Target Acquired: 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 now available for Switch via eShop and PS4 via PSN.

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Target Acquired: Courier of the Crypts

Courier of the Crypts, from Emberheart Games, is a puzzle-based adventure that makes heavy use of light and darkness. You play a courier who must deliver a letter to the guardian of the crypts, but you soon find yourself trapped within the walls of said crypts, where dark forces have risen. You must use your magical torch to feel out the dark spaces, light new areas, and ward off enemies... but its energy drains with each passing moment. You'll need to solve puzzles in order to move forward, such as triggering floor plates and activating switches, along with some puzzles that specifically involve use of the torch. Various critters lurk in the depths, and your main weapon against them is a handful of rocks, so you need to know when it's best to fight, when it's best to run, and when you can use the environment to your advantage to sneak by.

The game is now available for PC via Steam, Itch.io, and Humble Store. Check our coverage here.

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New Blip: Xeno Crisis

Xeno Crisis, from Bitmap Bureau, is an arena shooter where you play a space marine - or a pair of them in 2P co-op - blasting through waves of alien baddies and rescuing survivors along the way, taking design inspirations from Smash TV, Alien Syndrome, and other arcade actioners. The game is comprised of seven themed areas, dozens of enemy types, grotesque end-level bosses, and plenty of weapons to destroy them all, including rifles, spread guns, flamethrowers, and rocket launchers, among others, along with upgrades to increase their damage output and ammo capacity. Procedural layouts mean the player will encounter different rooms on each run, and two difficulty modes let players choose their level of challenge (but you need to play on "hardcorps" to get the good ending).

The game was originally developed for the Sega Genesis / Mega Drive, and ported to Dreamcast and Neo Geo, and it will be released on PC, Mac, Linux, Switch, PS4, and Xbox One, but does not yet 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: Raider of the Ruby Chest

Raider of the Ruby Chest, from Cacareco Games, is a Game Boy Color-esque action adventure that takes inspiration from the Indiana Jones films. You play the part of a whip-wielding adventurer - although you're a young boy rather than a professor of antiquities - who dives into booby trapped ruins to seek out great treasures... and the mysterious Ruby Chest. Along the way, you'll travel through five themed areas, solve puzzle-platforming challenges, and face off against enemies and bosses. As you explore, you'll discover new tools and abilities that allow you to reach previously inaccessible areas metroidvania-style, including a block-bashing hammer, the ability to climb certain walls, and the ability to swim.

A demo in development for PC, Mac, and Linux, but it does not yet have an announced release date. A demo is available on the game's Itch.io page.

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

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New Blip: Whipseey and the Lost Atlas

Whipseey and the Lost Atlas, from Daniel A. Ramirez (game tweets), is a platformer starring a boy named Alex who finds himself in a strange world and transformed into a cute pink thing called Whipseey. Whipseey can hop-and-bop like many other platforming heroes, or he can use his whip to smash enemies or swing back and forth on grapple points, or he can spin it above his head like a helicopter to slowly glide to the ground. He travels through a number of colorful environments, including forests, deserts, frozen wastelands filled with toys, and even underwater caverns as he tries to make his way home.

The game is coming to PC, Mac, PS4, Xbox One, and Switch this summer.




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

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Target Acquired: Boxboy + Boxgirl

Have you been following Hal Labs' charming Boxboy puzzle-platformer series? It's well worth a look, as the existing trio of 3DS-exclusives are simultaneously excellent and inexpensive. If you aren't familiar, be sure to check our coverage of Boxboy, Boxboxboy, and Bye-Bye Boxboy. In any case, the series is quite inviting, so even if you missed out on the others, or don't own a 3DS, you can still check out the newest game, Boxboy + Boxgirl. It's much bigger than its predecessors, weighing in at 270 levels, and it also includes a number of cooperative 2P stages for people who wish to team up. Per series conventions, there are some unlockables, including a playable character called Qudy, who is rectangular instead of square and will therefore create new gameplay challenges.

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

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New Blip: Spleen

The spleen is a part of your body that you don't think much about, but it serves an important function... and maybe you'll live a bit longer if you have a pamplemousse for breakfast (and maybe not). Spleen, from Pamplemousse Games, has nothing to do with any of that, and stars a young man in an action-RPG who hopes to recapture the excitement of his youth. As an adult, Johann interacts with his friends and coworkers, but as a kid, he wears a long scarf and carries along an oversized anime-style sword through a colorful hand-painted watercolor world, fighting tentacle monsters and other creatures on his way to defeat Spleen, a dark force that grows from the gloom of adulthood.

The game is coming to PC, with console versions following, but does not yet 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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Proximity Alert: GunLord X

Unless you're a really big Turrican fan, you might not have heard of GunLord, and that's because developer NGDEV released the game exclusively on the Dreamcast in 2012 (way beyond that system's official end of life)... but you haven't missed your chance to give it a try. GunLord X promises to bring "eurostyle" running, shooting, and exploration to your Switch console, with 11 stages and 60+ enemy types. You play the GunLord himself as he blasts his way through colorful baddies on a mission to rescue his wife, leaving explosions, chunky particles, and smoking husks in his wake. You also take to the skies in horizontal shmup sequences that see you blasting through enemy ships and other hulking monstrosities. You have a Turrican-esque beam weapon and an array of other armaments that you can cycle through, as well as a very strange Turrican-esque roll (really, it's a good idea to study up on Turrican before you sink your teeth into this), and you face off against some grotesque screen-filling bosses along the way.

The game is coming to Switch this month - May 22 to be exact - which is pretty exciting given that it was just announced today... and there's a five-and-a-half minute trailer to get you up to speed on the insanity that awaits your tender fingers.


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

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New Blip: Space Outlaw Alice

Space Outlaw Alice, from Hissatsu Studios, stars Alice (a space outlaw) who is on the run from the corrupt Earth government in the year 2378, so she runs, jumps, and shoots her way through a colorful array of baddies. On top of traditional action-platforming, she also gets to pilot a huge mech suit that lets her fly around and blast baddies in horizontal shmup sequences. The game is influenced by games NES/Famicom games and classic mecha anime, as evidenced by the game's straightforward mechanics, limited color palette, chiptune soundtrack, wacky character designs, and retro-style cutscenes.

The game is coming to PC this fall. A playable demo is available via the developer's website.




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

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New Blip: Sparklite

Sparklite, from Red Blue Games, is a lighthearted action-adventure set in a procedurally-generated landscape, but without that cut-and-paste feel you see in other such games. This game is set in a varied and vibrant world and features adorable animations... and it's filled with airships, swordplay, gunplay, colorful enemies, hidden treasures, and unlockable gadgets. You take on the role of an adventurer named Ada who goes up against The Baron, who is mining a material called Sparklite to power his war machines, polluting the land in the process. Ada travels the world to take out his defenses, fighting enemies and bosses before facing off against The Baron himself.

The game is coming to PC, Switch, PS4, and Xbox One this Fall.




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

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