Author: Ray Watts

The New 8-Bit All-Stars Bundle is a wonderfully curated love letter to a classic era and the modern devs who keep it alive. The New 8-Bit All-Stars Bundle, curated by devs Dale Coop (SkateCat) and John Brobst (Pelusa Saga: Kaji’s Trials), is one of the most interesting projects I’ve seen in years. It’s thirty fully-fledged NES/Famicom homebrew roms across a ton of different genres. It represents thousands of hours of development, hundreds of hours of gameplay, and (at the time of posting) you have about two days left to get it all for $30 via their itch bundle page. Unless…

Burden Street Station tackles themes of commodification, grief, hope, and reconciliation. Sometimes glib, sometimes serious – always sincere. Mortal lives are distilled into singular moments, those moments are transformed into sentient books, and higher beings consume them for their enjoyment in much the same way as you might watch a reel or a TikTok. You play as a librarian meant to catalogue these moments for The Collector. A chance encounter with a book without a moment somehow spirals into you being cast out with no real direction or guidance, tasked with finding a derelict God on a world where no…

The new Time Crisis is a pretty good port of a great port of an amazing game. It still is not enough to save it. The original Time Crisis arcade machine is one of the all-time great light gun games. I’d go so far as to say it’s in the top 20 arcade games, period. In an era that was full of really solid “stand-and-shoot” and rail shooter games, Time Crisis immediately stood out as the first major cover light gun game. The cabinet came with a best-in-class light gun and an innovative cover pedal. Seeing it for the first…

The Third Shift is a thrilling Game Boy-inspired horror adventure that will spook and amuse unsuspecting players with its terrifying tale. The Third Shift is the long-awaited new release from Teebowah Games. The idea for the game came about when lead developer Scottie Supple wanted to play a GameBoy-style horror adventure game, couldn’t find one, and decided to make it himself (partnering with Julian Crowhurst for music and sound design). With development beginning in 2012 and a demo releasing in 2019, the game already has a small but highly dedicated cult following. This labor of love is a must-try for…

Vampire Crawlers: The Turbo Wildcard From Vampire Survivors is a complex roguelike deckbuilder with one goal in mind: delivering satisfying mechanics. The game’s title invites the most obvious comparison—Vampire Survivors vs. Vampire Crawlers. Crawlers achieves impressive results by bringing in some of the best parts of Survivors’ classic visual style, snappy music, sense of humor, and “number goes up” gameplay—while making it more accessible through a turn-based system. Both games are about building an engine and letting it run. Finding weapons that complement each other and your character, building your power by leveling up during runs, and filling the entire…