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Hollow Knight Holds Up, And a Sequel is in the Works

Posted on by Dave Pizza
This review was rehauled for 2023 with the whispers of the internet saying once again “Silksong.” Will this be the year? Gamers have been waiting patiently for a sequel to Hollow Knight for, well, A LONG TIME. But the creators of this series know that their audience needs, no wants, no gnashes for it. And it’s not totally obvious to some players, who just see it as a mid-tier hand-drawn platformer. Either way, it’s worth trying this game out if you want a game not confined to an era or trend or anything really; people have branded it indie without… Read the rest

How to Install & Launch SMAPI in Steam for Stardew Valley

Posted on by Dave Pizza
I’ll show you how to install and launch SMAPI in Steam for Stardew Valley as well as a few other tricks like installing a cheat code mod. SMAPI and its compatible mods not only make the game have longer replayability but actually can save you a ton of time if you’re a casual player. Using mods is a great way to make the best use of your playtime. So, let’s jump right in and get started. By the way, if you’re looking for a beginners guide to Stardew Valley, check out my article : Stardew Valley Beginner’s Guide – Useful… Read the rest

Nordic Ashes Takes on the Enemy Hell Genre With Viking Warriors

Posted on by Dave Pizza
Nordic Ashes: Survivors of Ragnarok is a ride and a vibe–or whatever these new Midgardians call things. It was a great time trying the early access on Steam, and I’ll tell you about it. This is a passive auto-combat… roguelike–it’s a Vampire Survivors type game basically. Overall, these are good fun, and anybody can play them with a little familiarity with the genre. In this one, you play a Viking warrior (is that a redundant term?) It’s all about piling on the mobs and vanquishing them here. There are several upcoming characters, skills, and weapons on the horizon for its… Read the rest

Choices Matter Every Time in the Visual Novel “OVERBOARD!”

Posted on by Dave Pizza
This article about Overboard is in the June 2022 Issue 4 of ChoiceBeat: The Visual Novel and Interactive Fiction Zine.With eye-catching flat graphics and exciting period-stylized environments, no one could say the game Overboard! doesn’t have class. (Also known as Overboard! Get Away With Murder.) Literary elements and composition create an intellectual environment on the fictional steamship SS Hook, where your task is to resolve speculation on a murder. It’s not just an ordinary mystery though. From the very get-go, it’s made apparent that you, the apathetic yet charismatic, Veronica Villensey, are the killer–of her own husband! It is up… Read the rest

How to Find Free Games on Steam

Posted on by Dave Pizza
This is a tutorial on how to find and download free games on Steam. If you’re familiar with the Steam client store or website, you might know the layout can be incredibly open-ended. I use it every day, and it is one of my most useful resources. This allows for some exploration of methods to filter new games posted. Steam is considered one of the most essential clients for finding new game releases for digital download on PC. It is home to tens of thousands of retail, but also free, games. This isn’t a terribly complicated process, however, for the… Read the rest

Firegirl: Hack ‘n Splash Rescue is a Neat 2.5D French Firefighting Game

Posted on by Dave Pizza
The idea behind Firegirl: Hack ‘n Splash Rescue is in the title, Firegirl. I find myself drawn to this game due to its slight quirk and frank concept. But the game deserves a little more credit than assuming the entire plot is based on a conjunction of the words “fire” and “girl.” Although you are exactly that in the game, Firegirl is the type of game that should have been made, conceptually, at least in the 90s. But three decades later, here it is with a shiny package. Classic nods from many of the old-school NES-style games are here though,… Read the rest

Haiku the Robot is a Surprising New Indie I Played

Posted on by Dave Pizza
Yep, Haiku the Robot is about robots, although you’re more likely to catch on fire before most of its poetics! It’s a dystopic pixel platformer with a variety of routes to navigate through. The tunnels are left from the aftermath of an apocalyptic turn. It does have somewhat of a narrative for the first minute. Mostly, you’ll be in the heat of battle. You are thrown into the general theme of trying to find your way around immediately. Thankfully, maps are available. Collect bits and bobbles to fund your robot hack-and-slash lifestyle. This game is as challenging as platformers like… Read the rest

A Showcase of Vesper: Zero Light Edition (On Switch)

Posted on by Dave Pizza
Vesper: Zero Light Edition is out on Nintendo Switch and PC today! Players can find this new version, plus the big debut Switch release, on eShop and Steam. It’s an innovative platformer with arcane space vibes and shimmering, colorful environments. It also includes a compelling and innovative storyline told through holographic recordings and plentiful checkpoint diversions. I played the first twenty minutes on my Switch for you. I have to say it’s one of the more stylistically compelling platformers I have played a release version of. You might be familiar with one of my other past articles on the game… Read the rest

