Alpha Beta Gamer

Overture is a fast and fun 16-bit action-roguelike, with of randomly generated dungeons, 24 character classes, a vast array of weaponry and unlimited upgrades.

Inspired by the likes of The Legend of Zelda, River City Ransom and Diablo, Overture features chaotic dungeon crawling gameplay and a deep enemy AI system which belies it’s simplistic (but very cool) retro visuals. Not only are the procedurally generated levels unpredictable, but so is the AI, specifically designed to react to your actions in interesting ways, switching up attacks and swarming in from all directions.

Your near-unsurmountable quest is aided by tons of loot and upgrades, as well as some very handy companions who will aid you if freed from cells. Gameplay is fast, chaotic and incredibly fun. Nearing the end of development, the devs have launched a Kickstarter to raise funds to bring it to more platforms, add a bit of polish and squash any bugs. It’s already very impressive though, and features the same type of one-more-run gameplay that makes The Binding of Isaac so appealing. A very addictive retro roguelike.

Check Out the Kickstarter & Play the Free Beta Demo

Drift Stage is an über-cool retro racer, with awesome retro neon visuals and gameplay that harkens back to the glorious arcade racers of the 80’s and 90’s.

Inspired by classics such as Ridge Racer and Outrun, Drift Stage is a modern evolution of the classic arcade racer, with vibrant visuals, a rocking soundtrack and drift based arcade racing that will make you grin from ear to ear. This early alpha demo contains a time trial event for you to challenge three target time ghosts (novice/intermediate/expert), but the final version will feature a variety of retro cars and tracks, career mode, circuit races and multiplayer (local & Online).

It’s a wonderful love letter to the classic arcade racer, with striking visuals and handling that will make you laugh with glee as you perform epic drifts around corners. Retro racing doesn’t get any cooler than this.

Play the Alpha Demo, Free (Win, Mac & Linux)

Entomophobia is a GameBoy styled Ludum Dare 31 twin-stick blaster, has the player collecting power-ups and defeating waves of icky arthropods on a single chaos-filled screen.

This game, which looks just like it is being displayed on a GameBoy Color, has the player controlling the main and only character and their crossbow. With this crossbow, you must destroy waves and waves of huge bugs. After a wave of bugs are destroyed, a power-up will appear in the center of the screen and even more bugs will appear. These power-ups could increase your range, damage, amount of arrows shot, or just your health. It's completely random as to which power-up appears so each play through is that little bit different. Any power-up that is gained is then shown at the top of the screen, so the player can view their stats.

At first, the bugs that surround the character are pretty simple to kill, but can corner you. This adds a bit of a challenge, but as the waves increase, more challenging bugs appear. Their dead corpses and blood start to decorate the field as you destroy more and more. This game can get hectic fast, but is very addictive and has a great retro GameBoy feel. If you manage to fend off 24 waves enemies, there’s even a big boss battle to top things off.

With fast, fun and addictive gameplay it’s great fun fighting off waves of icky bugs on this old GameBoy styled game. Not just another bug hunt.

Play Entomophobia, Free

Rockrocket is a wonderfully atmospheric one-screen platformer full of secrets to discover, in which you must explore, collect and activate mysterious objects in order to escape a cave.

Made for Ludum 31, all the action takes place on a single screen, with a deceptively large amount to do, packed with seret passageways and items to collect or interact with. You must start by collecting all the glowing orbs that are hidden around the level, with your next objectives becoming apparent soon after. The wonderful pixel art graphical style is accompanied by an exceptionally atmospheric soundtrack, which adds to the air of mystery as you explore this fascinating cave system.

With a full playthough taking around 10 minutes, Rockrocket offers up a great blend of platforming and exploration, all contained within a single screen. A minimalistic pixel art spelunker full of secrets.

Play Rockrocket, Free

Zotrix is fast paced arcade shooter inspired by early shoot-em-ups of the 80’s and early 90’s, with a unique control scheme and tons of enemies with diverse attack partterns.

You’re tasked with carrying out missions, such as escorting cargo ships, from planet to planet - with you able to pick and choose your route. Complete a mission and you’ll be rewarded hansomeley, with you able to upgrade your ship with decoys, shields, laser boosters or even buy a new, better ship.

The rather unique control system is similar to a twin stick shooter, but with your fire focused on the same spot even if you move. This takes a little getting used to, but is a welcome addition that certainly adds to the experience. Zotrix is more of a classic arcade shooter than a bullet-hell experience. As you progress through a mission, you’ll amass an impressive amount of weaponry, that can eviscerate all but the toughest of enemies. As enemies fly in from all directions your goal it to wipe out as many of them as possible, aiming for a high score and lots of credits.

