Pixelpunk XL

What a fun little jammer! It's short and sweet, not too much to it, but there are some cool ideas here. Absolutely worth $4.

This little gem of a game honours the classic Descent in a lot of ways ... add in a cup of rogue-lite tastiness and stylized or pixelized graphics to your chosing and that mix starts to resemble what Pixelpunk XL is representing. It's a game with full 3 axis of freedom (6DOF) as you fly around in a spaceship within the confines of a randomly generated maze/spaceship where you'll encounter different enemies and are looking for certain blue and red orbs that are hidden away. If you don't like a certain level you can always restart the level with a new random design. The rogue-lite part makes you keep the found orbs after dying so you can progress in the game. By default the game is set to run in pixelated mode, but i cannot but recommend to use the Toxic option (it's on the main-screen you cannot miss it) which delivers a much sharper look and better use of color. Pixelated is really unsharp in this game. You can also select the Whitish option, but that makes everything look like you're playing on a Black & White monitor. I can really appreciate what this developer has delivered. It's ideal if you have some time to kill and don't want to lose hours on a game. Also any fan of the classics Descent should at least take a look into this little gem...

I gotta say I like this game. Definitely worth the money, even when it's not on sale. Very "Descent" feel, in some ways moreso than, say, Sublevel Zero. SL-Zero is a better, more polished game, but this one's no slouch either. The levels feel bigger and more expansive than SL-Zero, more like the orignal 1990s Descent. It's also fairly hard and challenging as the enemies come right at you, and your weapons and ability to dodge are sufficient, but limited. It also has a very "Teleglitch" feel to it. It generates good levels, that you want to explore. Good, very fitting background music. I hope they continue to develop this one.

Crunchy pixel pew-pew; phat beats are a bonus.

The game is fine for what it does. It controls well with keyboard and mouse, the default graphics work, though takes a little getting used to, and the sound effects and music are functional. Mechanically, the game works well. What the game lacks is content, and complex gameplay systems to provide depth for a longer experience. As it is, the game is worth the 75% off price simply because it is a fun, functional, albiet short adventure. If the designer(s) had spent a bit more time crafting what they had, with say, a story or purposefully crafted level system, I could see a game like this approaching the 20$ range.

This game feels really good to control, it sounds cool, its aesthetic is really, really nice, and the missile launcher is incredibly satisfying to wield. My main complaints with the game involve the enemies, and the lack of a map. The entrances to other rooms are pretty small, and it can be sorta difficult to actually find them. Along with that, the enemies have a lot of health, either that or your starting gun just isn't very good. I find myself using the rockets, and just hoping that I find more rockets, or a different weapon. The kamikaze enemies are extremely annoying, as they trail you, and it's often difficult to turn around and shoot them. Considering that they explode upon death, this makes it almost nigh impossible to kill them without taking damage, after they've locked onto you. Your weapons are also an issue. Your primary weapon shoots to the left, which means hugging the left wall will make your shots will just get eaten by the wall. Spatially this makes sense, sure, but it detracts from the gameplay, and it doesn't really make sense visually, I mean the gun is right there in front of you, the bullets shouldn't be catching on anything. The same goes for your rockets, which shoot down and to the right, which means that moving against the floor or a right wall will not only negate your rocket shot, but the explosion will damage you in the process, I've lost several times already due to this. There's only about four or five enemy variants so far as I can tell, and they function nearly identically, save the kamikaze enemy. They deal a fair amount of damage to you in a couple of shots, though your starting weapon will take about 4 seconds of dedicated firing to a single enemy to take out, again you're probably better off just relying on your rockets for the beginning portion of the run. The random levels are fun, but I feel like I've already seen all the rooms. Now it's just a different pattern of how they're meshed together, and I think the enemies spawn along with the rooms they're in, which kinda makes it predictable about what you're gonna face. I'd really love for there to be some type of 3D map to appear in your interface, it would help a lot with finishing your run. Also, there's little reason to explore in this game. The reward you receive for your randomly generated level is the end artifcact, and if you've already unlocked the bosses, then you don't receive much beyond that point, really. Weapons, rockets and health already spawn from just killing enemies, so exploring the physical world around you doesn't really matter, there's no chests or shops or anything of the like. Just some fairly dull gunplay with enemies that get sorta stale after a while. I've voiced my complaints, and I'm sure I have more, but everything else about this game is pretty great. I really love the movement, the music is tame but good for its ambience, I really adore the pixelated filter, and the weapons, aside from your starting gun, are pretty fun to use. Its movement feels as it should, very floaty and underwater. The visuals and the combat is as though somebody ripped Super Metroid and super imposed it onto an oceancraft simulator. There's not much of a HUD, just a few icons and numbers along your "Water Suit" or whatever you'd like to call it, and that lends itself heavily to the game's charm for me. As of right now, this game does feel very unfinished, but I'd say it's worth its rather low price, and I look forward to future developments from the Creator.

I would have gladly paid 5 dollars for this. Short but lots of actions and some variety in enemies. I'd like to know more about what kind of fighter ship you are piloting in and where in the world are you? This could use like an endless level mode or something, after you beat a level, you keep going until you die.

For the price, you can't go wrong. I prefer other 6DOF games over this, but wanted to try it out since it came up on my queue. Pros- + Visuals look decent most of the time + Controls are simple but good + The ambient music was nice Cons- - The filters can be a bit awful at times - animations can be a bit wonky would recommend

I recommend this game. Not because it's good, but cause I had a good time. The random level generator makes this absolutely worth playing. The music is slightly monotonous, the bosses are fairly easy and the game is not as fast pace as I expected. However, when you get into the groove of things, it's a good game to spend a bit of time with. I just wish there was more of it.