Rotund Zero is a Super Cheap Preview of the Rotund Franchise

Posted on by Dave Pizza
Back with another Indie Game Collective showcase for Rotund Zero. It’s a precision platformer with a Game Boy monochrome style that uses directional keys only to solve puzzle levels made of bouncing blocks. It’s only $1.99 on Steam at the moment and encourages problem-solving in timed runs. You have 5 minutes to complete as many levels as possible, and there are 26 levels, 1 for every letter of the alphabet! You’ll be on your toes to speedrun all of those levels, but the pressure is mild. Watch the YouTube video at the top of this article to see me run,… Read the rest

Galacticon Really Plays Like an Old Arcade Cabinet Style Game

Posted on by Dave Pizza
Today, I’m taking a look at the soon-to-be-released, arcade-style title Galacticon from developer Radin Games. It’s similar in style to 1980s arcade games like Defender, Joust, and Jetpac. You might be familiar with some of these from the book Ready Player One; and maybe the film, but I can’t remember, although I know Joust featured prominently in the book. I sat down with the space-themed preview they provided and honestly got really into it. Initially, I wondered how much there’d be to say, but the game has many objectives. There’s also an online leaderboard to compete with, so it is… Read the rest

Jaded – Another Game From My ItchIO Free Game Binge

Posted on by Dave Pizza
I love these platformer games that emerge from the woodwork every single day. Today, that game is Jaded by Shellsnore games, up on Steam. It’s a standard platformer with directional keys, jump, attack, and a special mechanic which is a time warp. Although the time warp mechanic is more of a cacoon slingshot kinda thing, it works pretty well. I was able to bind my controller to the basic keys with no problem. Let me share a tad more here for you. Getting Started with Jaded The demo does mention that the game is still in beta, and there are… Read the rest

Peglin and its Pachinko Goblins – Trying the Demo

Posted on by Dave Pizza
Peglin is a great game where you complete levels by dropping a ball into a destructible pattern of mechanic-activating orbs. You can activate critical strike boosts, or replenish the board. And, before I gloss over too quickly, the purpose of this strategy is to rack up points that can then be used to attack mob health points, in effect winning the level and moving on. I was lucky enough to find the demo on Steam, although the main game has been covered elsewhere. Anyway, I’ll give you a brief rundown of Peglin. Why Peglin? So, it turns out Peglin is… Read the rest

BIOTA the Robot Action Monochrome Indie

Posted on by Dave Pizza
I’m going to try something new here. I have been known to review demos in the past, but they get kind of buried under other projects. I really want to dedicate time to as many as I’d like to. All things relevant, I made a post on Twitter about needing to play for Game Boy-style indies. I got a great tip from cshPinecone of Indie Game Collective about the game BIOTA from “small bros.” It’s a shmup–aka shoot ’em up. Blasting away weird goops of purple eyeballs has its merits, so here it is on MrDavePizza. The game is rich… Read the rest

Dogurai – Heck Yeah, a Doggo Samurai!

Posted on by Dave Pizza
Dogurai by HungryBear is a Game Boy-style indie Metroidvania. I know about it through, a couple of co-creators from Indie Game Collective. Thank you, Jaunty Adventures and Pursuing Pixels. Their taste is superb, as this turned out to be an exciting game. I’ve covered very few Game Boy titles here, aside from Lasagna Boy and… actually, that might be it. It’s a great genre if you want to get into indies. In summary, the designs are aligned with the palette and rendering of old-school Game Boy games. This one in particular is a nice platformer/Metroidvania that takes you through some… Read the rest

I Found the SNES Style “Bumballon” for Under a Dollar, and it was GREAT

Posted on by Dave Pizza
I’ve got a great video up for Bumballon on my YouTube channel because I found this game on a Steam sale for 89 cents! With some investigation, I narrowed down some impulse options for pixel art platformers in the likes of some recent faves like Grapple Dog (which hopefully I’ll get to) and PomPom. Bumballon is a game with unique characters and a traditional SNES-type side-scroller game that puts me into an optimized chill mode. Basically, hop in a cannon, and, after the blast-off, interact as you’re taken for a ride through a colorful world with unique obstacles and fun… Read the rest

