smash, bounce off of enemies, and perform fast-moving combat maneuvers, leaving colorful sprays of blood and piles of meaty giblets in their wake. Levels are randomized, and players can go it alone or bring along a fellow Chenso girl for offline cooperative obliteration.
The game is now available for PC via Steam, Switch via eShop, PS4 via PSN, and Xbox One and X/S via Microsoft Store. Check our coverage here.
Boneraiser Minions is the latest in a long line of chunky neo-retro actioners from Caiysware, the studio behind Spirits Abyss, Skelly Selest, and Straimium Immortaly. This is a wave-based auto-battling roguelike where you take on the role of a boneraiser who must (literally) raise an army of the undead to fight against the do-gooder heroes... and then use their bodies and souls to increase your power even further. But it's not all just minion management; you'll need to actively evade enemy attacks and collect the bones of your victims to unlock upgrades. Make use of big smashy skellies, bomb-tossers, and magicians to keep the king's crusaders from ravaging your crypt... but the tougher your enemy, the greater your army can become! And per this developer's tradition, there's a Clashful Cards collectible card game in there too.
HAAK, from Blingame, is a dark post-apocalyptic metroidvania. The game features a focus on fast combat and acrobatic movement as the cape-wearing protagonist performs jumps, air dashes, and ground slides to navigate the environment and fight enemies. His unique weapon is an electric hook that he can use to attack enemies, deflect projectiles, activate switches, and grab onto floating grapple points to fling himself into the air. Enemies come in mostly robotic forms, and there are dangers in the environment as well, including crumbling platforms, electrical beams, and crushers. Along the way, he interacts with NPC's to learn more about the world and take on various side quests.
The game is now available for PC via Steam and Switch via eShop.
Vengeful Guardian Moonrider is the latest retro-style actioner from the crew at Joymasher, the studio with a decade-long pedigree of retro-inspired hits including Oniken, Odallus: The Dark Call, and Bazing Chrome. In the future, people have fallen victim to a dictatorial rule, oppressed by an army of unstoppable super soldiers... but one such soldier defies its creators and becomes humanity's last hope. You take on the role of this Moonrider as it makes use of enhanced ninja movement, weapons, and combat abilities to break the bonds of totalitarian rule. Inspired by the classics of the 16-bit era, the game features fast combat, chunky visuals, over-the-top boss encounters, and a guitar-heavy soundtrack.
The game is coming to PC, Switch, PS4, and PS5 this fall.
To find more promising 2D games currently under development, be sure to check out our 2D Watchlist.
Magenta Horizon, from solo dev Maddison Baek under the Hellfire Railway Interactive label, is a sidescrolling actioner with combo-based melee combat. You take on the role of Gretel, an exiled reaper who has spent the last two centuries locked in a sort of purgatory. But one day, she is freed by a man named Archibald, and she decides to help Archibald travel to the sanctuary where she once spent her afterlife... but she'll have the hordes of the underworld to deal with along the way. Gretel has an array of melee abilities available to her from the start, allowing her to chain together combos, juggle enemies, and bounce from one enemy to the next, with health rewards keeping her going to continue the fight. Ranged weapons are unlockable along the way, allowing for some added strategy amidst the fast-paced hacking and slashing. And the whole adventure is set in an insane-looking world filled with strange and grotesque creatures, and huge bosses.
The final game is planned for release on PC in 2023. A demo with the first act is available via Steam and Itch.
To find more promising 2D games currently under development, be sure to check out our 2D Watchlist.
Turrican Anthology Vol. I & II, from Factor 5, offers an expansive look at the Turrican series, from its Amiga roots through to the final entry on the SNES. Now, you may be thinking to yourself... Didn't Factor 5 just release a collection of Turrican games last year? And you'd be right. The Turrican Flashback collection contained four of the games included here, but fans of the series may be interested in several new offerings in this anthology. First and foremost, there's a whole game here that wasn't in the previous collection, namely Turrican 2. There are also some variations on these games with score attacks, director's cuts, and the Amiga version of Turrican 3 as a standalone release. On top of this, the anthology includes manual scans, a remastered soundtrack from Chris Huelsbeck, previously unreleased concept art, and the ability to vew the full map for every game in the collection... and even play the game with the expanded map enabled.
