2d

Atari have been doing a lot with their old properties. We’ve seen Yars Rising transplant the gameplay of Yars Revenge into a search action game and now it’s Adventure’s time to get a modernised effort. Adventure of Samsara bears very little resemblance to the 1980 classic. Ilex Games have been […]

Adventure of Samsara – PS5 Review

September 28, 2025 in PS5 / Reviews tagged 2d / adventure of samsara / atari / exploration / ilex games / magic / melee combat / metroidvania / parries / Pixel art / platforming / search action game by Mike

Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo comes from Brazilians Pocket Trap. It’s a search action game that delivers a lot of charm whilst trying to make combat and traversal very active. The genre’s well-trodden ground but this twist does push my buttons, despite the rising challenge delivering some tricky moments. The […]

Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo – PS5 Review

June 10, 2025 in PS5 / Reviews tagged 2d / BATS / brazil / corporate interests / family business / pipistrello and the cursed yoyo / platforming / pocket trap / search action game / sweet yoyo tricks / traversal by Mike

There aren’t that many boss rush games out on the market. NanoApostle comes from 18 Light Game and offers a sci-fi setting with a half-dozen bosses to slay. With responsive controls and a very interesting skill tree, this short but tricky experience manages to deliver a kinetic and deep gameplay […]

NanoApostle – PS5 Review

May 10, 2025 in PS5 / Reviews tagged 18 Light Game / 2d / anime / boss rush / melee combat / nanoapostle / nanomachines / overhead perspective / Pixel art / sci fi by Mike

Another day, another search action game to check out. This time it’s Biomorph from Lucid Dreams Studio. I bet it’s hard to elevate one game within a packed genre. Thankfully, they’ve mostly been up to the task, providing some interesting twists on abilities with some smart choices around map design. […]

Biomorph – PS5 Review

December 9, 2024 in PS5 / Reviews tagged 2d / biomorph / cartoon aesthetic / exploration / graph paper maps / lucid dreams studio / melee combat / metroidvania / search action game / transformation by Mike

Mining Mechs is an exploration/mining game from developer Delayed Victory and it comes to us from eastasiasoft. The game sees you digging down into the Earth searching for valuable minerals much like the Steamworld games or even Terraria. Presented in the same 2D style as those games, Mining Mech offers a simplified experience. You […]

Mining Mechs – PS5 Review

September 4, 2024 in PS5 tagged 2d / digging / exploring / mining / mining mechs by Richie

Nuclear Blaze is a 2D fire-fighting puzzle-platformer that is notable for being the new project from Sébastien Bénard, the lead designer behind the critically-acclaimed Dead Cells and the game has an interesting history. In its earliest form, Nuclear Blaze was coded in just two days as part of a ‘game […]

Nuclear Blaze – PS5 Review

June 1, 2024 in PS5 / Reviews tagged 2d / dead cells / fire fighting / nuclear blaze / platformer / retro by Richie

Cookie Cutter is a Metroidvania style platformer/brawler from Brighton-based studio, Subcult Joint LTD. Promising to fuse Manga stylings with a punk rock aesthetic, this futuristic title mixes a bit of dystopian sci-fi with some good old ultra-violence. You play as Cherry, a robot who receives a much needed refurb job after […]

Cookie Cutter – PS5 Review

January 15, 2024 in PS5 / Reviews tagged 2d / cookie cutter / metroidvania / retro by Richie

Rogue Legacy 2 is a rogue-lite 2D platform/slasher from Canadian coders Cellar Door. It’s the follow-up to the beloved 2013 original and while it’s been around on Steam since 2020, it’s finally landed on PSN this month as a surprising PS Extra freebie. We’re not sure why it’s taken so long […]

Rogue Legacy 2 – PS5 Review

June 26, 2023 in PS5 / Reviews tagged 2d / hack and slash / platformer / rogue legacy 2 / rogue-lite by Richie

Laserpitium is a 2D horizontally-scrolling shoot ’em that comes to us from one of the more prolific publishers in the genre, eastasiasoft, and was created by French studio, The ReeTeam. They have a long record of making low budget indie shooters that mostly ended up on Steam but this appears […]

Laserpitium – PS5 Review

May 31, 2023 in PS5 tagged 2d / eastasiasoft / horizontally-scrolling / laserpitium / shoot em up by Richie

Wild Dogs is a 2D run and gun shooter from Brazilian coders 2nd Boss. Sporting a deliberate four-colour Gameboy/NES aesthetic and taking most, but not all, of its gameplay cues from Contra, this is as old-school as it gets but that’s not to say that Wild Dogs doesn’t have a […]

Wild Dogs – PS4 Review

May 10, 2023 in PS4 / Reviews tagged 2d / contra / retro / run and gun / wild dogs by Richie

Hyper-5 is a side-scrolling shoot ’em up which comes to us from the mysterious Hyper Productions (well, mysterious in that they don’t seem to have a website) and prolific publishers eastasiasoft (their lack of capitalisation, not ours). In terms of getting us down to a sub-genre, this is very much a […]

Hyper-5 – PS5 Review

April 12, 2023 in PS5 / Reviews tagged 2d / 90s / horizontally-scrolling / hyper-5 / shoot em up by Richie

It’ll be no surprise to you that Guns N’ Runs is a run and gun shooter/platformer and it comes to us from Brazilian coders Statera Studio following its initial PC release back in May 2021 that was seemingly missed by most gamers and reviewers out there. But it’s here on PSN […]

Guns N’ Runs – PS4 Review

March 27, 2023 in PS4 / Reviews tagged 16-bit / 2d / platformer / retro / run and gun / runs n' guns by Richie