Super Meat Boy has influenced countless games, pioneered the indie movement and was once the face of indie’s alike. Originally a small flash game on Newgrounds turned into a full fledged cross platform release.

I cant say I particularly loved Super Meat Boy. At times movement and levels are fun, with tough times to beat and hidden collectables scattered about. Rewards for beating par times and bonus levels give a variety of reference gimmick characters and secret harder stages. However the sheer difficulty is a huge wall to pass and one hundred precenting the game I would consider impossible for myself.

My completion of Super Meat Boy comes with a slight caveat due to a game breaking bug. On the final level of the game I faced a bug that completely prevents me from finishing the game and defeating the final boss. It turns out that this has been a known issue on some versions of the game since 2012. (Why this still isn't fixed I do not know)

With that in mind I did enjoy some of my time playing Super Meat Boy but because of this issue and the huge skill ceiling I think it may be best left in the past.

What The Golf is a great collection of fun golf related mini games. A charming mix of 2D and 3D challenges that have varied difficulties and additional challenges to complete.

What The Golf wears it’s influences on its sleeves with constant jokes and references to other games and properties. The cute art style is fun but really looks it’s best in the 3D sections. There’s a variety of different game modes, events, daily challenges and secrets to uncover.

As fun as What The Golf can be its very much something to play casually. The huge amount of content means there’s lots to do but it also means ideas are stretched very thin. A lot of levels are repeated concepts with slightly different executions. At times jokes can be very funny but short burst is the best way to enjoy What The Golf.

Slowly this year is becoming the year of great reimagined “casino” games. Buckshot Roulette takes the simple premise of Russian Roulette and makes it an indie horror gem.

Gameplay is primarily passing a loaded shotgun back and forth between yourself and a dealer while using a mix of items and luck to turn the odds in your favor. A general run will involve chipping away at your opponent’s health bar before taking away life support to really up the ante. Once a run has been won you will unlock a double or nothing mode that spice ups items and become essentially endless if you are prepared to take the risk for bragging rights.

Buckshot Roulette seems to take place in some kind of secret backdoor Russian nightclub that lends itself greatly to the twisted washed-out horror aesthetic. All runs begin in a dirty bathroom as you pass through a walkway with loud thumping techno music before entering the dealer’s den. At all times you can almost always hear the music muffled through the walls as the sound design is honestly fantastic.

The simple premise makes it easy to pick up and the addictive double or nothing mode is great to try for a high score. With such a low asking price I can’t recommend Buckshot Roulette enough.

Children Of The Sun is a highly stylised puzzle shooter that takes the bullet time moments from Sniper Elite and develops the idea into a full game. Most levels consist of scouting the location and marking enemies before executing a Wanted style bullet bending blood bath.

The story is one of revenge that sees the protagonist taking her anger out on a cult that left her family in ruin and death. Children Of The Sun presents its story via brief comic style cutscenes providing short insights into the history of the main character and their relationship to the cult. Most levels are separate from the story and just see you taking down stronger and stronger outpost as you get ever closer to the cult leader. Occasionally however there will be a level that directly progress the story but these are few and far between and only near the end of the game.

Gameplay wise Children Of The Sun strives to take a small idea and stretches it as far as creatively possible. This leads to some fun and unique concepts that don't overstay their welcome. With the core mechanic being bullet time this idea develops and introduces bullet redirection, slow-mo and high caliber speed to tackle a variety of different enemy types and scenarios. Latter gameplay becomes more of a puzzle game as you try to solve who to kill first and who to keep alive for a latter redirection. I did find this to become quite tedious in particularly the last 2 levels as I got relative stuck for extended periods of time due to either poor puzzle execution or long distance aim (I was playing on my Steam Deck and may have had better luck with a mouse).
One of the biggest drawbacks I found was the mini games that were randomly thrown in. These were not good and felt really out of place. Thankfully there wasn't many and only 1 was particularly difficult, but I feel it would have been a better experience with the removed completely.

