Author: Danny Neleman

Press release Back to the Dawn will be featured with a playable demo at the upcoming Steam Next Fest starting today. The demo will be available until the 10th of July. Developed by Metal Head Games, distributed by Spiral Up Games and with an expected launch date in the second half of 2023, Back to the Dawn is an intense prison survival and escape RPG that puts players in the shoes of a framed and wrongly incarcerated journalist caught in a dark conspiracy. Inspired by classic prison-themed shows like Prison Break and Chow Yun-Fatt’s Prison on Fire, Back to the Dawn offers players an intense and…

On the heels of our news about Sea of Stars joining Game Pass on day one, publisher Gravity Game Arise has announced that their upcoming project, Alterium Shift, will enter “Early Access” on July 6th. The two-person development team is pretty clear why the opted to open up there game for early access sales: “Alterium Shift is entering Early Access for several compelling reasons. At the forefront, we aim to provide our eager community with a robust gameplay experience that extends beyond a simple demo. We’re also enthusiastic about receiving and implementing player feedback, helping us to refine and polish…

If you frequent this website often enough, you might have noticed that we are pretty excited about the upcoming Sabotage game “Sea of Stars.” We have ranked the game in our list of “upcoming indie games you should be excited about,” for instance. Right from the start, during the crowdfunding campaigns, the handling of the Xbox version was a little bit sketchy. It was initially a stretch goal, and although the threshold was met, the Xbox version suddenly disappeared completely. It wasn’t mentioned on the site or in the marketing campaign surrounding the reveal of the launch date. Not too…

What defines a true indie gem? In some cases, you can see a game packaging solid and engaging gameplay in a unique and wonderfully told narrative, like Celeste. Sometimes a game creates or popularizes a completely new genre. Recently, Vampire Survivor did just that. And in the case of Shovel Knight, it introduces a gameplay mechanic and utilizes it in such a manner that it innovates the platforming genre and inspires indie developers for years to come. With Tiny Thor, Asylum Square has created a game that gets in the mix of these modern classics without revolutionizing anything. Just on…

We have just finished reporting on ININ Games’ latest release, Puzzle Bobble EveryBubble! when another press release landed in our mailbox. The second edition of the Taito Milestones series will be arriving sooner than you think. We consider the Taito Milestones series to be the spiritual successor to possibly the best retro game collections ever made. We are talking about Taito Legends 1 & 2. Those were released on PS2, Xbox, and PSP in 2005. While those two discs were packed with an almost ridiculous number of 54 arcade classics. Milestones takes a step back with 10 games per release.…

It all started with a Neo Geo Arcade cabinet I eagerly raised my virtual hand when we needed a volunteer to do the Puzzle Bobble Everybubble review. Bub, Bob, and I have a long history, and I was curious to see what Taito would bring to the table with this reboot of the franchise. It must have been 1998 or 1999 when I bought a Neo Geo arcade cabinet from a former snackbar owner. Getting that machine was somewhat of an impulse purchase. It had a 2-slot MVS PCB board and included four MVS cartridges. However, it also came with…

If you’re up for a “Contra”-inspired shooting frenzy, then Retroware has got you covered. They have released a new demo and trailer for their upcoming 2D run-and-gun game called “Iron Meat”. Iron Meat is heavily inspired by Contra and features impressive 2D pixel art sprites and backgrounds. Additionally, the trailer showcases cartoon animations that we presume are part of the narrative. Apart from the Iron Meat trailer, a demo has also been added to the game’s Steam page. We haven’t had a chance to check it out yet, but be sure to do so yourself. The game is set to…

For us retro-inspired enthusiasts, probably the only interesting news coming from PlayStation’s State of Play must be the reveal trailer of psychedelically stylized metroidvania “Ultros.” There isn’t much known about the developer and publisher Hadoque, which doesn’t have a lot of online presence yet. Thanks to the trailer description, we do know that at least one industry figurehead is associated with Ultros: Delve into the depths of Ultros, a cosmic sci-fi exploration adventure, launching in 2024 on Playstation 4 and Playstation 5. In this psychedelic tale from El Huervo, the creative visionary behind Hotline Miami, you wake up stranded on…

This Dango Dash has been played and reviewed with the help of emulation, via a ROM. The game is published by Incube8 Games and can be purchased on the publisher’s website as a ROM, a cartridge only edition for $ 39.99 or complete edition for $59.99. As with all Incube8 Games releases, the physical version of the game comes with an authentic, high-quality, full-color box, manual, cartridge, and a sticker sheet. Once upon a time… Dango Dash tells the story of Dango, a boy who lives with his mother in a village that floats between the clouds on one of…

Another Metroidvania / Roguelite mashup project appeared in Steam today called Never Grave: The Witch and The Curse. The game is published by Pocket Pair Inc and developed by newly created internal development team Frontside 180 Studio. The game can now be wishlisted but a launch date is not available yet. “Never Grave” is a new 2D action game that seamlessly blends elements from the Metroidvania and Roguelite genres. Taking inspiration from these genres, players will embark on battles against enemies in procedurally generated dungeons, overcome obstacles, and strive to defeat bosses. By harnessing the distinct possession mechanic centered around…