RunGunJumpGun is simple arcade action taken to its extremes.
The result of all its elements is a shooter that requires thought and planning, but Thoth won’t let you go light on the arcade reflexes, either.
By the end of Thumper, the speed is insane, the music wild and oppressive, and the feeling of just barely holding on to a beast that wants to send you flying so it can gnaw your bones is disturbingly strong.
Blue Revolver is a shooter that meets its audience more than halfway.
Gonner is a single gameplay mechanic away from being a fantastic run & gun roguelike, and if you don’t mind passing up a set of options, that problem can be ignored.
DoDonPachi Resurrection is a monster of an arcade shooter.
Yomawari: Night Alone is a game that will be remembered more for its tone and story than gameplay, but that’s enough to recommend it.
Slayaway Camp is a brilliant and funny block-sliding puzzle game that’s drenched in good-humored gore.
While Xanadu Next is buggy and its menus just plain busted for controller use, the rest of the game is a wonderful trip through a classic JRPG world.
Digital pinball can’t replace real pinball, but it does an excellent job of approximating it.
Drive!Drive!Drive! has the heart of a great arcade racer, but isn’t quite there yet.
SuperHot VR is one of the best games VR has seen yet.
Arizona Sunshine is a decent take on the zombie shooter, hardly revolutionary, but using its tech to good effect.
Dungeon Souls is an action-packed roguelike featuring plenty of characters with a good variety of skills, all sorts of monsters to use those abilities on appearing in large numbers, and an upgrade path that keeps on climbing.
Smashbox Arena is a fantastic take on dodgeball, combining the classic playground activity with an arena FPS to make something fast enough for good competitive gaming while remaining appropriate for all ages.
Poi is an affectionate love letter to the 3D platformer, filled with challenges and a good number of mini-games to liven up the adventure.
Flywrench is a deceptively simple challenge that requires nerves of steel and a vast reservoir of patience if you want to see everything it has to offer.
Circles is a relaxing puzzle game that can still be surprisingly tricky, sometimes exasperatingly so. Making precise movements while taking the level's rotation into account and also keeping the speed up because the circles in the level grow larger the faster you move can take more than a few tries to get past, but those sections are the exception to the move laid-back nature of the rest of the game.
Graceful Explosion Machine is fantastic arcade action where being able to plan while forced into close-quarter shooting is the only way to survive.
When Slime-san works as intended, it's an incredibly clever platformer, filled with endless challenges that constantly come up with new riffs on its themes.