Pixel art

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

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

I can be in the mood for a 2D platformer. Shadow of the Orient is Spacelab Games is a small Canadian developer and this is their first release. It’s been out on mobile platforms for a few years but now a console port has brought to the Playstation 5. The […]

Shadow of the Orient – PS5 Review

April 11, 2025 in PS5 / Reviews tagged 2d platforming / China / collecting / gems / Pixel art / retro aesthetic / shadow of the orient / spacelab games / speedrun by Mike

Skautfold‘s been a weird series with something of an identity crisis. Each of Pugware’s games so far have settled in a different genre whilst trying to push forward a narrative about the occult, eldritch horror and colonial conflict. Whilst it does propel an air of mystery about the series, the […]

Skautfold: Into the Fray – PS5 Review

November 3, 2024 in PS5 / Reviews tagged 2d aesthetic / american war for independence / lovecraft / melee combat / Pixel art / pugware / rituals / skautfold into the fray / twin-stick shooter by Mike

I took one look at the trailer for Loretta and thought it would be my bag. Hand me a good story and I’ll be happy. Coming from Yakov Batuzov, this 1940’s noir delivers a thriller full of secrets, lies and intertwined lives that successfully kept me engaged. Whilst it is […]

Loretta – PS5 Review

April 15, 2024 in PS5 / Reviews tagged adventure / choices / film noir / hitchcock / loretta / mystery / narratively-driven / Pixel art / thriller / Yakov Batuzov by Mike

Hammerwatch II is a top-down RPG hack and slasher from Swedish studio, CrackShell. It follows on directly from the 2013 original Hammerwatch, pretty much ignoring their 2018 rogue-like Heroes of Hammerwatch, a game that had its flaws but one that we liked enough to put in hundreds of hours with. Even now […]

Hammerwatch II – PS5 Review

December 23, 2023 in PS5 / Reviews tagged bad netcode / crackshell / hammerwatch II / Pixel art / rpg by Richie

Cats and nosey sods, let’s be honest. I’ve had plenty through my life and their need for attention gets them in situations they really shouldn’t be in. Cats and the Other Lives is a narrative-driven puzzle game from Cultic Games which looks to replicate the feline experience. I’ll be honest, […]

Cats and the Other Lives – PS4 Review

October 31, 2023 in PS5 / Reviews tagged cats and the other lives / chase sequences / cultic games / dysfunctional family / eavesdropping / mouse catching / nattatively-driven / nosey feline / Pixel art / puzzles / stealth by Mike

Hero Survival is a top-down auto-shooter from indie studio PigeonDev which combines the dodging/shooting action genre made popular by Vampire Survivors with simple 16-bit visuals. This genre is exploding on mobile platforms but is just getting started on PSN. We previously reviewed Remedium: Sentinels which had a go at this sort of […]

Hero Survival – PS5 Review

October 18, 2023 in PS5 / Reviews tagged 16-bit / auto-shooter / hero survival / Pixel art / rogue-like / top down by Richie

Mystic Gate is a twin-stick shooter from Zoo Corporation that has a rogue-like structure and a dungeon-crawling setting. It’s been around since February on PC but has now made its way over to PSN thanks to the ever-prolific publishers eastasiasoft (their lack of capitalisation, not ours). The game’s thin plot involves […]

Mystic Gate – PS5 Review

September 25, 2023 in PS5 / Reviews tagged eastasiasoft / mystic gate / Pixel art / rogue-like / twin-stick shooter by Richie

It started with a message from our editor. “Review this” he said. “Review what?” we asked. We initially thought it was his sort of thing, until we realised it was erroneously labelled as a football game. Let’s be clear, Legend Bowl is an NFL game in all but name. The […]

Legend Bowl – PS5 Review

August 22, 2023 in PS4 / PS5 / Reviews tagged crap kicking / gridiron / Pixel art / wide right by Ian

We’ve seen this game before, back in 2018, but Riddled Corpses EX has just had a PS5 release. This game, from French devs Cowcat, is an isometric/top-down twin-stick shooter that places equal emphasis on blasting zombies and upgrading your firepower. Set just after some sort of demonic apocalypse, the game has […]

Riddled Corpses EX – PS5 Review

July 13, 2022 in PS5 / Reviews tagged Pixel art / riddled corpses ex / twin-stick shooter / zombies by Richie

I’ve come across a few cooperative puzzle platformers in this job. Whilst it never quite feels like there’s a surge behind it, they seem to trickle through every few months and largely prove to be decent. Kinduo comes from Nibb Games, a three-person studio that’s been fairly prolific on Steam. […]

Kinduo – PS5 Review

February 2, 2022 in PS5 / Reviews tagged 2d / boxes / cooperative / keys / kinduo / lifts / nibb games / Pixel art / puzzle platformer / switches by Mike