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

April 29, 2016

News: Pankapu: the Dreamkeeper Headed to Nintendo Consoles

A couple of months ago, we posted about Pankapu: the Dreamkeeper, from Too Kind Studio, an action-platformer which recently met enough of its Kickstarter goals to allow for release on PC, Mac, Linux, PS4, and Xbox One. As in many campaigns, the developer continued to allow backers to pledge via PayPal after the campaign ended. With these backers, they managed to reach their next stretch goal, and now the game is coming to Wii U, with the possibility of an NX release as well (just as soon as we find out what the heck an NX is).

Pankapu: the Dreamkeeper is an action-platformer starring the eponymous Pankapu, a warrior created by the God of Dreams to defeat dark beings that have passed through the Veil, the realm separating the the World of Nightmares from the World of Dreams. The warrior is able to change between three forms on the fly, altering his abilities as he does so, in order to take on his foes in different ways. His brave form has is strong and fights with melee attacks; his passionate form has a bow and arrows, as well as a double jump and dash; and his faithful form uses magic. The player is further able to customize the character by unlocking new abilities along a skill tree. The game is presented as a storybook tale told to a young girl, and the world is a construction of her imagination. The game is intended to be released episodically, with each episode representing a new chapter of the tale.

The game is coming to PC, Mac, and Linux in 2016, and PS4, Xbox One, and Wii U in 2017. An alpha demo is available on the game's Kickstarter page.




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

April 28, 2016

In the Shadows Coming to Consoles

In the Shadows, from ColorSpace Studio, was originally announced for PC, Mac, and Linux, and it's still headed to Steam this Fall. This week, the developers announced that the game will also be coming to PS4 and Xbox sometime in 2017.

In the Shadows is an action-puzzler where the player uses light to combat shadow creatures... and to use them in puzzle solutions. It turns out that a number of objects transform into creatures in the evening, but the player is able to transform them back by exposing them to light. This generally involves pushing lighted boxes toward shadow creatures, at which point they may become doors, ladders, or other objects that the player may use in order to press forward.




April 26, 2016

Target Acquired: Rocketbirds 2: Evolution

Rocketbirds 2: Evolution from Ratloop, is a follow-up to Rocketbirds: Hardboiled Chicken, an over-the-top shooter starring Hardboiled Chicken (because... eggs) on a mission to destroy an evil penguin syndicate. The sequel picks up where the first game left off with the return of the main villain and a whole new slew of birdie baddies to perforate with heavy weaponry. In addition to the main campaign, the new game also features a 4P online or offline cooperative mode where players team up to rescue hostages and discover hidden items. More than forty weapons await your itchy trigger fingers, er... trigger feathers, with the traditional array of handguns, shotguns, and explosives, along with a few more enticing armaments like the grenade bouncing Thumper and the rapid-fire shotgun called Lead Storm.

The game is now available for PS4 and Vita (cross buy) via PSN.



April 24, 2016

Target Acquired: Until I Have You

Until I Have You, from Wormwood Studios, is a gritty, brutal neo-noir actioner starring an assassin known as The Artist. The assassin decides to get out of the killing game, but his clients won't hear of it and kidnap his wife. Vowing to get her back, and procures an exoskeleton that grants him tremendous powers... at the cost of his sanity. As he murders his way through his former clients, the exoskeleton - and loads of painkillers - begin to take a toll on him. Pushing forward on his mission means blurring the line between reality and insanity. The game has a rather unorthodox control scheme, which make movement and platforming problematic to say the least, but these troubles are counterbalanced by a good deal of mission variety and a compelling narrative.

Until I Have You is available for PC and Linux via Steam. Check our full coverage here.



