We’re back again for another round-up of indie titles that have just dropped and have been stealing our time. As always, the list below features just a few of the indies that have recently been released, but we couldn’t find time to do full-fat reviews of them at the moment. Hopefully, these bite-sized reviews will give you a taste of what each is about—and you never know, you may even find a few hidden gems in the mix.
Memory Lost
Developer: Magic Hazard
Price: £16.74 / €19.40
Memory Lost, at first glance, may look like a copy of The Ascent, a fair comparison, as it’s a cyberpunk twin-stick shooter, but it’s got a few different tricks up its sleeve.
The tale is extremely cookie-cutter if you’ve ever played a cyberpunk-themed game where you take down gangs and evil corporations in equal measure, though you have no real memory of who you are until you find memory fragments to start piecing it all together.
Gameplay, on the other hand, brings something new-ish to the table: you don’t just fight the enemies you face—you actually become them. The core gameplay loop lets you possess enemies, allowing you to use their weapons and skills.
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It’s a cool mechanic, as you start fighting a group and then jump from one to another before the final shot rings out and you’re the last one standing. From brawlers to snipers and ninjas, you’ll face an impressive array of bad guys, each being a portal to a new arsenal of weapons and skills. You also bank XP that lets you level up a few core skills to make future runs a bit easier, as it’s quite a challenging fight, especially when you drop into the boss battles.
Visually, being a cyberpunk game, it’s full of details and live odds, and you feel like the city is living beyond your actions. Sound is OK, with questionable voice acting at times, but the soundtrack is an outstanding blend of synth and techno that creates a pulse-pumping sound sphere.
Memory Lost is a by-the-numbers cyberpunk title on the story front, but it kicks things up a gear in combat, bringing something fresh and clever to the genre.
SCORE: 4/5
Narcissus
Developer: Mad Jackal Games
Price: £1.69 / €1.96
Narcissus is a prime example of why we do this spotlight feature, because what can you honestly buy these days for £1.69?
Well, you get a banging little top-down, action-horror game that puts you in the shoes of the last survivor on a doomed spaceship. With one goal: make it off the ship in one piece. But the clock is ticking and, more pressingly, danger lurks around every corner.
Think Alien, but without the copyright, and you’ll have an idea of what you’re facing, especially the end of the original film, as here you have only three minutes, give or take, to stop the ship from exploding.
Cue a mad dash as you fight corridor to corridor. There are three different crew members to take on the challenges with, each having their own arsenal to use as you blast countless aliens, open doors, and turn off turrets for a bit of cover.
Visually, the game is moody and atmospheric, with only your flashlight lighting the way and your motion tracker beeping away in the corner, trying to give you a heads-up. It all has a very retro feel that suits that Alien vibe well.
Narcissus is cheaper than a pint and offers a good few hours’ worth of gameplay. Not an epic by any means, but well worth the price of admission and your time.
SCORE: 4.5/5
Rooftops & Alleys
Developer: MLMEDIA
Price: £20.99 / €24.30
Parkour and freerunning are cool as hell, but honestly, if I were to try it in the real world, a broken leg or back would be me getting off lightly, I feel. Luckily, though, the world of gaming once again provides.
Rooftops & Alleys is easiest to think of as the Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater of parkour, where you start by custom-building your runner before getting dropped into open areas full of things to climb, roll, and jump from.
Alone, you can play Trick Mode, where, as the name hints, you try to pull off the wildest tricks and combos for the most points within a time limit. Or there’s Time Trial Mode, where you have to run a track as quickly as you can, point-to-point.
The game gets better when you jump online and can run with your friends, playing tag, capture the flag, or trick battle, to name a few—and this is where the fun is to be found.
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Visually, the game is interesting, as the world around you is a vibrant cel-shaded place, but you are a silhouette, an almost shadow who happens to be wearing trendy threads. It’s an interesting style, to say the least.
Sound is gritty and weighted, with you feeling every trip and fall you make in-game, which even made me wince at times after falling from a height. The soundtrack is a mix of techno and dubstep and fits the vibe of the culture well.
Rooftops & Alleys is very much a sim title for parkour and freerunning, designed to be enjoyed with your mates online, with the solo modes feeling like training areas where you can polish your skills before throwing down online.
