General Gaming Snap judging pixel art indies

[crispy4000]

 

Time Spent: 40 minutes

Rating: ***½

 

Back to this thread after some time away wrapping up FF7 Rebirth.

 

ScourgeBringer feels like you're a pissed off wasp dashing through the air stinging the shit out of everything.  Enemies don't hurt you on contact, only when attacking you directly, so you can go ham most of the time.  I just question the balance.  Your gun's ammo is really sparse, and the persistent upgrades are nice but you'll be doing lots of runs.  And as cool as it is that heavy metal kicks in when you're wrecking stuff, the visual presentation is a bit too sparse for my taste. Still, it’s a thrill.

[crispy4000]

 

Time Spent: 45 minutes

Rating: ***½

 

Good combat mechanics and an interesting setting where all the NPCs and your character can run out of juice, and presumably die.  There is a stamina meter, but you can upgrade it to not go down when you run, which seems like a smart upgrade considering the game timer.  The only downside so far is that the visuals are a bit lackluster.  I dislike pixelated dithered effects in games today, they're totally unnessicary, especially when it's using bloom and such anyways.  Jack Move is a better looking game with a similar aesthetic. Anyone who enjoyed this would do well to check that game out too.

[crispy4000]

 

Time Spent: 1 hour

Rating: **

 

I've tried to get into this one two or three times now.  It's probably just not for me.  Choose your own adventure style game with a few more RPG systems.  It gives me flashbacks to how much I disliked Banner Saga's choice system, at least on the surface.  Maybe there's a good game here, but I generally don't like being punished for making choices out of arbitrary selections.  Add to that a text centric presentation, and it's really not my cup of tea.  Well reviewed though, so more power to you if you can get into it.

 

[crispy4000]

 

Time Spent: ~10 min

Rating: *½

 

Beat 'em up sidescroller.  Enemies give you pickups when killed that either serve as your health bar (Sonic rings style) or can be redeemed towards special moves, which feels like bad design to me.  Movement is a bit janky in its looseness, which equally applies to an automatic double jump if you hold jump.  The pixel art isn't awful, but is still far too zoomed in for this type of game.  Music is trash.  It's trying to be a better game, which reminds me, I should play Katana Zero next.

[crispy4000]

 

Time Spent: ~45 min

Rating: ****

 

Yup, this is everything I hoped it would be.  It's frenetic, doesn't feel unfair, and lets you retry rooms until you've completed them.  Looks super stylish with lots of bloom, warping and pixel shading effects.  I wasn't expecting story bits in between missions, but they're welcome diversions from the action.  Play it, it's awesome, one of the easiest recommendations so far.

[crispy4000]

 

Time Spent: ~30 min

Rating: ***

 

I'm normally not a big fan of rhythm games, and this hasn't converted me.  Still, it does some smart things.  There's a synchronization procedure that accounts for the input delay on both your controller and your TV/Stereo.  The gameplay uses the same rhythm based system most of the time, but there are moments that let you play bits of the games it parodies.  Each level also transitions between games it riffs on.  I'd imagine this one would be fun enough to see through.

[crispy4000]

 

Time Spent: 30 minutes

Rating: ***½
 

If Contra and Metal Slug had a love child.  I'm definitely more in the Metal Slug camp, so it's welcome to see some of its influences make it in, notably the vehicles and muffled voice effects.  The devs get it.  Each of the five levels is technically checkpointed, so it avoids the pitfalls of the classic Contra games too.  It's highly recommended if you enjoy these sorts of games, but if you don't, you could probably just play Metal Slug and not miss out on much.  Side note, I feel like there's some Turrican influence in here too at parts.

[crispy4000]

 

Time Spent: 20 minutes

Rating: **½

 

Bullet bloom, the video game.  The effect actually gets more intense the more there is on screen.  As for the game itself, its a roguelike where your currency is the game timer, where you have 18 minutes otherwise to finish.  Most curses work like Returnal, but affect the clock.  The controls are meh, the music is annoying, enemies are bullet sponges.  It's not obviously a bad game or anything, but it's clear that I won't enjoy it.

