Jotunnslayer: Hordes of Hel and My Night Job

Games in perma-horde mode!

Jotunnslayer: Hordes of Hel

This slow loading game has you playing in various Norse arenas against swarms of beasties, ghosts, and others while you do repetitive objectives within a time limit to ultimately summon the Jotunn boss of the level. While there are multiple characters, weapons, and maps and difficulty modes you could possibly choose from the vast majority are locked and you must do specific tasks to unlock... the game basically (grind mode activate!). I also wasn't too keep on the game pausing every time you level up to pick a perk, but given the game play I can't really think of a better way to have done that. Ultimately not for me.

My Night Job

This small and silly action platformer has hand drawn characters and you play as some guy recruited by the military to save x number of civilians from a haunted house (at least in level one) which endlessly spawns all sorts of violent spooks that range from ghosts, goblins, and zombies to robots with gatling guns (I hate those). You're also under the clock since if rooms get too full of bad guys not only do they kill the people you're meant to be saving, they start stomping until they break the room entirely - causing no more spawns to occur there! All up the game is a short and crazy experience that you should try out if you can find it for free. 

Gravity Circuit and Scourgebringer

Two pixel platform games with problems.

Gravity Circuit

Playing as a defender of the planet has never been so cumbersome. While your character in this game has a lot of moves and even a hook that can attach to the roof to swing from he still feels super clunky and the bad controls don't help which will no doubt lead to many "falling off the bottom of the screen to your death" ends, except in the parts you are allowed to fall off the bottom of the screen to progress (wtf, I hate inconsistency). To top it off the graphics are terrible, like back in the early internet flashing gifs and scrolling banner terrible. Not recommended.

Scourgebringer

Unlike the above, the protagonist here has excellent mobility, easy controls and a decent tutorial to teach you all of them. She's also 1/4th the size making her super tiny on the screen! The main loop of this rogue-like game is to move through randomly generated rooms and kill everything inside (you're locked in until they die) until you find the boss/exit to the next floor. There's also adaptive difficulty that means if you suck enemies will be removed from rooms and if you're good enemies will be added which means it should always be at a level where you eventually die. Not my cup of tea.

Snakebird Complete

Do you remember the old snake game? The one where you are constantly moving, eating things, getting longer and trying not to run into obstacles like your own body? This is a much updated version of that which does away with the constantly moving bit and change the perspective from top view to a platformer to form the basis of an interesting and challenging puzzle game.

Your snakebirds are very cute with their funny facial expressions and they are pretty sturdy in that as long as one part of them is touching ground they won't fall. Yet I can guarantee that you will fall off ledges or tie yourself into knots at some point but not to worry, there's a handy undo button (1 step back) or reset button readily available at all times while you try get all the fruit and make your snakebird (or in some cases snakebirds) way to the exit portal.

So yes, it's a silly little game but much better (and harder) than I thought it would be.

Guacamelee and Grime

GG... or are they?

Guacamelee! Super Turbo Championship Edition and Guacamelee! 2

This Mexican themed action platformer has the player take role of a regular Jose who becomes a mighty luchador to take on the forces of lucha-evil, which are primarily skeletons it seems. I appreciate the good comic style art and a decent sense of humor but the combat is either a bit off, or it didn't gel well with me which is quite possibly because "this game recommends a controller".

Sigh. Why do I bother trying these on my PC? As such the platforming sections (still in the tutorial) were already not do-able for me. Guacamelee 2 humorously starts with what I believe is the final fight of the first game, but this one has some pretty bad stuttering effects where everything freezes for a few seconds a few times a minute. That's just unplayable.

Grime

In this side scrolling platform adventure which smells heavily of the Dark Souls influence, you are a humanoid stone creature with a black hole for a head which you can use to parry/consume other predominantly stone based enemies to make yourself better. You also get weapons that are attuned to strength, dexterity or resonance and perform better the better you are in those categories.

While this game seems to play fine without a controller, it is quite hard for me to get into as you are literally dropped into this alien landscape with no clues of what to do, no quest hook outside the tutorial instructions, and very little story (at the start at least). As such it failed not only to retain my attention but to even grab it in the fist place, and is now uninstalled. If you can't get me to invest in what's happening, then it's not a good game. Not recommended.

