Alpha Beta Gamer

Super Rocket Shootout is a local multiplayer 2d brawler similar to Super Smash Bros or Megabyte Punch.

It supports up to 4 players, has highly destructible environments for you to pummel your friends in, an in-depth combat system inspired by the fighting game genre filled with combos, counters and even super attacks!

Putrefaction is survival-Horror FPS with roguelike elements like randomly-generated levels and permadeath, set in an underground bunker, filled with various nasty mutants and monsters.

It’s still very early in development, but it certainly shows promise, with the gunplay feeling nice and solid and some rather freaky enemy designs (The Thing-style headcrabs are a particular highlight). The aim of the game at the moment is to travel down as deep into the bunker as possible before you inevitably die (there’s no health regeneration or health packs). On your way through the procedurally generated bunkers, you’ll come across a selection of weaponry, from knives to AK-47s to fend off the monstrous hordes (‘F’ picks up weapons & opens doors).

The dev still plans to add a lot more features to Putrefaction, and there’s a lot of placeholder art and animation, but it’s already got a nicely sinister vibe and the procedural generation means you’re never quite sure what’s around the next corner.

Download the Alpha, Free

Arena: Cyber Evolution is a futuristic physics based multiplayer online sports arena (MOSA) game where you choose from a selection of heroes with different play styles and abilities, then battle it out in a 3v3 football-like competitive match where teamwork and twitch reflexes are needed to win.

Arena : Cyber Evolution is the fruition of months of work on Project Cyber which we covered back in March, an ambitious project which allowed the public to watch and shape the games development, with a current build always available to play.

The Alpha has just been released on Steam and is a joy to play, with fluid controls, different play styles, competitive strategic matches, and a nice ‘championship-like’ atmosphere. Arena is looking to be a great new addition to the e-sports scene with its simple, fast and fun team based gameplay that’s fun for everyone.

Download the Alpha, Free

Fort Meow is a charming physics based fort building game in which your aim is to protect yourself from barrages of cats so that you can read your book in peace.

The book in question is a journal was written by your late grandfather and offers up an insight into his life as you progress through the game. In order to read this journal though, you’ll have to keep your grandmothers cats away (of which she has many), constructing various cat-proof forts from basic everyday items and furniture found round the house.

Gameplay is a little similar to the Angry Birds series, but with you taking on the role of the pigs. You start off with basic construction items such as chairs and mattresses, but as the game progresses you’ll be able to roam various rooms in the house, picking out new items to use in your constructions. Once your fort is built you simply press the ‘Defend’ button and cats will come flying in from all angles, bashing and smashing your fort to pieces. Survive the barrage of furry felines and you’ll progress to the next stage and be treated to another storyboard a from your grandfathers journal.

Fort Meow is really shaping up to be wonderful game, with fun physics-based gameplay, a charming graphical style, and a surprising amount of polish for something that is still in Alpha development. The dev is very keen to hear any feedback, so if you could leave comments in the in-game feedback form, that would be purrrfect.

Download the Alpha, Free

Cash_Out is a randomly generated top down shooter with stealth and RPG elements where you build your character and raid buildings to have the biggest haul possible.

You have a choice of 6 different character classes, each with specific skill sets, buffs and stats which can be levelled up throughout the game. There are 3 single player modes - Career mode, Quickplay and Arcade (which is an endless mode).

It’s a fun game that plays a little like Hotline Miami, but with RPG elements and procedural generation to add depth and replayability.

Download the Alpha, Free

Bedrock is a retro pixel art mining roguelike for up to 3 players, where three playable characters with different skill sets dig and fight their way through an endless underground world.

The game can be played in single player, with you switching between characters as needed, but it’s much more fun with local co-op. The three characters each have their own role in the group – an architect who plans where to dig and what to build, a miner who scouts the area and does the building and digging, and a warrior who defends the team against enemies. It could do with a small tutorial, but as long as you understand that the architect has to create a plan before you’re able to build/dig anything, you should work out the rest.