[stepee]

23 hours ago, crispy4000 said:

 

Time Spent: ~45 min

Rating: ****

 

Yup, this is everything I hoped it would be.  It's frenetic, doesn't feel unfair, and lets you retry rooms until you've completed them.  Looks super stylish with lots of bloom, warping and pixel shading effects.  I wasn't expecting story bits in between missions, but they're welcome diversions from the action.  Play it, it's awesome, one of the easiest recommendations so far.

 

Solid all the way through though it does get tough! Fucking rad game with VIBEZ.

[crispy4000]

 

Time Spent: 30 minutes

Rating: **½

Basing this off impressions from a demo of it I played a while back, though I have the full game now.  I can't imagine much would have changed, since the demo is the opening act.

 

There's a lot more style than substance here seemingly.  Really beautiful use of UE's lighting, but a pretty bog standard adventure game with multiple text options.  Get the right information, use it to deduce and act.  Something about the use of animals throws me off.  I can't take the tone of it seriously when it’s got a King Charles Spaniel in a turtleneck.

[crispy4000]

 

Time Spent: 30 minutes

Rating: ***½

 

If you like Pokemon and want it for your Steam Deck, this is probably a no brainer.  It's Pokemon GBA spruced up with better graphics and animations.  I've read there's fewer elemental types, but some clever additions such as difficulty customizations and level up bonuses you can select.  Like Blossom Tales, its extremely shameless, but also of a quality you can't deny.  If I hadn't had my fill of Pokemon yet I'd be all over it.

[stepee]

@crispy4000 would you be interested in trying pepper grinder if I bought that for you?

[crispy4000]

10 minutes ago, stepee said:

@crispy4000 would you be interested in trying pepper grinder if I bought that for you?

 

Interested in it, but I'd rather not add to the list with gifts.  Especially of new games.  Most of these are on the older side now.

[stepee]

Just now, crispy4000 said:

 

Interested in it, but I'd rather not add to the list with gifts.  Especially of new games.  Most of these are on the older side now.

 

Yeah that’s why I asked because I figured you have a big backlog already. I thought it was very very good and the kind of game I think you’d appreciate so if you ever want to give it a go let me know and I’ll def grab you a copy for whatever.

[crispy4000]

Just now, stepee said:

 

Yeah that’s why I asked because I figured you have a big backlog already. I thought it was very very good and the kind of game I think you’d appreciate so if you ever want to give it a go let me know and I’ll def grab you a copy for whatever.

 

Maybe if I get through it all!  Wishful thinking...

[stepee]

Just now, crispy4000 said:

 

Maybe if I get through it all!  Wishful thinking...

 

You should prioritize some though! And this is just a great game.

[crispy4000]

 

Time Spent: 30 minutes

Rating: ***½

 

As the black king, you are a one many army wielding a shotgun in a game of chess.  You do more damage the closer you are to pieces (which have HP), and can swivel your aim with the right stick.  Reloading takes a turn, and multiple enemy pieces can move at once, as indicated by shaking pieces the turn before.  Every new floor gives you and your opponent a bonus, out of two selected loadouts.  It's super smart, but by round 12, I can only imagine how fucked up the rules would get on both sides.  So there's the question of balance, but wow, what a neat game concept. 

[crispy4000]

 

Time Spent: 20 minutes

Rating: **½

 

Endless runner where you have to collect coins to add to your very limited timer.  Between runs, you can spend those coins for upgrades, many of which the game is impossible to complete without.  That's pretty much it.  I don't think the black and white aesthetic helps with readability, it has that same issue as beat'em ups where you don't always know what objects you're vertically aligned with.

[crispy4000]

 

Time Spent: 30 minutes

Rating: **½

 

A Fanatical bundle trash pickup I got for shits and giggles. There's puns, but not even the oof kind, which is disappointing.  Otherwise its your basic open structure 2d platformer with towns and bosses.  The melee attack feels quite bad because of the range of your swung kid.  That and having to hold a button to wait to recover them when thrown (think Titan Souls).  Still not as bad as I expected, but I wouldn't recommend it.

[crispy4000]

 

Time Spent: 30 minutes

Rating: ***

 

Another run based area shooter.  This one feels better than Archvale, and is much more approachable than Gungeon.  The clean visuals and accessibility factor are its strengths.  I could see this being a really fun local multiplayer game.  As for twists on the formula, you can pick up various curses and turn them into the shop for bonuses... but that's pretty much it.  There aren't alternative bosses, just the same old you've killed before.