Turrican Anthology Vol. I & II were originally released in physical form, but now they're available for Switch via eShop (Vol 1 / Vol 2), and PS4/PS5 via PSN (Vol 1 / Vol 2). Check our coverage here.
For anyone who has ever complained that there aren't enough dragons or cakes in video games, Flannel Bear Games has cooked up Gedda Cake, a game about... *checks notes*... dragons and cake! In a universe that literally runs on sugar, you take on the role of a chubby dragon named Gedda who must reunite with his siblings to restore balance to all of creation... but first, snacks! In all, there are six dragons, each with their own elemental affinity - fire, water, earth, ice, light, and dark - and all of them eventually become playable characters. In this adventure-platformer, you can swap between dragons on the fly, perform combo-based elemental attacks, swim underwater, spit fire, smash into the ground, and more, as you explore the lands of Sugria, fight enemies, take down bosses, and solve environmental puzzles.
The game is coming to PC and Mac but does not yet have an announced release date. A demo is available on Steam and Itch.
To find more promising 2D games currently under development, be sure to check out our 2D Watchlist.
Chenso Club, from Pixadome (developers of Hayfever), is a brawler-platformer starring five girls on a mission to save the world from an alien invasion. There's Blue, an android girl with a chainsaw; Carmine, an armored guard with a huge spiked hammer; Plum, a witch who uses a broom casts magical projectiles; Alice, a mountain climber who uses ice axes and a grappling hook; and Molly, a firefighter who tosses globs of water... and grenades! The girls manage to find a way to use the aliens' life force to imbue themselves with great power, allowing them to dash and smash, bounce off of enemies, and perform fast-moving combat maneuvers, leaving colorful sprays of blood and piles of meaty giblets in their wake. Levels are randomized, and players can go it alone or bring along a fellow Chenso girl for offline cooperative obliteration.
The game is coming to PC this summer... and it's already summer ye kin, so... soon!
To find more promising 2D games currently under development, be sure to check out our 2D Watchlist.
Toasty: Ashes of Dusk, from Pocket Llama, is an action adventure starring a young Marshmallow Knight named Marshall (yes, Marshall the Marshmallow) who is on a mission to save the world of Geldia from an evil wizard named Llarm (you can't spell "marshmallow" without "llarm"). Marshall awakens in a forest with no knowledge of who he is, but he's carrying a sword and shield emblazoned with the crest of Geldia. As a marshmallow, he is able to make use of his various marshmallowy attributes, such as the ability to squish down to fit in tight spaces, roll quickly along the ground, and set his fat marshmallow head on fire to light torches, solve environmental puzzles, and... run around with his head on fire like Johnny Blaze. Of course, he can also use his sword and shield - and several other items - to fight an array of colorful enemies and boss creatures to become the hero that Geldia needs.
The game is coming to PC, Linux, Switch, PlayStation, and Xbox 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.
Klei Entertainment is the studio behind Shank, Mark of the Ninja, and Don't Starve (among others), and now they've returned to their clobbery roots with Rotwood, a hacky-slashy dungeon-crawly rogue-likey buttstomper. Dive in alone or bring along some friends for 4P online co-op as you pummel your way through a forest filled with dark creatures and evil vegetables (!?). The game features arena-style combat with enemies attacking from every direction, along with boss and miniboss encounters... all rendered in a charming cartoony style. Defeat enemies and grab loot to craft weapons, armor, and fortifications for your home base.
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.
Pocky & Rocky Reshrined, from NatsumeAtari, doubles as a remake and a brand new adventure. The game starts out as a single player experience (2P is unlocked after you beat the game) where Pocky fights her way through familiar enemies and locations. But at the end of the second level, things get turned on their head as a villain alters the timeline and sends Pocky on a new path. Pocky is joined by her faithful friend Rocky, along with three additional companions, all of whom become playable during the course of the adventure. The game features the same colorful fantasy shooting and deflecting that you remember from the classic SNES games, along with several new abilities, new levels and bosses, and a strange time-bending story that ties it all together. And when it's all over, have your buddy grab a controller as you select from one of five playable characters for a new take on that classic couch co-op experience.
