Rain World is cryptic, uncompromising, and once given the chance one of the tensest and most atmospheric 2D games I've ever played. You play as a slugcat one tier above the bottom of the food chain, and you must negotiate one of the most labyrinthine and hideously broken planets of any open world game in order to survive. Once you surmount these prickly beginnings, Rain World is remarkable. You have to learn them (Rain World is all about learning, but you'll still sometimes get unlucky). The first hour or so spent in the game also lacks promise: the controls are slightly fiddly because (by necessity-this is a survival game) they aren't as intuitive as most 2D games. Firstly, it looks like a platformer, but it's not: it's a punishing survival game. Shaun: You're going to hate Rain World if you approach it with the wrong attitude. Not since Shovel Knight have we had a game that manages to cater for players who might not enjoy the irreverent, punishing veneer of most modern twitch platformers.
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Perhaps the variety is what really elevates Celeste: this is a game with set pieces that aren’t just saved for the boss battles, and while it is fundamentally a series of platform challenge rooms, it does feel like you’re navigating a world (in this case, the mountain Celeste). While protagonist Madeline doesn’t have the most novel moveset in a platformer (she can grab certain walls and dash through the air), the action is precise, smooth, and unusually, you’ll actually care about her journey. Studio Matt Makes Games wants everyone to finish this game, not just Kaizo Mario World speedrunners, so its pacing is careful and its attitude encouraging. So what makes Celeste special? The reasons are many and varied: firstly, it carries itself differently to other deliberately hard platformers like Super Meat Boy and N++. If I had a pixel for every time I’ve written about a game with those descriptors, I’d maybe have enough to render Crysis. Shaun: Celeste is a tough 2D platformer with a 16-bit retro aesthetic. Released: 2018 | Developer: Matt Makes Games
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There's rarely a moment that's free of tension and worry, and rarely a choice that isn't second-guessed. In addition to building, gathering resources, and sending expeditions into the frozen world, you have to grapple with passing laws that may save your citizens' lives but at the same time may erode their freedom. You're not just trying to keep them warm and fed, but keep them hopeful, and that's no simple matter when the only thing more bleak than the present is the future. But that Frostpunk does things differently is one of the things that makes it great.įrostpunk is both grim and beautiful, a blend of survival and crisis management that leaves you facing tough choices, sometimes unthinkable ones, as you attempt to build a city that will protect your residents from a world gone cold. Also strange is that no matter how efficiently you design your city, your residents may kick your ass out of it due to events that take place elsewhere. Released: 2018 | Developer: 11 Bit StudiosĬhris: It feels strange to play a city-builder that's not open-ended and doesn't let you tinker with your city forever. It's also really charming, somewhat against the odds.Īustin: I'd also like to add that there's a gun that shoots guns that shoot bullets. But it's the weaponry that keeps Enter the Gungeon fresh. Other arcade-centric roguelites like Flinthook and Rogue Legacy have had a good go at mixing compelling action with a simplified approach to the genre, and while each are great they end up feeling repetitive: like a jumble of the same rooms.
But Enter the Gungeon is special because not only does it nail the essentials (shooting, movement, sheer variety of weapons and items), but it also doesn't complicate things too much. There are hundreds of distinct weapons, ranging from a bow and arrow through to guns that shoot actual bees.Įnter the Gungeon exists in an absurdly busy genre: each week I write about a new roguelite. As one of four distinct characters, you'll dodge-roll, kick furniture and, most importantly, destroy bullets with bullets. In other words, the enemies are ammunition. Shaun: Enter the Gungeon is an arcade roguelite about shooting bullets with bullets.
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