Steam Discovery Queue - Crusade of the Free XXX

Continuing freebies from last time... the one in bold is the best of this set.

Alone (Free) - A short horror RPG maker type game with way too much text but a fun timed section as the climax.

Biphase: A 2D platform puzzler in a world set in black and red. Each jump alternates what you can see and stand on. Gets more annoying as game goes on.

Contraband Police Prologue: Much like Papers Please, this first person game sees you as a border control guard whose duty involves taking note of any discrepancies in paper work of people driving in and to decide if you are forcing to turn them around. You earn extra for any additional (and correct) notes you add about their vehicle, which you are allowed to open and fully inspect. Pretty cool, but super long loading time.

The Darkest Tales - Into the Nightmare: Well voiced side scrolling platformer where you are an angry teddy bear with scissors. Repetitive though, especially since you only level up by killing.

Evergate Ki's Awakening: A beautiful 2D platform puzzler where you are a cute spirit sent back to Earth. You can shoot a "lazer" at a few things which do a variety of effects but it still ends up being annoying.

Fortuito Lost History: A first person action horror with poor graphics, which undoes most of the horror part - as well as getting weapons right away.

GranAge: Kiddie fantasy 2D brawler / platformer MMO with excellent music. Pretty good!

Neeron the Blade of Nature: In this 3D action game you play a blade wielding, weather changing bear man who fights against blade wielding robots. An abundance of invisible walls makes it annoying to navigate.

Project Morpheus Prologue: A very well done 3D action horror much like Resident Evil. Does a good job of getting me interested in the full game!

Needs slightly better controls though.

Remnants: Generic first person shooter where you fight drones for... elemental shards for no reason. Also XP is just lying around on the floor. Bleh.

Combo Breaker: Four game mixtures that don't quite work!

Automachef

Mixes robots and food?

This puzzle game is all about delivering food in a restaurant with the catch that everything is automated. In your limited space you must place ingredient dispensers, food prep machines, grills to cook things, an assembler to put things all together and robotic arms and conveyor belts to move everything around to deliver finished plates to the diners - all while being within budget, minimizing ingredient waste and excess power usage.

Luckily you have as many test attempts as you need to get it right, because I'd rate this difficult on my puzzle scale - and I'm only a few kitchens in! Certainly not my cup of tea, as I have more fun with the Overcooked style of game play, but if you like puzzles (especially of the jigsaw variety) this one should be on your radar. Two smart robot arms out of five.

Yooka-Laylee

One of the protagonists would probably eat the other...

A kid's game where you play as a lizard and bat team, out to recover a book taken by the silly villain whose evil plan involves stealing all the books in the world. It's cute enough but this 3D platformer gets old quick as your controls are cameracentric but the camera position lags behind your turns. Easiest way to describe it is if you press the button to move left and hold it down in most games you just strafe left. In this game you go in a circle, which is horrible when coupled with moving platforms and timed events.

The final nail in the coffin is the stupidity of the pages though. Surely you can just grab it through those bars if it doesn't fly out on its own. Not recommended for anybody.

Oh noes, it's totally trapped.

Yoku's Island Express

A pinball platformer.

A cockroach tied to a circular rock makes for an odd hero, but this game does make him look kinda cute as he takes on his new job as island postmaster. True to form, most of the quests involve delivering stuff around the large island and while it is a pseudo-platformer there is no jumping. Instead, you can activate pinball like mechanics all over the island to send your little guy flying all over the place.

Where this falls down for me is the grinding. Some pinball levers need to be unlocked by fruit currency which you gather in larger pinball segments. This means having to repeat these until you get the required amount which can get old really fast. It's a shame because this is actually a fun concept and plays well, but alas - I have enough games that require grind. Sorry Yoku. Two fruits out of five.

Speed Brawl

Side scrolling brawler with a time limit!

This game has some nice cartoon style art and one of the best openings I've seen in a while. In it you play as a tag team of racing pugilists who need to complete each race course as quickly as possible. Obviously enemies block your path and you can't move on until they are all defeated - meaning you have to fight REALLY well.

It's an ok premise and while the controls take a little getting used to what kills it for me is the sound effects which boils down to the repeated yelling and grunts of your character. Yep, brawlers are noisy but this just gets painful really quickly. Two poles out of five. Not recommended.