Feeling a little bit retro and a little bit new at the same time, it’s great fun taking on the waves of colorful pixellated enemies in Zotrix. A satisfyingly hectic retro blaster.

Play the Free Alpha Demo & Vote For it on Greenlight

Alum is an well crafted old school point-and-click adventure reminiscent of Beneath a Steal Sky, that sees you uncovering the truth about ‘The Vague’ – a mysterious disease that makes those infected increasingly apathetic and disconnected from the world.

Even from the outset you’ll notice that the writing in Alum is particularly impressive, as your protagonist, Alum, describes his wifes contition. She’s affliced with ‘The Vague’,and throughout the adventure you’ll uncover the truth about this mysterious illness, search a cure, and discover what’s really going on city of Kosmos.

Alum really does hark back to the glory days of point and click adventures, drawing inspiration from the likes of Monkey Island and Quest for Glory to create a game with charming retro visuals, excellent audio, intuitive puzzle design, quirky humor and an epic storyline. Like any good mystery, the more of the truth you uncover, the more questions you’ll have, pushing you towards this grand quests promised epic conclusion.

Play the Alpha Demo, Free

What would you do if a celebrity started pretending to do your job, badly and got paid a fortune for it? Well DJ and music producer Dr. Kucho has had this very problem, in the form of crap celebrity DJs who just turn up and press a button, and has decided to make a Ghosts ‘n Goblins-style retro arcade game out of it – Ghosts ‘n DJs.

In Ghosts ‘n DJs you play Dr. Kucho, as he battles his way through a rather tough side scrolling retro action game, fighting off hordes of naff DJs such as ‘Paris Sheratan’ and ‘Pitbullshit’. It’s no masterpiece but it fun to play, feels a lot like it’s GnG inspiration and does make you smile – especially when you see some of the DJs combat moves.

Still very early in development, we’d love to see this expanded on, with more crap DJs to beat up and more bonafide DJs to play as. As it stands though, it’s a fun and challenging slice of retro action with it’s tongue firmly in it’s cheek.

Check out the Kickstarter & Play the Free Alpha Demo (Win, Mac & Linux)

Papilio is a beautifully animated pixel art side scrolling fantasy shooter inspired by classic shoot-em-ups such as Forgotten Worlds, S.C.A.T and Final Mission.

Papilio's levels bristle with vibrant and colourful visuals, with inventive enemy designs including mini-bosses and large end of level bosses. It’s worth noting that Papilio is not a bullet hell shooter, more of a classic old-school shoot-em-up where it’s possible to survive for more than 30 seconds. Gamepay is fun, fast and full of action, with lots of cool power-ups, co-op play and a nifty ability to fire behind you if necessary.

Papilio really does revel in it’s retro arcade glory, with vibrant pixel art and a excellent audio - it feels like you should be playing while pumping quarters into an old arcade cabinet.

Download the Alpha, Free

Pixel Rift is a super cool (and rather silly) use of cutting edge virtual reality technology to re-create an authentic retro gaming experience, complete with retro consoles and environments.

You follow the life of a gaming addict Nicola as she battles through the ages to play her favourite game Pixel Rift. You’ll play on a variety of consoles, handhelds and arcade machines, all with different graphical capabilities, from black and white blocks to colorful 90’s polygons. You’ll also play in a variety of authentic environments, from sitting in front of your TV at home, to sneakily playing a GameBoy knockoff during class.

If the rest of the environments are half as good as the school level (full of fun little touches, easter eggs and bizarre mini games) that’s available in the Alpha demo, then Pixel Rift is going to be fantastic. It’s a wonderful concept, a fun tongue-in-cheek trip down memory lane.

This isn’t a retro game simulator, it’s a retro gaming simulator - and an awesome one at that!

Vote for it on Greenlight & Download the Free Alpha Demo (Rift)

Jack the Reaper is a fun 16 bit-styled 2D platforming game inspired the Kirby series, where you play a custodian of the dead who must restore the balance of life and death after the moon falls from the sky and screws everything up.

The story is told through well animated cutscenes, full of charm and humour (skippable with ‘Q’). You travel through the beautifully crafted, vibrant levels sending the dead back where they belong, and getting to the bottom of what caused it to happen it the first place. As well as your basic attacks, you also have the ability to absorb the defeated enemies souls, Kirby-Style, replenishing health and acquiring new abilities and weapons – which can later be combined together to great effect.

It really does hark back to the glory days of 16 bit platforming, with large sprites full of personality and color, challenging gameplay, cool power-ups and epic boss fights. Don’t fear the Reaper, adore him.

Play the Free Beta Demo

Posts tagged retro game