April 21, 2016

Proximity Alert: Hyper Bounce Blast

Hyper Bounce Blast is a unique shooter from Flump Studios, which serves as a follow-up to their well-received Horizon Shift title from a year ago. The game mixes twin-stick shooting with elements from starfield shmups like Galaga, bullet hell shooters, and even platforming. Bouncing on certain enemies allows you to become invincible and penetrate bullet curtains to gain points, power up your hyper meter, and put the hurt on enemies and bosses. The game's bonus round also features an homage to Atari's classic Centipede.

The game is coming to Steam for PC on May 27.




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

April 19, 2016

News: Two Great Metroidvanias Come to PSN

A pair of excellent games arrived on PSN today. First up is Shantae and the Pirate's Curse from WayForward, a direct sequel to Shantae: Risky's Revenge. This game picks up immediately after the events of the last where SPOILER ALERT Shantae was stripped of her genie powers. Shantae’s old arch nemesis, Risky Boots, split her powers into 30 parts and bonded them with her minions… only to be summarily overthrown as her minions go off to resurrect Risky’s old mentor, the Pirate Master, who is even more evil than she is. As such, Shantae and Risky must team up to defeat the 30 minions and keep them from resurrecting the Pirate Master. Unlockable abilities allow Shantae to reach new areas without her genie powers, using grappling hooks and several dual-purpose weapons in a nonlinear metroidvania adventure.

The game is now available for PS4 via PSN. Check our full coverage here.


Next is Axiom Verge, from developer Tom Happ, a metroidvania title with obvious influences pulled from the 8- and 16-bitters of yore, with Metroid-style exploration, Turrican-style gunplay, and some decidedly Abadox-style gore. The game offers a large world to explore, more than 20 upgradeable weapons, and over 60 items and powerups to be found by players who opt to probe every dark corner of the grotesque game world. And of course, no such game would be complete without some pulse-pounding battles against hideous boss creatures.

The game is now available for Vita via PSN. Check our full coverage here.

April 17, 2016

Target Acquired: Enter the Gungeon

Enter the Gungeon has just been released by Dodge Roll Games, developers of last year's Fork Parker's Holiday Profit Hike. Their latest project is a top-down action RPG centering around an ancient artifact... a gun that can KILL THE PAST! This is a dungeon crawler where a bunch of guys take over-the-top weapons (lasers, cannons, rainbows, etc.) into enemy-packed environments and blast the pixels right off their cute pudgy faces. Players murderfy their way through the ever-changing Gungeon, taking down enemies and bosses, dodge rolling (of course), and grabbing loot to buy more powerful gear.

Enter the Gungeon is now available for PS4 via PSN, and PC, Mac, and Linux via Steam, Humble Store, and GOG. Check our full coverage here.




April 14, 2016

New Blip: Gravitus

There aren't many gravity-based games out there, but the niche genre is filled with surprisingly high percentage of quality titles. Gravitus, from kometbomb, is inspired by the likes of Gravitar, Thrust, and Solar Jetman, as well as Astroids. Per genre conventions, the player has a limited amount of fuel with which to complete his mission - and can only thrust in one direction - and the very act of staying aloft slowly depletes this precious resource. The player may find a few additional fuel pods along the way, but resource management is still key, as the player must maneuver through a tight system of caves while defeating enemies and eventually locate a heavy pod. As in Thrust, the difficulty only increases from this point, as the player must tow the pod back through the cave system, accounting for its weight and pendulum motion as it tugs against the ship, making maneuvering more difficult and depleting even more fuel.

The game is coming to PC later this year. A beta demo is available on the developer's website.



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

April 12, 2016

Proximity Alert: Severed

Guacamelee developer, Drinkbox Studios, is back with Severed, a game about slicing your enemies to bits. The game stars a one-armed heroine with a living sword who slices and dices her way through numerous strange beasties in a 2D adventure that takes place from the first-person perspective. Players use touch-based attacks to take their enemies apart, slicing them at specific angles to cause damage, reveal weak points, and sever various appendages.

Severed is coming exclusively to Playstation Vita on April 26.




