🧹🧙‍♀️ Cotton Reboot! | Nintendo Switch | Review | 8/10 | "Sweet Loving Witches Dodge Bullets For Fun In This Broom Em Up!" 🧹🧙‍♀️ @ININ_Games #GameDev #IndieGames

Surrounded by a blaze of bullets and headless zombies marching along the bottom of the screen Cotton Reboot could be mistaken for a fever dream quite easily as it throws everything at you in a colourful explosion of mayhem and madness interspersed with some non-sensical cut scenes about willow candy...

🦅 The Falconeer | PC | Gameplay | "Lets Go Fly A Kite!" 🦅 @WiredP #IndieGames #GameDev

In The Falconeer you will soar through the skies aboard a majestic warbird, explore a stunning oceanic world and engage in epic aerial dogfights, in this BAFTA-nominated air combat game from the solo developer, Tomas Sala.

🕹️ How Do You Celebrate Your Enthusiasm For A Franchise? 🕹️

 

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How do you show your loyalty to a brand? For clothes, we tend to buy special edition items, such as sneakers that are around for a limited time only. For things like music, we tend to support our favorite artists by buying their 1st edition album. For books it's the same, we go to the opening of a book sale, and we get a signed copy.

So what do you do for gaming?

Well, you can buy special edition figures, t-shirts and other forms of memorabilia. However, you have to separate the cheap stuff from the quality so you can be proud of having it in your home.

🥋 Within The Blade | Nintendo Switch | Review | 8/10 | "Ninjas are cool" 🥋 @pixelshinobi #IndieGames #GameDev

Within The Blade looked me in the eyes and said 'play me immediately'. A game that just screams '80s Ninjas and plays like a well oiled Bruce Lee is always going to evoke the memories of playing The Last Ninja and watching Enter The dragon for the 48th time after recording it on ITV at 11.30 on a Friday night.

🎶🎷 VGM Live – Pecaminosa Live Performance & Mark ‘TDK’ Knight 🎹🎶 #vgmusic

The last couple of years have seen me getting more and more into video game music, resulting in covering the LVGO (London Video Game Orchestra - https://www.gamesfreezer.co.uk/2020/03/london-video-game-orchestra-classics.html) – pre-lockdown, natch – and embracing the releasing of soundtracks on vinyl (https://www.gamesfreezer.co.uk/2021/05/video-game-vinyl-britt-recommends.html / https://www.gamesfreezer.co.uk/2021/05/games-freezer-interviews-blipblop-vgm.html). 

I wanted to write an article on two shows that really stood out to me over the last year…so I did.

💚 Where the Heart Leads | PS4 | Review | 9/10 | "A warm-hearted tale of life and all its possibilities" 💚 @ArmatureStudio #IndieGames #GameDev

When I was asked about reviewing Where The Heart Leads the only knowledge I had was that it was a dreamlike, narrative adventure with a lifetime of choices, which are words that fill my heart with glee.

Making decisions is probably my favourite thing to do in terms of mechanics, I love it. Having to contemplate things like morality, ethics and predicting outcomes are things I enjoy in other media as well as life in general, so I was very excited for Where the Heart Leads.

🪂🛩️☁️ Black Skylands | PC | Gameplay | Ten Minute Taster | "By Hook or By Crook" 🪂🛩️☁️ @BlackSkylands #GameDev #IndieGames

In Black Skylands you can build your skyship and explore the open world, fight factions of pirates and monsters, claim your territory by foot or by your flying vessel.

You're the captain and the sky is the limit in this Sky-Punk Open-World action adventure!

📟 Beautiful Desolation | Nintendo Switch | Ten Minute Taster | Gameplay | "Isometric Desolation" 📟 #IndieGames #GameDev

BEAUTIFUL DESOLATION is an isometric adventure game set in the distant future. 

Explore a post-apocalyptic landscape, solve puzzles, meet new friends and make powerful enemies, mediate conflicts and fight for your life as you unravel the secrets of the world around you.

🧠🔥 Fire: Ungh's Quest | Nintendo Switch | Ten Minute Taster | Gameplay | "Fight Fire With Brains" 🧠🔥 #IndieGames #GameDev

 

FIRE: Ungh's Quest is an exploration adventure with intuitive puzzle design.