[crispy4000]

 

Time Spent: 30 minutes

Rating: ***

 

Very similar to Blazing Beaks, and I might slightly prefer the general flow of this game, in theory.  I say that because it's at a 30fps lock, and built for 4:3, which is just too limiting for a modern enough game.  There's not even a vsync option, so I had to use the Nvidia control panel.  Maybe if it ran better, I'd be willing to rate it a bit higher.  It's definitely less daunting feeling than Gungeon, and the bonus characters all play very differently.  But Voidigo still remains my favorite of these types of games I've tried.

[crispy4000]

 

Time Spent: 1 hour

Rating: ***½

 

This one's a bit dangerous as a timesink, as in, where did all my time go. Your character runs makes laps around a path, auto-battling monsters.  Your role is to change out equipment and place landmark tiles that upgrade your character, add additional enemies to spawn, or affect battle conditions.  You recover a bit of health again at the campfire tile you start at (reminds me of passing Go in Monopoly).  After you place enough tiles, a boss appears.  Between rounds, there's a persistent upgrade system where you unload aquired supplies from the past run.  Unfortunately that does break the illusion that this still just is an auto-battler at heart, but overall, it's still a ton of fun.

 

Props to the CRT filter here.  I typically find them overdone, even the ‘good’ ones.  But this is so subtle and enhances the vibe, I'd definitely recommend turning it on for this game.

[crispy4000]

 

Time Spent: 20 minutes

Rating: ***

 

Strikey Sisters a good Breakout-like where you can swing to hit the ball and enemies that come close to you.  You'll need to proritize your ball over the powerups and bonuses that fall from enemies.  Animations are great, special attacks are suitably powerful, it feels like a long lost NeoGeo arcade game.  There's even voice acting.

 

But I'm biased here.  It's not as fleshed out as Firestriker on the SNES.  That game let you walk in any direction, not just horizontally, and even had scrolling maps.  Strikey Sisters feel too claustrophobic for my tastes.  It doesn't feel like there's enough real estate between you and the enemies/bricks.

[crispy4000]

 

Time Spent: 1 hour

Rating: ***½

 

Metroidvania where the focus is unlocking new guns and powerups for said guns.  I'm so glad there's no ammo system, at least not that I've encountered so far.  It's one of the weakest parts of Metroid proper.  Instead the upgrades you find power up the range and damage of your guns.  Sick.  Visuals might seem a bit drab on the surface, but they do some neat particle effects that make it not feel like a strict throwback.

 

There's a few flaws: the music is very repeditive, the mixing is kind of bad.  Some of the environments seems purposely crafted to make visibility a problem, most notably during one of the early boss fights.  But mostly those are minor quibbles.

[crispy4000]

 

Time Spent: 15 minutes

Rating: **

 

Psychedelic 2d platformer with nothing else going for it.  You can dash in the air to course correct your jumps and get a little forward boost.  It's strange and odd as expected, but once the difficulty started ramping up in an unpolished way, I just said enough is enough.  The gameplay isn't worth seeing the visuals through.

[crispy4000]

 

Time Spent: 15 minutes

Rating: ****

 

For the record, I have no experience with Vampire Survivors, though I get the basic premise and appeal.  20 Min Till Dawn supposedly has more weapon aiming control, and maybe a difference to upgrade paths?  There's some kind of synergy going on with upgrades I can't figure out in the span of a single run.  I ended up dying with 5 minutes to spare, because everything by then was too beefy for my chicken shit run build. 

 

This is more than worth giving a shot.  It was free on EGS a while back, definitely don't skip it if you've got it.  It's slick.

[crispy4000]

 

Time Spent: 10 minutes

Rating: *

 

There's a really slick opening cinematic in the vein of Smash Bros 64, so good start.  No bots for a multiplayer game, okay I'll forgive it.  Let's jump in ... wait, why is it so floaty?  You get one attack move with a super small hitbox, that's it?  You can only attack again after you fall to the ground???

 

Jump, attack, whiff, fall helplessly for 3 seconds, repeat.  This is my platform fighter nightmare.  It'd be a bad for a Mario Party mini-game.