SCORE: 3/5
I Am Your Beast
Developers: Strange Scaffold and Frosty Pop
Price: £16.74 / €19.40
Sometimes games hit that make the art of killing feel like poetry in motion, games like Superhot, Hotline Miami, and now I Am Your Beast. From the creators of the outstanding love letter to Max Payne that was El Paso last year comes something brutal.
Billed as a high-speed, covert-action FPS, you play as highly trained spec ops type Alphonse Harding, who has retired until your old gaffer demands you back for one last job.
This is also accompanied by a bum-load of hired goons trying to find you—who happen to kill a bird, just a random bird flying about the woods. This action triggers Harding, and all hell follows. Think John Wick and his dog.
What follows is a fast-paced, skill-based killing sim where you can use anything you find to take out enemies. The cleaner the kill, the more time you get back. Each level is on a set timer, and the quicker and cleaner you execute things, the higher your end rank will be.
It brings in a profound level of strategy and planning, as your runs quickly become based on enemy placement as well as weapons. So, what starts as stumbling around the woods turns into a ballet of bullets, blades, and crimson across its 27 levels.
Visually, the game is striking, with a cel-shaded art style that borders on an almost comic book feel at times. Sound is top-tier, from solid voice acting to a soundtrack by RJ Lake that knows when to hold or kick in when the brown stuff hits the fan with its high-tempo electronic power beats.
I Am Your Beast is a blood-pumping and adrenaline-fuelled game that never lets up and never waits for you to catch up.
SCORE: 5/5
Strike Mission
Developer: Cube Games
Price: £7.67 / €8.89
If you’re of a certain age, odds are high you’ll remember the Strike series—from Jungle to Urban and Nuclear in the mid-90s, it seemed like there was a new top-down helicopter game every year… and then nothing.
It’s a genre that has, for lack of a better word, been grounded. Until now, it would seem, with Strike Mission, representing a tribute to the Strike games of yesteryear.
The tale (which, if you really need one beyond “blow up everything you see”) has you as elite pilot Jake Walker on a “critical” mission to save the world from a looming technological threat led by the ruthless terrorist Rashid Al-Farouk.
Cue seven missions that will see you attacking secret installations, intercepting weapon convoys, rescuing hostages, blowing up boats and oil rigs, and sabotaging enemy weapon factories.
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And on the whole, it plays like how I remember top-down helicopter-themed titles, where you have to keep an eye on fuel levels and damage, all while grabbing more ammo and the like.
Visually, Strike Mission is nicely detailed but very dull. You fight a LOT over deserts, and it’s a showcase for browns, sands, and tans. Sound is also so-so—single-toned in terms of soundtrack, and the repeated firing of your guns will likely drive you nuts.
If you’ve been longing for the genre’s return, this will scratch the itch. But it’s rough around the edges—so if you’re a newcomer, it’ll give you a flavour of what it was like.
SCORE: 3/5
Spray Paint Simulator
Developer: Whitethorn Games
Price: £12.49 / €14.79
Yin and yang. For every light, there is a dark. In the world of simulator titles, PowerWash Simulator could easily be seen as the light, whereas the new kid on the block, Spray Paint Simulator, is the dark. Other than what’s coming out of the end of your nozzle, these are technically the same game.
That said, Spray Paint Simulator brings some differences to the table, though nothing mind-blowing. Before each job, you have to mask areas and take down light fittings and the like.
Beyond that, it’s a case of getting jobs that grow over time. Starting with a car and eventually working up to a full-blown bridge. As you progress, you bank cash for a job well done, which unlocks better and more powerful gear to make future jobs easier.
It’s very basic and honestly a time sink, with later jobs taking four to five hours in real time to complete. That’s fine if you’re just wanting to chill for an evening.
It’s a fun spin on the formula, but you are told what colour to paint on the main jobs, which is a bit meh. Though you can jump into Free Paint and just go wild.
Is it better than PowerWash Simulator? No, as that’s just a bit more polished in general, and has more variety on the job front. However, I’ve still spent more time with Spray Paint Simulator than I’m willing to admit, so it clearly got its claws into me.
If you’re not a fan of this type of game, there’s nothing here to change your mind, as it’s more of the same. But with coloured water. Fans, however, will enjoy it, as it’s more things to clean. Sorry, paint.
SCORE: 3.5/5