New Blip: Panzer Paladin

Tribute Games is the studio behind Wizorb, Mercenary Kings, Curses ‘n Chaos, Flinthook, and technically Ninja Senki - all of which are chunky retro-style action games - and they're back with Panzer Paladin... a chunky retro-style action game. You take the role of the titular paladin who clunks around the world in power armor, slashing baddies with a sword, but it wears down as he deals damage. But he can collect weapons from fallen enemies and swap between them, or sacrifice them to cast spells or activate checkpoints, and he can block incoming attacks with his sword. The pilot of the power armor is comparatively small and is able to eject and run around on his own, reaching areas that the armor cannot fit, and even doing a bit of grappling along the way. He's not all that handy in a fight, but fortunately, he can teleport his armor back to his location using special devices called launchers.

The game is coming to PC in Spring 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: Yuppie Psycho

Baroque Decay, the developer behind The Count Lucanor, returns with Yuppie Psycho, an adventure set in a modern day office building run by an evil corporation. The game features some lovely chunky pixel art for its gameplay and cutscenes, and lots of pixellated blood and gore. You play the part of Brian Pasternack, the new guy who's just trying to survive his first day on the job... literally. His first task is to hunt down a witch whose powers drove the company to success but who now torments its employees. Along the way, he'll learn more about Sintracorp, meet his strange office mates, and flee for his life from creatures who stalk the halls, lurk behind cubicle walls, and slink through the ventilation ducts. Brian must uncover clues, solve riddles, and make decisions that affect the outcome of his story.

The game is now available for PC, Mac, and Linux via Steam and Utomik, and it's also planned for Switch, PS4, and Xbox One at a later date.

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Proximity Alert: Shakedown Hawaii

Vblank Entertainment, the studio behind Retro City Rampage, is back with Shakedown Hawaii. It's another open world top-down action game, but this time themed after the 16-bit generation instead of the NES era, and features a substantially larger world map. The game takes place 30 years after the events of the original game and is set in Hawaii (as you may have guessed from the title), thus offering a more colorful tropical locale. The game once again stars "The Player" from the original game as he comes out of retirement to rebuild his empire by attending meetings, coming up with crazy ideas to defeat the competition, and of course, shooting the hell out of everything. Maximum destruction is in store with machine guns, rocket launchers, flamethrowers, and an array of driveable vehicles for running down pedestrians and fleeing the Five-O (see what we did there?).

The game is coming to PC, PS4, Vita, and Switch on May 7, and 3DS at a later date.




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

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Early Arrival: Lonk's Adventure

Lonk's Adventure, from Pixelatto, is an open-world retro-style platformer starring a fellow named Lonk who must rescue the kidnapped princess... but this is no ordinary adventure. The trick here is that the game features 100 different endings, and most of your major actions lead to one of these endings. Walk into a cave and pick up a sword from an old man who says "It's dangerous to go alone!", and then plunge the sword into the old man's chest to get Ending #1. Of course, you'll go to prison for a few years, but when you get out, the adventure continues, and you can look for the next ending. While the premise is simple, there is some strategy involved with exploring the world and finding these different endings, since each piece of equipment lets you do different things, but the more you're carrying, the lower your jump height. Throughout your adventure, you'll find a sword, shield, hookshot, bombs, and a chicken that lets you glide through the air (there are lots of Legend of Zelda references in case you haven't figured that out), among other things, and loads of silly humor to encounter along the way.

The game has been available on PC via Steam Early Access for about six months while the developer makes tweaks and adds new endings... and the 100th ending was added just a couple weeks ago, so it's all hot and fresh. Check our coverage here.

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Target Acquired: Katana ZERO

Katana ZERO is the latest from developer Askiisoft, featuring fast-paced acrobatic melee combat in a dark neon-lit world. It's tough to take down a whole slew of bad guys on your own, but fortunately you have access to a drug called Chronos, which allows you to manipulate time, reversing your mistakes and slowing things down to the point where you can knock an enemy's bullet back at him. Players can dash and slide quickly through the environment, dodging lasers and getting behind baddies before slicing them into bloody shreds, and they can hop between buildings by extending cables between them for some ninja-style rooftop running in the dark of night.

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

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Target Acquired: Hell is Other Demons

Hell is Other Demons... ain't that a fact. Hannes Rahm is here to show you just how nasty Hell can be, as you blast hundreds of demons in the face with a huge array of weapons. The game is a sidescrolling arena combat actioner in a 4-color palette that is continuously populated by waves of terrible demons waiting to milk your raging arsenal for its sweet hot bullet juice. As you destroy demons, and face off against terrible boss creatures, and keep your buns out of the burning lava below, you unlock new weapons and abilities to aid in your quest for destruction, and leaderboards await those who rack up a huge score. Plus, the tunes were composed by SoulEye, best known for the VVVVVV soundtrack.

The game is now available for PC, Mac, and Linux via Kartridge and Switch via eShop.

