Retro

Death, loss, fear, and hatred are all emotions that surround the dark and unforgiving world portrayed in The Charnel House Trilogy. A 2D point and click adventure with a retro look, Charnel House has the charm of a small developer’s game, but the ambition of something much larger. Very quickly into launching the game, you become enveloped in the world it offers, dying to know more information that then increasingly vague answers given to you. This 3-part story published by indie game company Owl Cave is short, but sweet and wastes no time easing you into ...

Shantae and The Pirates Curse developed by WayForward Technologies (Mighty Switch Force) is another stellar entry in not only the Shantae series but its also another outstanding indie release that soars above what many other triple-A games are currently offering. Shantae and the Pirates Curse is a 2D exploration platformer/Metroidvania experience at its heart, and its main focus is on core gameplay elements.

NES Remix has made the jump to the 3DS. It's not a perfect 1:1 portable version of Wii U NES Remix and NES Remix II whereas "ultimate" is used more to describe it as a best of collection with some tweaks here and there. Ultimate NES Remix takes from both Wii U NES Remix games and fuses them together with the addition a more robust online leaderboard system.

Recently action-adventure rogue-like games have made a huge comeback. With notable successes recently such as The Binding of Isaac and Nuclear Throne, this game-type is seeing resurgence. The most recent in the line is Overture. Allowing the player to control a 16-bit hero and navigate them through randomly generated dungeons across the world, Overture is fun, fast-paced, and non-stop action.

Every once in a while, a game developer and creator is not a man in a business suit thinking of what unnecessary spin-off or disappointing sequel game will bring in the big bucks. Sometimes it is just a group of young men who grew up on video games, play them every day, and have always dreamed of the opportunity to make them. One of Steam’s newest early access games is the birth child of just that kind of group of guys. A nostalgia bomb side-scroller than will win the heart of any gamer, JumpJet Rex, the tale of a space dino trying to save the world, needs to ...

NES Remix II builds on the same basic gameplay mechanics of the original NES Remix. And this is great, because it allows players to attempt challenges in some more popular classic titles such as Super Mario Bros. 3, Zelda 2, Dr. Mario, and Punch-Out. NES Remix II added leaderboards, allowing players to post their scores to Miiverse and to compare with others. Although not a game changer, it was a welcome addition.

Video gaming's first yellow circular celebrity has turned 30 this year, and instead of getting trashed with friends Inky, Blinky, Pinky and Clyde, he's taking a trip down memory lane, through the highlights (and low-lights) of his prestigious career.

After the success of the Bioshock franchise, many have tried to look back at other games involving creator and lead writer Ken Levine. Most roads lead back to System Shock 2, a game that was obviously a deep influence for the team’s later work on Bioshock. For the first time, System Shock 2 has been made available on Steam, a chance for gamers to look back at an important part of gaming history. Despite a few crow's feet, it has managed to age very well.

Pester is a top-scrolling shoot 'em up where you fly your ship against tons of enemy fighters, dodging an occasionally absurd amount of enemy fire, grabbing power-ups and wiping out as much alien scum as you can before you lose all your lives. It's as simple a concept as it ever was, with the arrow buttons controlling your movement.

Sonic After the Sequel is a fan made retro-inspired Sonic game set between Sonic 2 and 3 that was released as a free download this week. It's not a hack or a rebuild of something SEGA decided to ditch, but a full game designed and made from scratch, with new levels, new opponents, new obstacles and new music. If you didn't know much about Sonic history, you'd be forgiven for thinking this game is some long lost Genesis title. Perhaps the biggest compliment I can give it is that it feels like that regardless of when it was released or which platform it ...