Captain Soda

It was really exciting to have received this game after being one of the earliest playtesters back in 2023! This game has had substantial changes from when it used to just be a Playtest build. Currently almost 100% the whole game and I have to say that it is a breath of fresh air compared to a lot of the other indie games releasing as of late. Games incredible, everything that I was waiting for since 2023 finally realized in this final build of the game, hope theres more content releases in the future and maybe even DLC? Soundtrack evolved from the playtest so now I dont have to hear the same track 40 times over. A lot of balance changes from the playtest seems to have remained unchanged in this version of the game. All in all an amazing game and well worth the 15 dollar price tag the developer has added to the game, truly recommend this for anyone who enjoys games like Cuphead as this has a huge inspiration from it.

I won a key from a contest on the dev's Discord server playing the demo. Glad to see the game came out! My .8 hours represent finishing world 1 of the campaign to almost 100%. That was 8 levels + a boss, so I imagine the full game of 60 levels is probably around 10-15 hours + whatever enjoyment you get out of endless mode. The game is very gameplay-centric and there's not much story to speak of, though that's not necessarily a bad thing. You shoot soda at enemies and collect it from on field to reload. You acquire a variety of characters, accessories, upgrades, and weapons that let you further customize and improve your build to deal with different stage and enemy layouts. There's definitely a bit of strategy involved which is nice and you'll need to build and play differently depending on the stage and objectives. The game supports a controller but is clearly designed with mouse and keyboard in mind though. $15 is maybe a little pricey but not insane. Certainly you'll know if the game is for you by playing the demo, and if you do like it there's tons of replayability. Overall, 4/5 stars, maybe 3/5 if you consider price. But still, that's a recommend in my book, and the demo makes it easy to just say "give it a try and see"!

Super-smooth arcade vibes

Very fun arcade platform shooter. I found myself trying levels over and over to get the challenges completed. Cute art and great music combine with tight controls and once you unlock some of the upgrades some great shmoovement!

Not quite done with this game yet but so far it has been quite a joy to play through with it's simple setup with loads of weapons and equipment to deal with wave based obstacles in single screen levels that remind me of old arcade games.

A real labour of love that feels fun and fresh to play The developer's Splatoon influence shines through in the aesthetic. The graphics are colourful, the music is energetic, and the unlockables are creatively designed You can feel the attention to detail from the menu navigation, the weapon tunings, and even quitting to desktop The combat feels punchy, especially the first time you knock an enemy into a wall. I cleared the first world in about 30 minutes but revisiting each level for the challenges really made me think about enemy spawns and weapon breakpoints. I found a niche use for each item, even the starting gun Navigating the levels will take some getting used to but it shouldn't take long Give it a try!

This one really brought me back to all the pixel art platformers I used to play on miniclip and nitrome as a kid, but with a more polished arcade-like feel. I love the music and the cheeky names on the enemies. Poggers, my beloathed. The gameplay seems straightforward at first but, the level layout, enemies, and projectile behaviour work well together to make really fun aha moments. I lowkey suck at platformers now (my reaction speed ain't what it used to be) and that usually makes me bounce right off them, but this one seems to hit the perfect flappy bird goldilocks zone where even if I die on a level, my immediate response is always "no I can definitely do better than that!" and I'm right back in it. Well done.