Alpha Beta Gamer

In FranknJohn you use your head (literally), it’s a a head-swinging roguelike smash em'up with fast paced gameplay and the ability to change your abilities by equiping various different heads and body parts.

FranknJohn is a reanimated child with the body of Frank and the head of John, connected by a chain that he can swing around and smash into enemies. Being a reanimated corpse has it’s benefits, mainly that you can swap body parts to customize your stats and equip dozens of different skullcaps which can alter the gameplay drastically.

The fast paced action orientated gameplay is inspired by SNES classics like Super Smash TV and Zombies Ate My Neighbours, with aspects taken from recent games like Dark Souls and The Binding of Isaac. Graphically the game is wonderful, full of snazzy effects, vibrant colours and Tim Burton-esque character design, while the Soundtrack is being composed by FTL’s Ben Prunty.

With it’s randomly genetrated level design and a vast array of swappable skullcaps, FranknJohn looks set to offer plenty of variety and replayability. The challenge arena does a good job of demonstrating the excellent fast-paced, head-swinging gameplay - FranknJohn may be a reanimated corpse, but there’s plenty of life in this game.

Visit the Kickstarter & Download the Challenge Arena

Facewound is a fun, brutal and bloody 2D run and gun side scroller, with an impressive particle physics engine, ragdoll effects, a vast array of weaponry and huge hordes of monsters to use them on.

The original aim for the devs was to make a 2D shooter with all of the effects of something like Counter-Strike: Source. They’ve certainly achieved that and a whole lot more, with impressive visual effects, massive explosions, a very cool slow-mo ability, and a large assortment of weaponry to blow away hordes of zombies, spacebrains, ghosts, skeletons, rocks, fish and more. Taking down swarms of these monsters is superb fun, whether popping heads with a magnum, decimating groups with a shotgun, nuking them with explosives or just charging at them with a chainsaw - in Facewound killing things just looks so cool, particularly in slow-mo.

The extensive armoury is unlocked through a shop (accessed by pressing ‘B’), where you can use your hard earned plutonium to purchase bow & arrows, grenades, sawn off shotguns, chainsaws, landmines, AK-47s, Miniguns, Flamethrowers and more. It’s best upgrading your weapon as soon as possible as the basic handgun is fairly weak and the rest of the weaponry is so much fun (Hint: Jump into the wall on your left when you start the game and you’ll find a secret area full of plutonium that you can use to upgrade your weaponry).

There may be all manner of monsters out to get you in Facewound, but by far the most deadly thing in the game is the humble oil barrel. God knows what’s in them, but Facewound has by far the most devastatingly explosive oil barrels ever witnessed in a game - causing massive explosions that shake the screen and decimate anything nearby, including you. A general rule of thumb for these drums is: if you can see it when it explodes you will die. So if you see one on fire, RUN!

Running and gunning in Facewound is incredible fun, blowing away hordes of monsters with overpowered weaponry in slow motion never gets old. It’s also peppered with nice little touches like humorous billboards and secret areas. It really is a blast (especially if you stand too close to those oil barrels).

Download the Beta, Free

Unturned 2 is a first person, online zombie survival sandbox game, much like DayZ or Rust, but a little simpler and easier to get in to, and with a lot more blocks.

You and your friends (and enemies) can play together, scavenging for supplies, living of the land, trading with other players and fortifying locations – all while trying to survive the constant threat of zombies and bandits. The Fortification options are impressive, with you able to build massive Rust-style fortresses, complete with barricades and traps.

The Minecraft-esque visuals work really well in Unturned 2, making a picturesque blocky world to explore and survive in. The charming looking character models are excellent and will catch you off guard – it’s hard not to automatically trust other players when they look so cheery (it’s a strange experience being mugged by a bandit that looks like a Lego man!)

Unturned 2 is being developed entirely with the community in focus, and lots of features are based entirely on feedback. Even in beta form, it’s an impressive game, a fun and pleasantly cheerful take on the zombie survival sandbox genre, a great place to survive a zombie blockpockalpse.

Download the Beta, Free

Sentinel Heroes is a tactical turn based strategy RPG inspired by Warcraft that features deep gameplay, an interesting story, online battles and some very nicely animated characters and attacks.

As you progress you’ll recruit legendary heroes, build teams, and fight against players from all over the world. It features various gameplay modes, including a novel King of the Hill-style mode called ‘Knockout’, where you claim a throne and try to defend it as long as possible, earning larger rewards the longer you manage to hold it.

The gameplay is pretty intuitive and offers plenty of tactical depth, while also being visually impressive thanks to some cool special moves and nice character design. Players that take part during the Open Beta will also be able to claim 8 special gift packs and enter competition events to win prizes.