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New Blip: Rawal Rumble

Rawal Rumble, from Anarkade, an 80's arcade-style beat 'em for up to 4P. The game takes place in Barcelona following a civil war that was ended after someone accidentally dropped a nuke near the airport. As a result, the people allowed themselves to be repressed and subjugated. 100 years later, a new force rises up to face this corrupt government, led by a foul-mouthed badass in a muscle shirt whose girlfriend was arrested, and he promises to make them "lick [his] big golden balls"... which is all you need to kick off a brawler. The game features the usual punches and kicks from the days of old - along with optional scanlines - but adds in considerably more crass humor and blood sprays. Players make their way through ten metropolitan locales, bashing faces, grabbing discarded weapons, and beating the stuffing out of powerful bosses with extended life bars.

The game is planned for PC but does not have an announced release date. A demo is available on Itch.io, which includes one level and an unlockable survival mode.




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

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Early Arrival: Hades

Supergiant Games is known for several top-notch action-adventure games, all with solid mechanics and gorgeous artwork, including Bastion, Transistor, and Pyre... and now they've returned with another beautiful action-adventure game with a single word for a title: Hades. In this game, you play the son of Hades as he defies his father and attempts to battle his way out of Hell. There's only one downside; dying just sends him back home. The game is a hack-and-slash roguelike that offers something new with each run. Players can attack hellish creatures with ranged and melee weapons, and supplement their abilities with perks that come in the form of divine assistance from Zeus and the other Olympian gods.

The game is currently available for PC via Epic Store 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: Faeland

Talegames presents Faeland, an action-RPG set in a medieval fantasy world. The game stars Sam, a blonde-haired boy wearing a green tunic who is able to wield a short sword, a shield, and a bow and arrows (remind you of anyone?). Sam is able to hunt for food in the wildlands, fight enemy creatures in dungeons, complete platforming challenges, learn new abilities to reach previously inaccessible areas, solve puzzles, and take on gigantic bosses. The game world is open, so you are free to travel from place to place, speak with NPC's to discover new information, and purchase new weapons, equipment, and health restoratives.

The game is coming to PC, Mac, and Linux but does not have an announced release date.




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

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New Blip: Lapis x Labyrinth

Lapis x Labyrinth, from Nippon Ichi Software (NIS), is a feverish hacky slashy dungeon crawler starring a cast of colorful characters. The game offers eight character classes that you can literally stack - one character on top of the other - to attack enemies and unleash a flurry of gems in return. With a stack of four characters, you can swap between their abilities or team up to take down baddies, and defeating enough enemies lets you unlock Fever Time to unleash even more damage and get more gems. Fight your way through more than 100 monster types and a bunch of bosses in a labyrinth filled with treasure.

The game is coming to PS4 and Switch on May 28 (it's already available in Japan), and there's a limited edition physical version coming to the Switch as well. Check out utter sensory overload in the trailer below:




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

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New Blip: Bushiden

In Bushiden, from Pixel Arc Studios, you take on the role of a martial arts master whose sister has disappeared, possibly at the hands of the evil Goah and his cybernetically enhanced army. You travel through eight themed areas taking down enemies and bosses on your way toward your ultimate enemy, all the while gaining new abilities, upgrades, and magic spells to aid you in combat and exploration. The game wears its arcade style on its sleeve with its colorful environments, detailed character designs and animations, and flashy attacks and death animations. But unlike straightforward arcade actioners, you must explore a large interconnected world and make use of a metroidvania map to track your progress, revisiting previous areas with new abilities to access alternate routes.

The game is coming to PC in 2020.




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

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Arrival Delayed: Super Meat Boy Forever

Super Meat Boy Forever, from Team Meat, has been delayed beyond its intended April 2019 release window. Tommy Refenes made this statement in an interview with Rock Paper Shotgun (which was apparently a totally real conversation and not some made up April Fools garbage):

"Oh yeah, I think it’s in a good place. We were originally going to hit April, but we’re not going to hit April, so now we’re going to say after April, because I don’t want to say May and then have to go ‘Oh, I didn’t hit May.’ The next thing we’ll announce is the day you can actually buy it, rather than ‘around here’ because that’s really a lot of pressure to be like, ‘Oh crap, now I’ve got to tell everybody.’ I’m glad I don’t have Kickstarter backers or have taken money from anyone because oh man, that would be terrible."

The game is a sequel to Super Meat Boy, and once again features Meat Boy and Bandage Girl... only this time, they have a child named Nugget, and Nugget has been kidnapped by Dr. Fetus. So, the duo splat into action and try to rescue their sweet baby. This time around, instead of venturing through pre-made levels, the game world regenerates itself dynamically into harder and harder versions of itself, but built out of pre-made chunks to avoid sending the player into a hell of random objects. Also, instead of just being able to jump, Meat Boy and Bandage Girl can now punch their enemies in the face, and perform a jump attack, dive, and slide to deal with enemies and navigate quickly around saw blades and other obstacles.

Super Meat Boy Forever is planned for release on PC, Switch, PS4, Xbox One, iOS, and Android.

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