Without losing many words it tells a savagely hilarious story.

Journey into the Stone Age and face the most challenging task of this era: The search for fire!

🐛👸 Mushihimesama | Review | Nintendo Switch | 8/10 | "Mushihimesama, or Bug Princess Bullet Hell" 🐛👸 @cavegames #IndieGames #GameDev

Despite this being a fairly obscure Japanese game, I had stumbled across Mushihimesama before. I read an article about the "bullet hell" sub-genre of shoot-em-ups and found a couple of YouTube videos of examples. One was called Perfect Cherry Blossom (Japan, there) and the other was this one, Mushihimesama, or Bug Princess.

🛩️ Red Wings | PS4 | Gameplay | Ten Minute Taster | "Barrel Rolls Ahoy!" 🛩️ @RedWingsTheGame #GameDev #IndieGames

Red Wings: Aces of the Sky is an arcade action game that puts you in the middle of WWI aerial battles. Accompany the legendary Red Baron and cheat death on your way to victory!

💥 Gearing up for the release of BEEP’s side-scrolling shoot ‘em up Cotton Reboot! 💥 #GameDev #IndieGames

ININ Games is gearing up for the release of BEEP’s side-scrolling shoot ‘em up Cotton Reboot! releasing both digitally and physically on Sony PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch in Europe, Australasia and North America on 20th July.

Cotton is already a much revered and iconic brand appearing on many consoles and computers from  PC Engine, Neo Geo Pocket Color, right through to Playstation. Cotton Reboot! presents PlayStation and Switch gamers a fun, colourful, cute ‘em up that offers brand new features, 7 stages that really highlight what a side-scrolling shoot ‘em up should deliver and it does it in abundance, together with a dazzling display of onscreen cast and challenges.

The player takes the role of the young witch Cotton, who ventures out on her magical broom on a quest to get her favourite candy. What unfolds involves her getting entangled with several world-threatening terrors which she must destroy. A really cool feature is the more enemies the player kills the more he can upgrade his weapon by collecting power crystals. Players can also charge their weapon for special attacks and enlist the aid of Silk, Cotton’s magical fairy friend who can form up in different “option” configurations.

 

Visual/Audio/Gameplay Features

• Remastered with hand-drawn HD graphics
• Remixed soundtracks
• Comes with Cotton: Fantastic Night Dreams in the X6800 original mode
• + 2 more game modes
  Arrange mode features 16:9 screens, redesigned graphics and characters.
  Score attack mode: the player competes for scores online within a limited time (2 minute and 5 minute modes can be selected).

Nintendo Life (Import)

Of all the "cute 'em ups" out there, it remains one of the best……………. 8/10 GREAT

M! Maniac (Import)

The gameplay is as precise as it is powerful, the shots have a lot of bang and the levels are interestingly designed. And the X68000 version is not just a nice bonus, but a completely independent game with its own challenge and different systems - a great package for every shooter fan!

Successful shooter package: Enjoy an action classic in its best home version and a great reinterpretation.  81%/100

Cotton Reboot! really does define what is best about the cute ‘em, shoot ‘em up genre and offers a whole lot more in what is a really magical and enchanting, atmospheric experience.

For more information, visit https://cotton.inin.games/.  

 

Limited Edition with Special Offerings

In addition to the physical and digital retail versions, there are three premium limited editions available, exclusively in the Strictly Limited Games Partner Shop.

• The Limited Edition comes with a manual and is available for €39.99 and limited to 3.000 copies for Nintendo Switch and 1.500 copies for PlayStation 4 worldwide.
• The Collector’s Edition is available for €79.99, limited to 2.000 copies for Nintendo Switch and 1.000 copies for PlayStation 4 worldwide and includes a tea set, the original & remastered soundtrack, an art book, shikishi and more.
• The Deluxe X68000 Collector’s Edition is already SOLD OUT due to huge demand.

👴🧓 Just Die Already | Nintendo Switch | Ten minute Taster | Gameplay | "Watch Out For Violent Bin Men!" 👴🧓 @DoubleMoose #GameDev #IndieGames

 

Just Die Already is an old people mayhem sandbox game created by the designers of Goat Simulator. 

