Target Acquired: The Last Faith

The Last Faith, from Kumi Souls Games, is a metroidvania set in a dark world filled with gnarled trees, gothic architecture, and no shortage of foul beasts. You take on the role of Eric as he travels through the once great capital, which is now ravaged by disease and corruption. Fortunately, the cure for most of this is a swift sword to the face. Eric wields swords, pikes, hatchets, handguns, and whatever else he can get his hands on to bash the creatures of the night into oblivion. In addition, he is able to cast devastating spells and use elemental buffs for his weapons, allowing him to freeze, electrify, or stun enemies during combat. Per metroidvania standards, Eric gains new abilities that expand his ability to explore, and he can make use of demonic wings for added jump height, and a retractable grapple for pulling himself up onto ledges or swinging across gaps.

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.

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Target Acquired: Bzzzt

Bzzzt, from Karel Matejka (a.k.a. KO.DLL), is a colorful platformer starring an artificial intelligence named ZX8000. After acquiring a robotic body, you must prove your abilities across dozens of testing chambers filled with enemies and hazards as you try to help your friends defeat the dastardly professor Badbert. Your primary goal is one of avoidance, since practically everything in the environment can kill you. Mechanized baddies fly around, patrol back and forth across platforms, and hop around the screen firing lasers, and you must escape these perils while also dealing with spiked crushers, spinning balls, spike pits, sawblades, and beams of electricity.

The game is now available for PC, Mac, and Linux via Steam and GOG.

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Target Acquired: Risk of Rain Returns

Risk of Rain returns in... Risk of Rain Returns, a remaster of the original roguelike actioner from Hopoo Games. You take on the role of a survivor from a crashed cargo ship who must fight their way through an increasingly hostile environment. The original game featured a single character at the start, with additional playable survivors available to unlock, and the remastered version features brand new survivors for the updated adventure, along with 4P online and offline co-op... in case want to bring some pals along for the massacre. Collect items, weapons, and buffs to steadily increase your power as you face enemies from every direction that become more powerful as time clicks by, and then you still have to take down some menacing boss monsters. Fans of the 3D sequel will notice some content from Risk of Rain 2, and fans of the original 2D outing will notice upgraded art, new sound effects, and new music tracks.

The game is now available for PC via Steam and Switch via eShop.

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Target Acquired: Laika: Aged Through Blood

Brainwash Gang presents Laika: Aged Through Blood, a game that seems to be named after everyone's favorite canine cosmonaut. You take on the role of a coyote warrior as she sets out across the post-apocalyptic wasteland in a motorcycle-based metroidvania (McGrathvania?) on the road to revenge. Fortunately, she shoots as well as she rides, as she races through the landscape, hits ramps, and gets big air while blasting baddies in the face with her trusty pistol and sawed-off shotgun, and she reloads by doing backflips! But wasteland soldiers aren't the only danger... she must also face down huge mutant creatures that have been repurposed for war. And when she's not performing facial deconstructive surgery on her enemies, she's cruising through a beautiful hand-drawn world.

The game is now available for PC via Steam, Epic, and GOG, and it's also planned for release on consoles.

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Target Acquired: Fading Afternoon

Fading Afternoon is the latest gritty dramatic actioner from yeo, the developer behind Arrest of a Stone Buddha and The Friends of Ringo Ishikawa. In this beat 'em up, you take on the role of Seiji "Gozuki" Maruyama, an aging yakuza who hits the streets after a long stint behind bars. With so much of his life behind him, he searches for meaning while getting up to his neck in his old violent ways... beating the hell out of guys in the streets and sometimes just pulling out his gun and snuffing them out for good. The game features a more robust set of moves and animations than the 8-bit Kunio-kun games you grew up with, and no shortage of visceral and bloody combat. You explore an open world, take part in some minigames, and hopefully survive to see one of the multiple endings.

The game is now available for PC via Steam, and it's also planned for release on Switch.

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