Play the Open Beta

Reprisal Universe is a wonderful pixel art God sim, created as a homage to Populous and the nostalgia of 16 bit games. It’s a major upgrade to the popular browser game Reprisal, which you can still get through Desura.

The isometric pixel art style is fantastic, it can make things a little confusing when you’re altering the terrain, but it’s worth it to see your subjects scampering around the map in all their pixelated glory. You’re tasked with guiding our tribe, building land and invading other colonies to help them grow in number. As well as terraforming tools, you also have powerful totem powers that you can use on enemies, laying waste to their cities. Your most useful tool is ’kindle’ which kicks your inhabitants out of their houses and gets them working - many hands make light work (and obliterate the enemy).

In this pixelised Populous it’s fun being a God, Reprisal Universe looks set to give us everything that Godus failed to deliver. The Beta covers the first 15 missions of the story mode, the finished version will feature lots more levels as well as other improvements. The dev is looking for feedback concerning difficulty levels (too easy or too hard) and any bugs or other improvement suggestions.

Download the Beta, Free

In Iktsua you set out into the frozen wilderness as a young Inuit/Eskimo boy to hunt dangerous creatures and become a man. You don’t have much to assist you, just a spear to hunt and a heavy cloak to keep you warm. Your goal is to hunt down one the three mighty beasts - the great mammoth, the giant moose or the fierce polar bear.

It’s a stark but beautiful game, with a graphical style reminiscent of the N64 era, and a suitably atmospheric soundtrack. Your journey is a long one, and you’ll have to hunt to survive, there are over 10 unique animals to hunt down, from penguins to packs of wolves.

All you have to hunt is one spear, so you need your wits about you, and have to be a good shot to stand a chance. There’s a high risk in hunting, not just from the animals, but from the cold too. To hunt you have to drop your warm heavy coat and chase your prey down, stray too far from the jacket and you may freeze before you get back to it. The risk is high too, if the cold, an animal or hunger kills you you’ll you’ll be sent back to the last save point (cave), and they’re few and far between.

Iktsua is certainly not a game that will appeal to everyone, it’s a slow paced, solitary game and as it’s still in early Alpha, it still has a few bugs. Hoverer, there’s a certain beauty to the game, complimented by the soundtrack, and you’re always aware of the fragility of your character and how alone he is in this vast Tundra.

Download the Alpha, Free

Dogs of War is a great looking online turn based strategy game that offers deep tactical gameplay and is inspired by the Confrontation miniatures game.

With a choice of three factions, you spend Army Points to build a hierarchical group of mercenaries from the units of your choice, then send them on missions, or battle against online opponents. Each event earns resource points which you then use to enhance units. The combat system feels similar to XCOM: Enemy Unknown, battles are deeply strategic, with wealth of tactical options available to the player, though thanks to it’s intuitive UI, it never feels overwhelming.

It’s worth noting that although this is a free to play game, every unit is unlockable through in-game currency, you may be required to grind at times, but it’s certainly not pay-to-win.

Download the Beta, Free

The Hero Trap is a fun, fast paced and colourful roguelike dungeon-crawler, where you can use the souls of great warriors past to aid your perilous journey.

It looks wonderful, with randomly generated maps, nice animation and colourful cartoony character and enemy design. The gameplay is similar to Gauntlet, with characters roaming dungeons, vanquishing hordes of enemies and earning gold.

Gold can be used in shops to purchase various upgrades - or more intriguingly - the souls of fallen warriors. These warriors, each feature their own signature attacks and follow you around the levels, you’re then able switch control to them instantly by pressing their attack button. In the finished game you’ll also be able to use these characters in multiplayer co-op.

Even in these early stages of development The Hero Trap is great fun. With charming cartoon visuals a unique hero switching mechanic and challenging gameplay, there’s certainly a lot to like about this roguelike.

Download the Pre-Alpha, Free

Rehearsals and Returns is a video game about conversations that will never take place. It’s a odd game where you’ll travel along a short platforming stage (in which you can’t jump!), then meet up with someone you know or someone famous (alive or dead), and offer them words of wisdom, love or hate.

This makes for some very interesting scenarios, as you meet people such as your dentist, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Osama Bin Laden, Tiger Woods and Patrick Swayze. As the games developers say ‘these days modern media lets us share all of our thoughts, but what would you say if no one was listening?’

It’s an interesting concept and a great art style, and while the gameplay does get a tad repetetive before the end of it’s short (30min/1hr) playtime, it’s worth playing through for the pay-off at the end.

Download the Beta, Free

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