[crispy4000]

 

Time Spent: 30 minutes

Rating: ***

 

Competent Zelda-like highly inspired by Link's Awakening.  There's a bit of an Earthbound atmospheric vibe to the music that I appreciate as well.  Combat feels quite simplistic and easy, even compared to Link's Awakening, but is well executed.  It's not as successful of a homage as Blossom Tales, but has its own vibe.

[crispy4000]

 

Time Spent: 30 minutes

Rating: **½

 

Playing this just makes me mad Killer Queen Black is delisted.  The general premise is that your side wins by killing their captain multiple times, taking enough gold, or blowing up their ship with a moving rowboat of TNT or canon shots.  The gold and cannonballs are found around the center of the map.  You can also buy a sword with gold to protect yourself, but can't use it when you're carrying anything.  Presentation is extremely good outside of the music, which is grating.  There's a story mode and bots, which gives it some longevity thankfully.

 

Compared to KQB, your character moves much too slow, and a super basic melee attack is no where near as fun as flying around as a killer wasp.  I don't think this would convince anyone they're missing out on anything, which is extremely unfortunate.  If you ever come across a Killer Queen Black machine, don't hesitate, play it.

[crispy4000]

 

Time Spent: 30 minutes

Rating: ****

 

I had no real expectations here.  I played a bit of Retro City Rampage on 3DS, but remember not finding its 8-bit aesthetic appealing.  The way they overhauled this to a 16-bit + 90's computer art style is perfect.  It's one of the best looking games in this thread so far, from a pure pixel art angle.

 

Better yet, the game is hilariously tongue and cheek.  You're a modern day buisnessman whose 90's-era ventures are failing.  How will you save your retail spaces?  Taking a bat to Amazon delivery trucks of course.  Creditor threatening you?  Drive their car into the lake.  You can walk into any old convenience store and demand part of their profits.  Even the way cops just immediately turn to ram into you looks oddly comical.  The game controls well, has options to zoom the view way out for larger displays (thank goodness!), and just is a chill time all around. 

 

But play it for the snark.  Humor in games is hard, but here it's effortless.

 

[crispy4000]

 

Time Spent: 1.5 hours

Rating: ***

 

Maybe this is a hot take, but I don't actually think Risk of Rain is all that good.  It served as a template for action rogue-likes in its day, but it's been surpassed by many others since IMO.  It never managed to hook me, but I can recognize there is fun to be had here if you can get into the combat loop and don't mind endless spawning in a 2d platformer.  I'm revisiting the original 2013 game edition, there's a newer remastered version out there.

 

[crispy4000]

 

Time Spent: 20 minutes

Rating: **½

 

Turn based timing RPG.  Slick menus, but the walking around looks bad compared to the quality of the battle sequences.  Battle themselves are problematic, your success or failure rides on how well you time the button prompts, which you only see for a split second.  You get used to it, but it's still not enough time when everything seems to always be riding on it.  There's a weakness triangle for attacks, plenty of systems at play... I just don't know if the game would be worth it.  The plot revolves around a mad girl taking revenge on mythical horoscope beings with her gingerbread sidekick.  Maybe there's an audience for that, but it's not me.

[stepee]

On 5/9/2024 at 9:55 PM, crispy4000 said:

 

Time Spent: 30 minutes

Rating: ****

 

I had no real expectations here.  I played a bit of Retro City Rampage on 3DS, but remember not finding its 8-bit aesthetic appealing.  The way they overhauled this to a 16-bit + 90's computer art style is perfect.  It's one of the best looking games in this thread so far, from a pure pixel art angle.

 

Better yet, the game is hilariously tongue and cheek.  You're a modern day buisnessman whose 90's-era ventures are failing.  How will you save your retail spaces?  Taking a bat to Amazon delivery trucks of course.  Creditor threatening you?  Drive their car into the lake.  You can walk into any old convenience store and demand part of their profits.  Even the way cops just immediately turn to ram into you looks oddly comical.  The game controls well, has options to zoom the view way out for larger displays (thank goodness!), and just is a chill time all around. 

 

But play it for the snark.  Humor in games is hard, but here it's effortless.

 

 

Sold.

[crispy4000]

Just now, stepee said:

 

Sold.

 

It was free on Epic, that's how I got it.

[stepee]

2 minutes ago, crispy4000 said:

 

It was free on Epic, that's how I got it.

 

It’s definitely a steam deck kinda game and also right now it’s 80% off and $4! So on my steam deck she goes.