Scar-Lead Salvation is very close to being a very good game. The creative energy is good, the aesthetics are appealing, and the action is tight. Unfortunately, while it was clearly inspired by Returnal, it misses the mark in several critical areas. You play as Willow, who is either a woman or a woman-like robot, with an excellent figure that the…
Like its predecessors, Death end re;Quest: Code Z looks like it should be a pretty standard Idea Factory JRPG. You’ve got cute anime girls, most of them with very large assets, and magical girl-style transformation screens that make full use of those assets for maximum impact. Then you have long…
We’re being spoiled for Musou right now! A month after Koei Tecmo…
Fast-paced top-down roguelike shooter Driveloop takes you through post-apocalyptic cityscapes to fight…
At first glance, I’m drawn to the visual artwork in Tamarak Trail. The developers were inspired by many artists, including the Group of Seven. The Group of Seven are infamous in Canada as the landscape artists of the early to mid 20th century, so that’s a big name to throw…
Read More
Brave’s Rage is fine. It’s a new entry in a very over-saturated genre, and doesn’t do nearly enough to stand out, but there’s nothing inherently wrong with the game itself. It’s just disappointing that there seems to be a shrinking pool of gameplay structures that indies work with, at a…
Read More
If Lone Ruin had been released three years ago, it would have been noteworthy. If it had been released a decade ago, it would have been celebrated. The game itself is an excellent example of taut, intense mechanics, a well-designed (and challenging) difficulty curve, and moody aesthetics. Unfortunately, it’s a…
Read More
Super Bullet Break is a new roguelike that has been published by PQube, and it has so much going for it – great turn-based combat, gorgeous characters, excellent, pristine fan service. Unfortunately it misfired in one critical area, and got the difficulty mixed up a bit. That wasn’t enough to…
Read More
Super Bullet Break is a happy, colourful thing. I know it’s going to rankle some to suggest that as overtly fanservicey as it could be “wholesome” or “innocent,” but that’s what Super Bullet Break is; a happy, high-energy, bubbly and wholesome thing. The game is a combination of two things.…
Read More
It’s not a combination that you would necessarily expect to see, but once you see it in action, it all makes sense. It’s eclectic, but very creative. Fabular: Once Upon A Spacetime combines science fiction spacecraft and battles… with the medieval in terms of the weapons you’re using. It’s the…
Read MoreSamurai Bringer is Samurai Warriors: The Roguelike. If that doesn’t have you rushing to the eShop to buy it right now, then you’re probably not a regular reader of DigitallyDownloaded.net. This game is an excellent, clever, interesting and entertaining take on the roguelike, and while I’m getting increasingly burned out…
Read MoreTrust Richard Garfield to reinvigorate my interest in deckbuilding roguelikes. I thought I was done with them. 2017’s Slay the Spire is excellent, but didn’t need to spawn an entire genre over the course of just five years, and we’ve already reached the point where the likes of Monster Train,…
Read MorePQube is a publisher with a knack for finding quirky and interesting projects. Its latest, Super Bullet Break, might just be one of its most interesting. This “deck-building roguelike,” features a lot of super-cute anime girls, and draws inspiration from everything from rhythm games and dating games right through to…
Read MoreI’m a big fan of itch.io for the freedom and open platform that it allows for developers to be creative, experimental, and directly canvas the audience for feedback for games that are not yet ready for primetime on Steam and its ilk. In addition, itch.io allows you to be transgressive,…
Read More