The mood and atmosphere for Children Of The Sun is great and can be particularly satisfying at times. However there doesn't seem to be much keeping me engaged. You can battle other players for a high score but apart from that Children Of The Sun feels very one and done.

The Zoomer younger brother of Lethal Company.
Content Warning is absolutely fun but it’s length becomes very dependant on 2 things, knowledge of the games monsters and how funny your friends are. Thankfully I feel like my friends are relatively funny so we got about 4 and a half hours out of this, but I could very much imagine it being a lot shorter for others. With the added bonus of such a small price tag it’s not much of an arm twist to get people on board for an afternoon or 2. On the flip side however as Lethal Company is significantly more popular the modding community is very small in Content Warning so there isn’t much point shopping around online for new things to do.
My recommendation would be if you’ve plaid plenty of Lethal Company with your friends and need a new game to scratch that itch this might hold you over for a weekend at best.

Ultros is at its core a Metroid-Vania but it doesn’t quiet follow a lot of the core mechanics that you’ve come to expect from the genre. Ultimately it excels at its presentation being one the most beautiful games I think I have ever played; the sound design is fantastic and the visual language is breathtaking. Unfortunately, Ultros is held back by a few odd mechanics and lack of clarity in its requirements of the player.

The first few hours of gameplay and exploration are honestly some of its best. You wake outside a crashed space pod in a hallucinogenic strange world with no direct and merely a puddle to view yourself in. Your only immediate option is to venture out into the organic depths below you and hope to make sense of what is going on. This is when you will be introduced to the games narrative and one of the few character that seem to be lurking in this ship of some kind. The narrative is present in written format where other characters will talk at you and you can see reactions from the players sprite. The story is generally quiet intriguing but seems to lose focus throughout the game. I had a general idea of what was happening but some of the characters and hidden lore seemed a little random or to vague for me to understand on a first playthrough.
The premise is some kind of time loop where you and everyone else is stuck re living a moment while a big ball creature (Ultros) grows in the middle of the ship. Almost ever character has no idea they are in a loop with the exception of one who seems to remember you after you progress the story. I believe there are possibly 2 or more endings to Ultros but unfortunately, I wasn’t particularly satisfied with the outcome I received.

The core objective seems to be killing or reviving 6 of these mummies that are linked to the big ball thing but I’m not really sure why. Once one of these mummies has been slain you go back to the big ball and the loop restarts with some dialog and cool visuals beforehand. Your options are to either slay all the mummies and end the game or once they have been killed bringing some kind of organic tether to them which will cleanse them in some way. Ultros expected you to figure out that this is an option purely by trial and error which could very easily be missed. I do like that this allows the player to pick if they want to put the effort in for an alternative ending but it becomes beyond tedious and for a smaller game there are very little resources online to help.

The exploration in Ultros is similar to your average Metroid-Vania but less focused on upgrading manoeuvrability and unlocking shortcuts. This became one of the first major problems I had with the game, it took so long to get anywhere fast and it was quiet exhausting to explore new paths. Instead, you are encouraged to use seeds that will grow into different kind of plants / trees providing vines to swing on or platforms to jump on. In concept, this is a really cool idea and it defiantly had moments that were quite impressive. However, some plants will take a time loop to fully grow meaning you are not able to use the new “shortcut” until you progress to the next loop. Similarly, this also became a problem when you are not sure what plant to grown where or you do not have the correct seed available to grow the required tree.
The previously mentioned tether that unlocks the alternative ending requires a strong knowledge of what plants to grow and paths to take. This is because you will be leading a tether from 1 area of the map to another in a plant-based daisy chain. Unfortunately, after a few hours of trying to figure out how to make this chain, the slow movement speed and lack of clear direction made me quit this endeavour and instead get the “bad” ending.

