Black Bird is a wonderful, sad, strange, funny, cute and bizarre shooter that can't quite make its gameplay match the quality of everything else.
While Megaton Rainfall may have bitten off more than it can chew in regards to the stage it takes place on, the alien-fighting action is a fantastic spectacle.
Redeemer is at its best when being a brawler, which it does most of the time.
While a bit slow to get going, there's a great amount of variety in Iron Crypticle once the action heats up.
While Voodoo Vince Remastered isn't a classic of the platforming genre, it's still very good.
Strafe falls short of greatness, but is definitely great fun.
Bullet Soul is a fairly basic arcade shooter that gets by with hyperactive energy and lots of pretty explosions.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Raiden V is a good, solid shooter and it helps that it's got the power of its heritage to draw on.
All these elements come together to make an arcade-style game that easily lives up to its Pang/Buster Bros.
While the story can be a bit much at times, The Witch and the Hundred Knight's gameplay makes returning to Metallia's swamp a tempting prospect.
In order to get the most from Turok, it's important to approach it as a remnant of the '90s, rather than a modern game.
Last Horizon is a beautifully minimalist game of exploration and survival amidst the planets. It's simple enough to be easily pick-up-and-play, but with enough challenge that a brief run still feels satisfying. The drifting universe and ambient soundtrack are properly relaxing, while trying to land on a planet for desperately-needed fuel while it slowly rotates beneath you and you try not to drift into the ocean or a mountain makes for a nicely tense moment of piloting. Unfortunately, bugs hold it back from its full potential at point in time. The void is filled with asteroids and other cosmic hazards, aliens wander between planets, the sun is not only burning hot, but in possession of a worryingly strong gravity well, and stray comets briefly light up the sky. The quest to find and create a new homeworld has plenty of room for disaster to strike, but it's also a lovely journey through a vibrant night sky.
Kromaia Omega is a giant hyper-saturated burst of color, speed and heavy firepower, as stylish as it can be difficult, and it's impossible not to forgive a few questionable design elements when the enemies are swarming and the action takes off.
Assault Android Cactus is a big, bright, blast of twin-stick shooting action, filled with personality and clever design.
Pixel Galaxy is a clever little non-shooter where your only ability is to move and convert enemies into helpers, and as simple as the endless squares that make up its art are, they look great in motion. There are a lot of creative weapons and bullet patterns to dodge through, and constant tug-of-war with the enemy swarms is a lot of fun until it becomes a constant beatdown.