#DRIVE Rally is a nifty game that doesn’t provide much content, but you get polished and quality time with good physics and a linear championship schedule. The game doesn’t give much hassle in terms of playing, and you can easily breeze through it if you are competent with arcade racers.
Playing Wild Bastards was a flawless experience. The presentation is top-notch, with a combination of great music, characters, gunplay, and voice acting. The strategy part of it is quite well done, though you might take some time to get used to it. Overall, the pacing and the difficulty of Wild Bastards are completely well-done.
Copycat is just an emotional rollercoaster of a story-driven game that is a bit harsh on the reality of truth. I know that talking about the story would be a huge spoiler for anyone who loves cats or wants to experience a rather cruel turn of events, but it would be worth it if you want to try out Copycat for yourself. Just don’t forget that everything will turn out to be better, eventually…
If you are looking for the live 2000s aesthetic and cannot find a single copy of these games near you, then the Castlevania Dominus Collection is absolutely worth it. Konami did a great job on the anniversary collection, and there is no doubt they were able to show it once again with the Castlevania Dominus Collection.
Mika and the Witch's Mountain presents a story of an apprentice witch who goes through ups and downs with small townsfolk. The gameplay is nice, the graphics fit the theme well, and the characters are likable. If you are looking for a laid-back game with the vibes of summer, witches, drama, and progression, Mika and the Witch's Mountain is completely for you.
Sam & Max: The Devil’s Playhouse– the remastered version- is a good addition to reminding us what gaming used to be like and how we sort of forgot how to bring the writing to the top. With gameplay being the same with improvements, it’s a great choice for people who want to reminisce about the old times and an excellent way for puzzle-solving people to dive into the games, too. Just to let you know, the original game is currently free on Steam, so if you want to experience this title originally, you can, but I highly suggest keeping it to a high standard with this version, too.
I know this title has been a barebones explanation of what Trackmania did for many years, but with a different coat of paint and theming of the 2000s with an excellent soundtrack and visuals, Phantom Spark is absolutely worth the spin. It is a fantastic game with exceptional presentation, optimization, controls, physics, and worthy challenges to force yourself to keep improving. It feels refreshing as you grasp the controller to beat your best time on every try, just as the first time you booted in, which is rare for any racing game in the market.
All in all CYGNI: All Guns Blazing is a terrific title for shoot ‘em up fans. It has everything they need, such as a twisting take on the gameplay, the rudimentary plot of kicking alien butt, an RPG system to make your ship your own custom weapon, and even a mandatory co-op mode for your partner or friend to enjoy the game as well. It just requires some tweaks here in there, especially in the graphics department, to be enjoyed thoroughly, but still plays and feels like any other arcade shoot ’em up.
MARS 2120 is one of the odd titles that contradict itself with good promises but ultimately fails when it comes to execution, which happens to be controls and a sense of direction when it comes to later levels. However, it is still an enjoyable title, and as I mentioned, the developers are keen on listening to feedback. If you are interested in 2D metroidvanias with shoot ‘em up elements, MARS 2120 might be a title you should look up to get.
Hannah’s Day is created with love and enthusiasm for art in mind and plays very well on the surface too, but the idea of art being able to keep people economically secure is wrong. A similar title by the name of Cook Serve Forever also had the roots of a rookie becoming a nation-wide popular chef by just working at a street restaurant, but the idea is at least reasonable as food is a source that people would be willing to spend their money, hence it is important to become an important chef.
With the strong presentation, Noreya: The Gold Project might draw you in, but be aware of some of the clunkiness that gets delivered to you regardless of your taste on 2D side scroller and platformer games. Luckily, the current times allow you to reach out to developers and give your feedback too, so depending on some of the community requests, some problems we mentioned earlier can be reduced or completely wiped out in the future.
For what stands, it is just better to go back and play the original The Movies game as it provides more content and freedom over players’ choices. As for Blockbuster Inc., I’d say there is still time for it to be worked on before a full release. The mix of lacking options and ease of dominating the whole business might just throw off people right away. Since there are a very small amount of people who are working on pushing updates for Blockbuster Inc., it might take some time until it provides a worthy time to invest your time in, but for now, it is better to just stick to originals.
The Rogue Prince of Persia is far away from being done at this rate. It is currently in early access and the developer team, Evil Empire, pretty much listens to the feedback of the players. In fact, they are readying up some nice updates for a few issues, especially about slowdowns and getting the game optimized better. The game itself is fun if you are very much keen to playing 2D roguelike beat ‘em ups, but if you haven’t dived into the roguelike craze since it started, you might have problems getting used to how it plays and reacts to your choices.
With its endless possibilities of different runs and expansive lore, Heading Out is worthy of your try. The game might be just hard to grasp right out of the gate, but since it gives the player a lot of chances to redeem themselves, getting used to Heading Out takes a bit of time and that is completely fine. While it might not fulfill your needs for an action-packed roguelike game, the narrative aspects of it will surely deliver some quality time. Definitely worthy of a checkout if you are a fan of both roguelikes and driving games.
There is no need to get Mutant Ninja Turtles Arcade: Wrath of the Mutants unless you really like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or you are one of the very small batch of people who enjoyed this game on the arcade and wanted to play in your own home for some reason.
Although Phantom Fury is lacking in some places, the overall presentation and gameplay feel right about home. With its high-quality delivery of gameplay, you can see that the developers have thought of every single detail while creating a better sequel, and Phantom Fury easily manages to be one of the better boomer shooter titles to grab the attention of many, well, boomers who love first-person shooter games.
Ereban: Shadow Legacy is a fun and well-crafted stealth game that would eventually draw non-stealth game enthusiasts. It’s not even that tactical and breakdowns between stealth sections give a breather to the player, making it a narrative action game rather than a serious stealth game where you have to save a president or something. Sure, some bugs did occur during my gameplay, such as falling through the map geometry or watching Ayana getting clipped while crouching on stairs.
Thanks to One Last Breath’s interest in reviving this sort-of-forgotten subgenre, it was a refresher, at least for me. That doesn’t totally mean One Last Breath was a bit tedious to go to due to the simple puzzles, but hey, it was at least trying to put out an important message.
Between Horizons ends up being a nice proof of the “It isn’t broken, don’t fix it.” mentality, where the developers expanded what they knew about the detective genre. The game does not punish you for skipping some of the important bits while researching and rewards you for being right about your suspicions, which creates an even ground for both experienced and inexperienced players. If you are looking for a detective game with lots of in-depth and happen to have a fair share of clues to follow, then you should definitely check out Between Horizons‘ detailed adventure.
Outcast – A New Beginning came as a surprise as one of the releases for 2024. Although Appeal hinted at the sequel at certain points, it never caught my attention until now, of course. The graphics, lore, and story are pretty much settled in the Adelpha universe, and fluent gameplay pushes you to learn more about the story of natives and Cutter himself.