The game is now available for Switch via eShop, and PS4 via PSN, with physical versions available to preorder via Gamesrocket. Check our coverage here.
Bitmap Bureau, the developers behind Xeno Crisis, have returned with Final Vendetta, a beat 'em up done up in the style of 90's-era arcade games like Capcom's Final Fight and Konami's... well, Vendetta, starring a cast of colorful characters and 1P or 2P co-op action. Per genre conventions, you team up with some martial arts dudes and set off to rescue your kidnapped sister from a street gang the only way you know how... by beating the holy ass out of every human being who crosses your path and eating hearty snacks off the ground. You've got your choice of three playable characters: the acrobatic Claire, the bare-knuckle boxer Duke, or the mullet-coiffed wrestler Miller. In addition to six areas of belt-scrolling arcade action, the game offers versus, survival, and boss rush modes, plus an intense soundtrack and smoother-than-the-90's animations.
The game is now available on PC, Mac, and Linux via Steam, Switch via eShop, PS5 via PSN, and Xbox One and X/S via Microsoft Store.
Let's face it, if you're on 2D RADAR, then you probably already know there's a new Turtles game out, but here's the news in case you've been shellshocked...
Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the sewers (or something), the frantic 4P TMNT beat 'em up action of the arcade is back with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge, from Tribute Games. You may remember Tribute Games as the studio behind Panzer Paladin, Flinthook, and loads of other kickass 2D video games, and while Konami is off doing who-knows-what, Tribute is bringing their 2D pedigree and charming sprite art to everyone's favorite heroes-in-a-half-shell (turtle power!). So you'd have had to have been living under a rock(steady) to be unaware of the turtles or their famous arcade games (or cartoon, or originating comics, etc.), but just in case... you take on the role of one of four ninja turtles: Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, and Leonardo - April, Splinter, and Casey Jones are playable too! - as you go up against tons of foot soldiers, other mutant baddies, and the Shredder himself, with all of the 80's/90's cartoon glory perfectly preserved and character designs ripped straight outta Turtles in Time... there are no brooding angry Justice League wannabes here. This is classic gnarly brawler action for everyone who grew up with the radical arcade games or the SNES ports. These turtle boys don't cut 'em no slack!
The game is now available for PC via Steam, Switch via eShop, PS4 via PSN, and Xbox One and X/S via Microsoft Store and Game Pass.
From Doinksoft, the creators of Gato Roboto, comes a game with lots more colors, but lots fewer kitties in weaponized exoskeletons (presumably). Gunbrella is set beneath the darkened sky of some dystopian landscape that's filled with bad mofos, mutants, and monsters. You take on the role of a woodsman -slash- amateur detective as he investigates the seedy underbelly of a chaos-wrought world on a mission of revenge. The weather is cloudy with a chance of bullets, but fortunately you've packed your gunbrella, which doubles as a weapon and an environmental navigation tool. Summon your inner Penguin and use the gunbrella to glide through the air, bash enemies, deflect bullets, and of course... fire your gun.
The game is headed to PC and Switch in 2023.
To find more promising 2D games currently under development, be sure to check out our 2D Watchlist.
Sometimes the title of a game just jumps right up and bops you in the moon unit, and one such game is Shinobi non Grata, from Studio Pico and Esquadra. Matching that outlandish title is an equally dweezil-popping actioner with about eleventeen colors and larger-than-average sprites for such a retro-looking game. It's Japan, it's 1838, and a bunch of bad guys just made friends with some demons so they can rise to power. But a lone demon-killing shinobi stands against them... Kaina uses his murasame sword to slice through his enemies, tosses shuriken and bombs, swings a kusarigama, and makes use of a number of magical abilities, such as firing electrical bolts or creating shadow versions of himself. Fight your way through loads of baddies, traverse dangerous environments, and defeat giant demon bosses.
The game is coming to PC later this year. A demo is available on Steam.
To find more promising 2D games currently under development, be sure to check out our 2D Watchlist.