Initially while playing Ultros I was quiet impressed by the combat and encouragement to play well and with variety. The system they use rewards new combos and variety by giving better rewards based on how well you perform in combat. There's a mix of different doges, backsteps, stealth attacks, parry’s and much more which was initially quiet exciting. You unlock these moves and other abilities by leveling up your skill tree from eating a variety of grown fruits or carcases from the enemies you kill. However, the skill tree is very limited and you will quickly be maxing everything out as the consumables are also your healing items and there is a lot of them. I believe this is intentional though as when a loop is completed you will be returned to 0 skill points and no weapons as if you just restarted the game. Unfortunately though you can mitigate this almost completely, as with the use of additional hidden skill points found in the world this will keep any chosen skill permanently unlocked. This then feeds into another problem where you become either to strong in combat or you use a skill tree ability where most enemies will completely ignore the player; this allows you to waltz on right past them completely ignoring all future combat.

As I think back on my time playing Ultros I feel honestly more disappointed about what could have been than what has been. The beautiful visuals paired with some great combat ideas and an intriguing set up for a story sounds like a recipe for a brilliant game. But unfortunately Ultros just doesn’t deliver in the execution and that makes me really sad. I hope the small team continues to make games and refine their craft as there’s absolutely passion poured into Ultros and I would to see what’s next from the studio.

Crazy Taxi meet Mario 64 in a time sensitive collectathon dedicated to a pet rabbit. Yellow Taxi Goes Vroom is a love letter to the 64 era and is packed to brim with content and challenges for the completionist out there.

The game does little to tutorialize its mechanics but rather spits out a hint here and there for a new way to move. You are progressively introduced to new words and locations that are generally hidden away or locked behind future progress. There is something particularly charming about the locations and characters that inhabit them, from spooky mansions to dog poo island it just looks so cute in the retro art style. Speaking of retro, the soundtrack is great and really emphasises the whimsical nature of the game while not being annoying or overbearing.
Gameplay wise you will spend most of your time collecting money, platforming for hidden cogs or delivering people to locations for an additional time boost. This gameplay loop is generally very fun and can create tension in worlds where time is more limited or constrained. Platforming or jump puzzles are where Yellow Taxi Goes Vroom shines as the world is designed with ramping up every angle in mind. However, I did struggle a little with keeping currency to buy more cosmetic hats as when you die or run out of time you will be penalized by losing some coins. This then fed into a loop of me getting quite broke sometimes due to a challenging jump I was adamant on beating. As for Boss fights there are a handful through the game that were generally quiet fun with exception to one very frustrating game of cat and mouse Boss.

Ultimately, Yellow Taxi Goes Vroom is a great example of indie game development keeping ideas fresh and interesting. Although I personally wasn’t completely hooked by the gameplay loop, I would still highly recommend to anyone interested.

Lethal Company initially starts as a confusing mess, but that's part of the charm and design. You progressively learn how maps, items and creatures function as the game lulus you into a false sense of security. "We've got this" you collectively think while landing on one of the final planets for the first time. FUN FACT you do not have this.
Lethal Company is great fun as a group but after exhausting alot of the scenarios it can get a little repetitive. It's highly recommend to try out the mod support for extra ghouls and goblins, players and costumes alike. I'll definitely be back on occasion to play with new friends or old ones but I can't imagine it being something I pick up regularly.

Forgive Me Father steals the shows with its Lovecraftian style and unique art direction that oozes investigation. The creepy atmosphere and enemy design coupled with the unique weapon upgrades and animations ask for you to spend some quality time playing through what Forgive Me Father has to offer. Regrettably, due to a handful of issues and game design choices this is a hard one to recommend from a gameplay perspective.

