Alpha Beta Gamer

Radical Heroes is a great looking 2.5D side-scrolling beat-em-up, reminiscent of classics like Double Dragon and River City Ransom.

It looks fantastic thanks to the 2D retro Sprites in a 3Dish (slightly-less-retro-but-still-pretty-damn-retro) world. It also features Oculus Rift support, but be warned, the mixture of 2D, 2.5D and 3D may make your eyes implode.

The fighting is fairly basic but great fun, with extreme close-up finishers, weapons and objects scattered around the levels, boss fights, the ability to enter shops to buy items and upgades, even the ability to hire back-up from a Robocop lookalike. There are also a huge amount of unlockable characters, mostly with tongue-in-cheek references to classic movies and games, with Ultra Lad (Mega Man), Street Commando (Rambo) and Robo Kid (Terminator) all making an appearance.

Radical Heroes is shaping up to be a great slice of retro nostalgic fun, it’s big dumb fun, exactly what a side-scrolling beat-em up should be!

Download the Alpha Demo, free

KeeperRL is a Dungeon Keeper and Dwarf Fortress inspired dungeon simulator with roguelike mechanics, where you play as a Sauron-like character, searching for ultimate knowledge of destruction.

It’s a great game with charming retro visuals, deep gameplay mechanics, procedurally generated worlds, and even features a story based adventure mode. The dungeon building is excellent and reminiscent of Dungeon Keeper, there’s a real sense of progress as you build and upgrade your lair. The turn based battle system is great fun too, with you controlling your main character and leading your minions into war, sporting a variety of scrolls, spells, potions and equipment.

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Dusk of D.A.W.N. is a great looking trading card game that sees you taking on the role as C.E.O. of your own Megacorporation in a world that has been ravaged by a psychotic Skynet-like AI.

You’re tasked with battling other corporations for supremacy, using tactical and strategical weaponry, defences, abilities and synergies, all in card based form.

The game mechanics of Dusk of D.A.W.N. are solid, making for some very entertaining and strategic battles, and the futuristic setting fits well, makings for a refreshing change from the usual Tolkienesque fantasy style of trading card games.

Join in the Alpha now, and sign up for the Beta

Standpoint is a first-person puzzle-platformer, where you can manipulate the orientation of your surroundings to allow you to traverse levels. It’s an inventive mechanic, when combined with the striking visual style and accompanying narrator, it comes across as a great mixture of VVVVVV and Portal.

Standpoint is shaping up to be a very enjoyable and intelligent first person puzzler, the Beta Demo includes the prologue for the full game.

Download the Beta Demo, Free

Want to play a zombie MOBA? Or ZOMBA if you prefer, but that might sound too much like a fitness workout. Either way, Beta testing for Dead Island: Epidemic is due to start very soon, and it’s looking quite good. With pick-up-and play gameplay, nice visuals and over the top cartoony violence, it could be worth giving a go.

Sign up for the Beta

The Last Disbeliever is a Satirical, Art-Driven First Person Action/Adventure/Shooter game set in an alternate world, where the US has started a merciless campaign for global domination. It tells the story of an ATF Special Agent Sebastian Arise who was sent to track down a suspicious cargo delivered by a US illegal firearms dealer. You end up stranded near a small village in eastern Europe, being run by a ruthless religious cannibalistic cult. Things start to turn even stranger, as you investigate Imortal emotion sapping Daemons, and even time-travel back to the year 1366 A.D.

It’s not a gung-ho shooter, combat is slower and more tactical, with all out gun-fights best being avoided. There’s a great atmosphere in the game, with a real sense of tension and danger throughout. It’s an intriguing game, that will keep you wondering (and dreading) what will happen next.

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Major League Wizardry is a great new trading card game that pits wizard against wizard in turn based warfare.

MLW has a fantastic hand drawn art style, with monster designs that are especially inventive and fun, adding a lot of character to the game. The game’s easily accessible to newcomers, but also has plenty of depth courtesy of the wide variety of monsters, spells and traps that are at your disposal. The game features a single player campaign, online multiplayer and asynchronous play modes, allowing you to you defeat your wizardly foes, collect and trade cards to help bolster your deck.

Major League Wizardry is fun and inventive trading card game that can make for some very entertaining battles. The Open Beta is available for Win, Mac and Android, with iOS coming later in the year. There are also plans to add a variety of great new features, including ranked matches, skins, combos, monster levelling and even physical cards so you can play the game in real life.

Play the Open Beta (Win, Mac & Android)

Grey Phobia is Sin & Punishment style Run and Gun, Hack & Slash game with RPG and multiplayer mechanics, set in a very cool comic book style post apocalyptic world.

The game is viewed from behind the character, as you run into the screen shooting enemies, dodging bullets and battling bosses. It can be played in single-player Story mode or multi-player co-op, features a variety of upgrades and crafting mechanics.

It’s a great bit of run and gun arcade fun, with depth and plenty of style.

Download the Beta, Free

Paper Dream is a fun, fast paced, twitchy paper airplane game, created by the students of Lawrence Tech, where you require quick thinking and fast reflexes to traverse the levels while trying to rack up a high score.

Levels are cluttered with a variety of shcool themed obstructions to impede your progress and are generally pretty tricky, especially as your paper plane is remarkably fast. This fast gameplay and the ability to restart quickly makes for a very addictive game, with you constantly trying to pull of a perfect run, squeezing through extremely tight gaps and even fighting boss battles.

Play the Beta, free through a Unity supported browser

Cashtronauts is a fast-paced, retro arcade-style game for 1 to 4 players. It’s not just your average shooter, players can choose their own play style, focusing on mining, pirate hunting or just pillaging and looting.

You can play through a campaign in single player or co-op, trying to make it as far across the galaxy as you can before you die. Warping from system to system, scrounging together enough cash to pay your way through the next warp gate before your pursuers catch up to you.

There’s also a fun skimirsh mode, a competitive game mode where the goal is to make as much cash as possible within three rounds. That cash can also be used to buy powerups and upgrades in the Black Hole Market. Prices fluctuate based on player action, dynamically balancing the game.

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