Remote Life, from Next Game Level, is a horizontal shmup with twin stick shooter controls, set in a dark Giger-esque alien hellscape. You take on the role of John Leone, a pilot tasked with entering a gigantic alien hive that's slowly making its way toward Earth. You have access to an array of 20+ weapons, along with the occasional time-limited options, super weapons, turrets, and mobile assault platforms. In addition to fighting your way through enemies, you must avoid lots of environmental hazards, including doorways that open and shut and fast-moving alien machinery, with gameplay changing up in some levels to allow for free exploration within enclosed environments. The game uses 3D pre-rendered sprites to create realistic environments with a foreboding tone, and some truly terrifying boss creatures.
The game has been on PC via Steam for a while, but it was just ported to consoles, so it's now available for Switch via eShop, PS4 and PS5 via PSN, and Xbox One and X/S via Microsoft Store. Check our coverage here.
You know what? There just aren't enough boomerangs in video games. Sure, we get plenty of boomeranging bad guys, but what about us adventurers? Where's our boomerangageddon!? Well, Narwhalnut is here to shore up our boomerang deficit with Belle Boomerang, starring a young lady (named Belle) who can 'rang with the best of 'em. The game is a retro-style platformer done up in the classic 8-bit style with chunky chunks and blippy blips. In a tale as old as the games that inspired it, the people of the land have been transformed into cute monsters, with the monarchs becoming boss beasts. Belle is able to learn the abilities of her enemies, making use of eight different powerups that aid her in combat and environmental navigation.
Souldiers, from Retro Forge Games, is a retro-style action-adventure set in a colorful fantasy world. You play as one of a trio of characters who suddenly find themselves transported from a battlefield in their own world to a place called Terragaya. Terragaya is a land that seems to sit at the border of the afterlife, offering a chance for these warriors to revive their fallen comrades. Each of the three playable characters has different abilities, with an archer who can strike quickly from a distance, a scout who attacks with a sword, and a caster who uses magic to strike enemies at close and medium range. Players explore a large interconnected world populated by a variety of detailed enemies and boss creatures while platforming, solving environmental puzzles, searching for artifacts, and upgrading their abilities along an expansive skill tree to increase their effectiveness in combat.
Source of Madness, from Carry Castle, is a roguelike actioner set in a dark Lovecraftian world... but not Lovecraftian in the typical video game sense of over-tentaculated monsters looming in the distance, but rather true eldritch horrors that are made up of amalgamations of flesh that twitch and scurry and slither and sometimes break into gibby bits as you furiously cast spells to blast them into oblivion. As an acolyte, you set out across a dangerous landscape overrun by ancient horrors as you attempt to open a pathway to the moon. Your odds of survival are quite low, but fortunately there are many other recruits who will unwillingly follow in your footsteps when you fall. Permanent upgrades unlock as you make progress, including new character classes with different spells and abilities, and you can pick up or purchase useful items on each run. Do you have what it takes to die many horrible deaths in service to the cult of the Tower of Knowledge? Yes you do. But can you learn from your deaths and fight your way through the lurking terrors?
The game is now availalbe for PC via Steam, Switch via eShop, PS4 and PS5 via PSN, and Xbox One and Xbox X/S via Microsoft Store. Check our coverage here.
Salt and Sacrifice is the follow-up to Salt and Sanctuary, a soulslike developed by Ska Studios, which has been cranking out indie hits for more than a decade, starting during the era of Xbox Live Arcade and Xbox Live Indie Games with such titles as Charlie Murder, The Dishwasher duology, and yes, even I MAED A GAM3 W1TH Z0MB1ES 1NIT!!!1. The game is being developed in cooperation with Devoured Studios. In Salt and Sacrifice, you take on the role of a Marked Inquisitor who is tasked with hunting down the world's mages and putting them to the sword... or a variety of other weapons that you can forge by way of an extensive crafting system, and you literally create and modify weapons using the body parts of the mages you kill. Per genre standards, enemies are tough, and bosses are tougher, so you'll have to polish your skills if you hope to live for more than a few minutes in this harsh and unforgiving world, but you can bring in some help via local or online 2P co-op.
The game is now availalbe for PC via Epic Games Store, and PS4 and PS5 via PSN.