As mentioned prior the game itself is gorgeous and you follow the story of 1 of 2 playable characters through a noire quest to unfold the mysteries that lie before you. The character selection itself does little to differentiate the story apart from the initial motivation and the one liner’s your character spits out while you slay hordes of monster. The experience is separated into 5 distinct chapters that start relatively based in reality before going all out gangbusters with the cosmic horror. As you progress you unlock additional abilities and get limited upgrades to specific weapons or perks that will vastly change how your weapons function and look. The arsenal itself is quite varied and there is never really a point that you will not be unlocking new stuff which is greatly appreciated.
However, it is important to mention that Forgive Me Father comes with a myriad of issues that hold it back from being truly fantastic. Firstly, the games performance plummets in the final 2 chapters stuttering whenever there is combat making it almost impossible to play even on the lowest graphical settings. Secondly, the story set up and execution is great but gets absolutely ruined by a lackluster out of nowhere ending that flops harder than a fat kid at a pool party. My last main issue is the difficulty and level design. I’m not sure if it was forgotten or if they were under the pump to release but the last 2 chapters although gorgeous suck to play in. There are no save points in most of the final levels and for some unknown reason multiple platforming sections that mean if you don’t make a jump near the end of a level you will need to restart the entire thing again. To be honest there are many other issues I could list but these felt like some of the most egregious to me.

To be brief I personally was quite excited to play Father Forgive Me but was glad to be finished with it. If the art style intrigues you and you enjoy a relatively fun boomer shooter I would definitely recommend but take that with a grain of salt.

Zero bolt, lots of gun.
Warhammer 40,000 BoltGun is a satisfying boomer shooter that delivers a repetitive but enjoyable power fantasy. BoltGun is best played a few levels at a time as to not burn out on its mow them down gameplay loop.
Firstly, I must say I have very limited knowledge and experience in the Warhammer universe but quiet a large history in the FPS and Boomer Shooter genre. That said I quiet enjoy my BoltGun playthrough as it delivers a fast passed, kill everything, super soldier experience. Theres something particularly satisfying about the loud footsteps stomping around as you chainsaw your way through demons and monsters mercilessly. The weapon feel was nice but I wasn’t a huge fan of the limited variety and the lack of any new weapon types. Unfortunately, you will quickly realise that your arsenal is nothing new and is quiet generic in the Boomer Shooter market.
The level design and variety was quite nice and you get to explore some unique locations that I quiet enjoyed. However, there were a handful of occasions that I found myself turned around and walking back the way I came due to the graphical style or lack of directional prompt. Occasionally BoltGun expects you do to some very mediocre platforming when the level design seems to hit its lowest but thankfully this is not very regular.
In summary if your looking for more Boomer in your Shooter and needs more games to fill the void, then I definitely recommend giving 40k BoltGun a go especially for the low price of Game Pass.

Dome Keeper is a fun challenging survival, resource management, tower defence game. It sees you mining resources under your base and using what’s found to level up defences against waves of enemies or alternatively improving your characters resource gathering abilities.
Something I quickly began to appreciate about Dome Keeper was its freedom of progression. You initially start with 1 base, 1 character, 1 game mode and a handful of difficulties and map sizes. This doubles in size as your progress with each completion granting new game options, towers, and ways to play. I personally loved the desolate atmosphere that the mines and barren planet surface provided with a great OST to top it off.
After unlocking most of the games content there doesn’t seem to be much appeal to keep playing. The concept and gameplay loop is fun but it feels shallow and lacking depth to keep playing. I enjoyed my time with Dome Keeper but once I was done, I haven’t had an urge to go back.

Damm this game is gorgeous!
I’m absolutely in love with the art style and VFX that Bleak Sword DX offers. Some of the levels offer particularly superb visual design such as the lightning effects, fires and moving sceneries while on horseback.
Unfortunately I can’t say the same for gameplay which is a little bland and overstayed it’s welcome. I found combat was particularly shallow and doesn’t offer any variety except for some consumables that give you a pro & con for the single combat encounter.
Bleak Sword DX is definitely worth checking out for the visual achievements alone but I would suggest waiting for a steam sale as gameplay leaves a lot to be desired.