You are old and angry and you've just been kicked out of your retirement home. How will you survive in a world that wants you to Just Die Already?

🐍 Anguna: Scourge of the Goblin King | A Brand-New Action RPG For The NES! 🐍 @6502Collective #GameDev #IndieGames

Anguna: Scourge of the Goblin King is a brand-new action RPG, or A-RPG, for the original Nintendo (NES). Drawing clear inspiration from classics such as The Legend of Zelda (1987), Anguna also takes inspiration from forgotten games like Deadly Towers (1987). 

The player must traverse the world in order to locate the Goblin King, a task that involves collecting items and power-ups along the way. Find ways to cross rivers, navigate rooms of darkness, and get past obstacles in the terrain. Anguna features real-time combat as the nameless hero squares off against lesser enemies and fearsome bosses, and culminates in a final battle with the Goblin King himself!

⚱️ Infinitrap: Rehamstered | Review | Xbox Series X | 8.5/10 | "fun, cute, twitchy, very addictive and extremely moreish" ⚱️ @ShadebobGames @showmemagic #GameDev #IndieGames

Like many cool kids of a certain age, I grew up watching the adventure movies of the ’80s and this game, at least in my head, is paying homage to the greats. The plot slightly echoes the Grail Knight scene in The Last Crusade on a seemly endless loop and the main protagonist looks like Quatermain from King Solomon’s Mines; If Sharon Stone makes an appearance, I might never remove this smile from my face!  

👊💥🖐️ Alex Kidd In Miracle World DX | PC | Gameplay | "Time To Master Nah Janken" 👊💥🖐️ @MergeGamesLtd #GameDev #IndieGames

 

A legend returns in stunning new detail with Alex Kidd in Miracle World DX! Fire up your power bracelet and relive a platforming classic alongside new modes, levels and features!

🤖 MONO BOT | PC GAMEPLAY | "ROBOT LIMBO" 🤖 @Ukuza_games #GameDev #IndieGames

Mono Bot - Coming online, Mono finds himself alone in a dark, dystopian world overrun with other hostile robots.

Guide Mono through his solo journey, unravelling puzzles to uncover the buried secrets of this desolate world.

Can you break the infinite cycle and find your true self?

🎲🕹️ The Best Party Games To Play IRL With Friends 🎲🕹️ #BoardGames #VideoGames

 

Image Link (CC0 License)

Games are ten times better when you play them with friends. A lot of us spend time gaming online, but there are instances where we get together with others for some IRL fun. In these cases, it helps to have some fun party games to play with everyone. So, here's a pick of some great games you can all play in the same room:

⚔️🛡️ Chivalry 2 | Xbox Series X | Review | 8.5/10 | "An Axe-Throwing, Head-Lopping, Catapult-Lobbing Joy" ⚔️🛡️ @TornBanner #GameDev #IndieGames

Historically, I’ve never really played many online multiplayer games. I even have a very close group of friends that regularly meet up virtually to play games that I thoroughly enjoy in single-player modes but don’t appeal to me in multiplayer, maybe I’m a recluse…hence the name of my band (www.recluse.bandcamp.com).

And yet…when I saw the trailer for Chivalry 2, the weighty-looking combat completely won me over as it reminded me of Kingdom Come: Deliverance (another game that completely bowled me over by surprise) and I am a sucker for some medieval action, these two factors led to me taking a dive into the game and it is a choice that has rewarded me deeply!

🚀 The Persistence : Enhanced | Review | PS5 | 5/10 | "Sucked into a Black Hole" 🚀 @FirespriteGames #IndieGames #GameDev

I found this review hard to write. Jumping into this game with no knowledge; I looked at the cover art - which appeared to represent a horror game  - and leapt at the chance to review it, but within thirty minutes of playing it, I realized it does something that I am really not keen on and I especially don’t enjoy it when horror games, in particular, do it.

Truthfully, If I was playing this game without intending to review it, I would have stopped after forty-five minutes and put it down as ‘just not my cup of tea’. Though I do enjoy occasionally trying out games that I would tend to avoid -  to see whether the game can win me over and possibly change my view - this game sadly didn’t and in fact, further cemented my thoughts.