Bedrock is a roguelike in nature with procedural level generation, lots of loot to be found and an ever-increasing difficulty topped with permanent death. It’s still very early in development, so is still a little rough around the edges, but it’s a fun game where players will have to work together to ensure success, or perish in its pixelated depths.

Download the Alpha, Free

Paperbound is a fast paced local multiplayer fighting game with cool gravity manipulation mechanics that’s set within the pages of old storybooks.

The game is in development from devs who have worked on Transformers: Fall of Cybertron, Go Home Dinosaurs, and The Bourne Conspiracy. It plays a little like Smash Bros, but with a wonderfully dark Tim Burton-esque visual style, paper-crafting themed weaponry (letter openers, scissors, drop ink bombs, etc.) and gravity manipulation skills which allow you to magnetise your feet and stick to whatever you’re standing on.

The Paperbound Alpha demo features three Versus arenas from and one Capture the Quill arena. These arenas come from the Journey to the Center of the Earth and Skull Kingdom books. It’s a fun game with fast and frantic gameplay and a well crafted storybook visual style. Just watch out for paper cuts!

Check out the Kickstarter & Download the Alpha Demo

Lavapools is a fun, challenging and addictive ’hardcore game about dodging death’ that sees you dodging deadly traps and collecting crystals to progress to the next level.

Each level starts of fairly simply, but as you collect more crystals, more and more traps are activated, eventually turning into a near unpenatrable mix of blades, enemies and lava. When you die (and you will) you lose all of the crystals you collected, but similarly to Dark Souls, if you manage to get back to the spot where you died you can get half of the crystals back. This creates a real risk/reward dynamic, as you hold off collecting the crystals from your corpse for as long as possible, to keep the difficulty down, always aware that if you die before you collect them, they’re gone for good.

Lavapools has a charming pixel art graphical style, which compounded by the quirky sound bytes, challenging gameplay and it’s addictive ’just one more go’ nature makes for a thoroughly enjoyable game. It’s certainly worth taking a dip in Lavapools.

Download the Alpha, Free

Planet Explorers is an impressive open world voxel based sandbox adventure RPG set on a distant planet, that allows players to alter the terrain, customize their character, combine and create weapons, vehicles, and buildings and fight massive enemy creatures.

It’s the year 2287, and you and a bunch of other survivors have crash-landed on the planet Maria, an unforgiving land filled with deadly creatures. Now the survivors must explore, gather, build, create, fight, and ultimately, conquer the land.

Planet Explorers features a single player story line as well as random single and multiplayer adventure maps, with a mission system that features NPCs giving the player goals to achieve to advance the storyline. It can be played from 3rd and 1st person perspectives, with players will be able to customize their character, create weapons, vehicles, and buildings and battle multitudes of enemies of varying intelligence and defend the remnants of the colonists.

It’s a great looking game with an impressive scope, an interesting Sci-Fi setting, a plenty of crafting options, epic battles and a huge planet for you to explore and ultimately conquer.

Download the Free Alpha Demo or Purchase the Full Alpha through Steam (Win, Mac & Linux)

Europa 9 is a simple, but highly addictivemining game, inspired by Motherload & Utopian Miner where you’ll mine various ores, purchase upgrades, complete missions and travel to new worlds.

You play as Minora, a miner who is caught up working for the mega corporation Min-R-Mart. You’ll dig for minerals and complete objectives, gaining cash and unlocking new upgrades, shops and planets for you to explore, all rendered in a charming pixel art visual style.

The feedback loop in Europa 9 remarkably satisfying, you dig to mine ore, then sell the ore to unlock upgrades which allow you to mine more ore. Starting out with basic equipment which won’t allow you to go very deep or break through rock very fast, you’ll always be hankering for the next upgrade which will allow you to mine that much better. The various pickaxes are especially satisfying once they’re unlocked - purchase the laser pickaxe and you’ll be gliding through rock like a hot knife through butter.

There’s no denying that Eoropa 9 is a fairly simple game, but it’s also very addictive and it’s a hugely satisfying experience burrowing through layers of sedimentary rock. How deep can you go? Very deep indeed.

Play the Alpha, Free

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