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

April 10, 2016

Target Acquired: Jet Set Knights

We just mentioned that Jet Set Knights from FobTi Interactive was available via Steam Early Access, and now the game is complete! The game is available for PC via Steam and is discounted by 15% until April 14.

Jet Set Knights is an arcade-style platformer for single player or offline 2-4P multiplayer. The game features knights fighting through enclosed arenas, facing off against a dozen different enemy types with a variety of weapons and magical spells, including swords, spears, ice arrows, and an exploding chicken. In addition to fighting enemies and attempting to stay alive, the player must protect the princess at the bottom of the room from being attacked, which spells a Game Over. However, the player is able to construct defenses around the princess, adding a tower defense element to the action. If the player manages to keep himself and the princess alive through enough waves, he'll face off against a huge end-level boss.




April 9, 2016

Signal Lost: Six Miles Under

Six Miles Under seems to be permanently buried. The developer's website no longer exists and neither does the devlog. The Steam Greenlight page shows a planned release date of Q2 2015 with no updates since 2014, and the developer's social media sites have been quiet since the same time. There was a Kickstarter in 2014 but it was cancelled. Here's what we originally had to say about the game:

Six Miles Under | PC, Mac, and Linux via Steam
Six Miles Under, in development by Looney Bin Studios, is a post-apocalyptic brawler that invokes the spirit of Shank, with big action, stylish combos, sprays of blood, and the occasional bit of gunfire. The game is set in an underground city after a nuclear war wiped out everyone on the surface. The game and stars Preston Trencher, who is seeking revenge after he is shot and left for dead. Trencher must punch, slice, and shoot his way through a dark world while evading attacks, stringing together combos, and taking down bosses. Trencher and his enemies are presented in silhouette, adding to the noir style, but also playing with visibility as characters blend into unlit backgrounds.


April 7, 2016

New Blip: Gonner

Gonner, from developer Art in Heart, is a procedurally-generated platformer with a bit of roguelike tossed in for good measure. In this game, you'll want to stay on the move as you blast away at a variety of monochromatic enemies while occasionally being eaten and shat out in order to move between levels. The player has access to a number of blasty weapons including a machine gun, shotgun and laser rifle, which will help him to stave off a trip to the underworld for a little while. But dying lets you pick out new weapons and a new head, which affects your skills during your next run, increasing your resilience or letting you do things like perform a spinning double jump. But you lose your head if you take damage (and your gun), and you have a limited time to retrieve it or your next hit sends you back to the underworld.

The game is coming to PC and Mac via Steam this summer.




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

April 5, 2016

New Blip: Copy Girl

Copy Girl, from Henrique "7Soul" Lazarini and Matt "Tokinsom" Gruber, is an action-platformer in the style of the Mega Man series. Copy Girl starts out with a basic pellet-shooter, but she is able to acquire eight more weapon types - complete with a palette swap for her outfit - and each weapon has unique properties that help her to strategically deal with her enemies and several boss creatures. The art is done in an 8-bit NES style with a reduced color palette, and features a number of classic 2D gaming environments, including factories with conveyor belts, underwater areas, and lands of floating platforms.

The game is coming to PC via Steam in 2016.




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

April 3, 2016

Target Acquired: Slain

Slain (originally known as The 7 Towers), from developer Wolf Brew Games, is an atmospheric action game following a sword-wielding hero hacking his way through hordes of enemies that would be right at home in a Castlevania title, including the undead, wolves, skeletons, ghosts, beholders, hellhounds, and other twisted creatures. Blood is everywhere… spread around the environment, gushing from enemies, and spewing violently from the long-haired swordsman when he gets smashed in a trap or dismembered by an enemy. Players must hack their way through a number of gothic platforming locales.

Slain is now available for PC, Mac, and Linux via Steam and is also planned for release on Xbox One via XBLA, PS4 and Vita via PSN, and Wii U via eShop. Check our full coverage here.