Not as delayed as last month’s list, but hey, I did it and got to play some cool games in the process. I have six games to show you all this month, some – or all – of which may have flown under your radar. So without further ado, thanks to the publishers who sent these games to me and let’s get right into it.
Aces & Adventures
Aces & Adventures is what you get when you combine RPG with deckbuilding and a little bit of poker. It’s a full-blown 3D adventure game where you play through fully voiced campaigns using a variety of different characters, each with their own unique decks that are only expanded upon as you play. The combat is poker-based, making use of suits as a form of mana for your character’s abilities and I grew to like the pacing of the gameplay here. The quests are short and digestible, maybe 10-20 minutes max, and the combat has some nice quality of life features that let it be played as fast or as slow as you want.
I had a good time tackling campaigns as different characters, unlocking some really nice synergies with new cards, and really just taking in the aesthetic here – it is very polished and well worth a look for fans of deckbuilders.
Aces & Adventures retails for $20 USD and is available on Steam. You can get an official Steam key 15% OFF and support the channel using my Gamesplanet partner link.
DUCK: Dangerous Ultimate Cartridge Kidnapper
If you’ve ever wanted to play WarioWare, but with every character replaced with a duck, then I would first wonder why you want something so niche, and then recommend this very game. DUCK is a compilation of 100 microgames from various genres, including everything from shooters, to Flappy Bird clones, to Windows 95 simulators, and everything in between. These games are strung together by a lighthearted story and generally increase in difficulty as that story progresses. There’s a nice feature where you can enter a cheat code to retry a given microgame if you fail too.
I won’t say that every game lands, but the collection is fun enough for what it is and I kinda enjoyed its own unique spin on the WarioWare formula. Worth a look if you’ve ever been a fan of one of those games.
DUCK: Dangerous Ultimate Cartridge Kidnapper retails for $12 USD and is available on Steam.
Gal Guardians: Demon Purge
Aside from having a sudden name and logo change recently, Gal Guardians is a fairly straightforward 2D action platformer done in the style of the original Castlevania games. It’s not necessarily a metroidvania, as the experience is more linear, but it still manages to maintain the feeling of playing one with the upgrades, the combat, and the aesthetic too. You play the game as both Shinobu and Maya, two separate characters with their own HP bars that can be swapped between at any time. One is ranged, whereas the other is melee and each has a separate special move that can make some areas much, much easier.
Aside from that, the movement is solid, the controls are intuitive, the boss fights are cool, and the overall feeling is kinda nostalgic in a way? Like, some enemies are definitely annoying, but the devs did a great job staying true to the retro style and I’d recommend it if you’re into such experiences.
Gal Guardians: Demon Purge retails for $25 USD and is available on Steam. It is also available on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and Switch.
HELLCARD
HELLCARD is a deckbuilder roguelike with a heavy emphasis on co-op. I wasn’t really sure what to expect with this one, but hopped into it with a friend and had a great time synergizing our two characters’ attacks, strategizing what upgrades and cards to take, and occasionally suffering because this is a very difficult game. The game sets itself apart from the crowd with its emphasis on co-op and enemy placement. There are different “zones” that your cards can target and the enemies will often move between them as the fight goes on, which of course – some of your own cards can do as well.
There’s a lot of shuffling around units, planning out damage numbers, and communicating with your co-op partners and it’s fairly fleshed out for being in Early Access. I wouldn’t say it’s a recommendation as a singleplayer title, but if you’re in it for co-op, do give the game a look.
HELLCARD retails for $20 USD and is available on Steam as an Early Access title.
LOUD: My Road to Fame
I honestly can’t remember the last time I played a straightforward arcade rhythm game on Steam that wasn’t from some major franchise. LOUD: My Road to Fame is pretty much just that, although coming from a small indie team and having less than 25 reviews on Steam despite being out for almost an entire month. A shame really, the gameplay is kinda fun here. It’s a rock-based rhythm game where you must hit the notes in time with the music and it’s got all the staples from single notes to holds to even those that can be amplified for higher score.
There’s also a bunch of customization options to unlock and a light story to tie together the game’s 21 levels. I also thought it was pretty cool that all the music was produced in-house by the dev team’s own band – and that music actually isn’t that bad. It’s nothing too unique, but I had a good time with it and would recommend it to rhythm game fans.
LOUD: My Road to Fame retails for $10 USD and is available on Steam.
Plan B: Terraform
Plan B: Terraform is a very specific type of simulator. The type of colony sim where resource management is key and you are constantly building new factories to harvest materials so you can build more factories to harvest other materials that can then be combined with the first material to make a special kind of factory that produces other types of factories and so on. It is a game built on the concept of scaling up. You literally have an entire planet to work with and a mountain of resources to harvest.
Starting small, you’ll eventually have transportation running everywhere, factories producing all sorts of buildings, and colonies thriving from your efforts. The experience is heavy on logistics planning and if you’re the type that loves to envision how factories will be laid out, how materials will be transported, and how to grow your cities – I’d say it’s worth a look.
Plan B: Terraform retails for $10 USD and is available on Steam as an Early Access title.
And that’s it for February. Some good offerings this past month, including some strategy, some platforming, even a rhythm game. My personal favorite was probably Aces & Adventures, but I can’t deny I had a good time with each.
cublikefoot 