Alien Scumbags

Follow my Steam Curator Page here: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/40569399-Beta-Tested-Game-Reviewed/ This time around for the Indie 500 Gaming group, we checked out an awesome game named Alien Scumbags from developer Monster Finger Games. Alien Scumbags is a sci-fi action platformer with a big slice of horror and a stack of pop culture references. You'll run, hide and kill across several levels, collect items from capsule machines and unlock characters. The game released back in June of 2020 and features a free demo to play or the full game for $8.99 USD. I actually completed my first Twitch livestream playing this game for Indie 500 Gaming, check out the link below and the gameplay video, leave a like and follow if you enjoyed! https://www.twitch.tv/betatestedgr TL:DR Alien Scumbags is an enjoyable action platformer introducing copious amounts of easter eggs and references to pop culture. The game focuses on adult humor and language, as well as run and gun tactics taking on waves of aliens of different shapes, sizes, and health. Eventually you can face bosses and bonus levels as well, introducing a solid change of pace to the rest of the run and gun levels. There is an overarching story to tie the game together, but I personally don't believe the story is necessary for you to enjoy this game as the joy is brought from the actual gameplay itself. Replayability is a huge factor here as there are unlockables that release as you complete playthroughs and there are characters to unlock with their own abilities that change the way the game is played. The developer is constantly adding and updating which is a plus as I always appreciate devs that support their released games. You should definitely check this game out if you don't mind the language! How To Play Alien Scumbags is a game with simple controls resorting to the basics of running, walking, weapon swapping, and dropping a med kit. The starting level of the game serves as a tutorial with the instructions of how to play written on the wall. You can for sure die during this level, but it's not as difficult as later levels so it is a great starting point. Available to you at the start of the game is a couple different difficulties and more will unlock as you complete the game on the lower difficulties. Moving through all of the levels is a real treat as the developer has hidden pop culture references throughout the game so you should always be looking for secrets before you leave a level. The game runs on a score basis, killing enemies and finding secrets and collectibles give you score and dying takes score away. Boss Fights I'm always a fan of a good boss fight! The games of my childhood that I remember pouring all of my hours into always had boss fights along the way and one to capstone the whole game and Alien Scumbags did not disappoint! There were a couple boss fights included and there are different strategies for you to use. The strategies aren't obvious, which I enjoyed as it introduced a puzzle aspect for you to explore your different weapons and options available on how to best kill the beast in the room with you. Character Unlocks One of the coolest features of Alien Scumbags is that around the levels there are little machines you can activate to dispense random weapons, med kits, or even characters. The characters that you unlock you can then use for new playthroughs of the game. On the surface level this can seem tedious to play the game again, but each character has their own special ability except for the classic Master Chief character. Also with how much fun the game is, tedious is not a word that I think lines up with the game. The character unlocks add so much to the replay factor as it opens up new ways to play and new strategies for the players to enjoy! The characters themselves are also references to different pop culture icons, such as the Flash or Jason for the Halloween Update. Easter Eggs This developer has gone through great lengths to give us nods to all kinds of things in pop culture. I'm not going to go in depth here as finding these secrets made me super happy and I wouldn't personally want anyone spoiling all of the finds for me but I will give you a taste! One of my favorite easter eggs is finding this old wizard that upon seeing him he gifts you a weapon and tells you "it's dangerous to go alone". I hope you enjoy searching for these as much as I did!