Earth Day Game Pick: Tadpole Tales

Posted on by Dave Pizza
Today is Earth Day, and that’s why my free game pick for the day is Tadpole Tales. I played this last year with a fair amount of amusement at the concept. The art style is juicy and vibrant like a Miyazaki film or perhaps some other manga animation. It’s an arcade-style game. This doesn’t mean it’s confined to an arcade cabinet somewhere, it’s a Steam title that’s easy to start and has a few basic controls and mechanics. Gameplay in Tadpole Tales Plot your way as a tadpole through a polluted river. When you heal corrupted wildlife with a splash… Read the rest

Moonstuck is Literally Impossible, Stop Now

Posted on by Dave Pizza
When I posted this game, the dev joked to me that I’d done a really great job, which if you watch this video, you’ll realize is hilarious. The game is literally impossible. What? Why am I writing about that? It’s free, otherwise, there’d be an uproar on Steam. Gameplay Moonstuck is a 2D platformer from CozyGames and Black County Games available on Steam just released today. It utilizes a very difficult mechanic involving rocket propulsion and a scenario where touching the majority portions of the platform can result in being kicked back to the start, or checkpoint if you proceed… Read the rest

Octarina, A Game About an Octopus Trapped in a Sushi Factory

Posted on by Dave Pizza
Octarina is a physics puzzle game about an octopus escaping a sushi factory (don’t worry, you’re on the side of the octopus!) Using your squiggly limbs and momentum, propel yourself around the interior of the factory with the intention of escaping. You can use suction cups to climb structures and hurl objects at switches to reverse conveyor belts and such. Gameplay There are three modes: speed mode, story mode, and “the floor is lava.” Despite the dire situation, the game is pretty pleasant and amusing. The graphics and art style are spot on, making use of mid-range graphics cards, which I… Read the rest

With You is Still Fun For “Single” Players

Posted on by Dave Pizza
With You is from Carol Mertz and Insatiable Cycle, the same publisher of “We should talk.” It’s a simple co-op puzzle platformer that can be played with a keyboard. It can also be played as one player using the respective sides of their keyboard to control the two main characters. How to Play Solve puzzles by figuring out geometric obstacles, flipping around your square and half-circle buddies so that they can fit into the floating sections on the two-dimensional plane behind them, and unlocking the next levels. The game features a cute style, with a pleasant soundtrack, and is described on the… Read the rest

This Game is Basically Cyberpunk Pong

Posted on by Dave Pizza
Exoblast is basically a very extreme version of pong. Made by the French developer DreamIRL Games, it hit Steam last month and is free as of version 1.0. You control a machine slider in charge of one side of the screen playing against either an AI or another player (there seems to be a function for online mode too.) It’s got some great gameplay and as far as pong goes, might be the most industrial pixel art feast for the eyes in all of the pong kingdom. I have no reason to mention it other than I found it pretty… Read the rest

Super Duper indies: Hip Witch

Posted on by Dave Pizza
Hip Witch is a free adventure game released on Steam this week by developer Studio Hip Sword. The environment is handmade, and the storyline involves a lost young witch boarding in a state park, where she begins a quest to investigate odd happenings on the park’s grounds. It is playable with a controller or keyboard and is short but charming and cozy met with positive reviews. Gameplay in Hip Witch: You Got Spells, Man? Hip Witch is a cozy little indie with reminiscence of games like A Short Hike and other outdoor-themed video games. Everything is hand-drawn giving it the… Read the rest

Village Monsters: A Pleasant Town Sim Borrowing From Made Up Myths

Posted on by Dave Pizza
Village Monsters is a solo dev project from Josh Bosser. It’s a pixel art town sim that departs from conventional titles with an alternative community of friendly monsters. The game plays on similar genre themes as Stardew Valley but the content goes into the outsider/quirk genre of games with its monster acceptance communicated in each character’s unconventional friendliness. It departs from too much comparison by offering a vast amount of exclusive unique story concepts in each character’s backstory and dialogue. Players can also enjoy activities like treasure hunting, fishing, exploring, working, and contributing to the town itself. Village Monsters is… Read the rest

Pompom is A Challenging, Colorful Hamster Platformer

Posted on by Dave Pizza
The recently released pixel platformer Pompom: The Great Space Rescue ran across my desk as a showcase opportunity through my friends at Indie Game Collective. It’s a precision platformer, sort of, with a feature I’ve never seen before this involving time slowing AND improvised platform placement. You can play with a controller, or you can play it with a mouse (or hamster actually, since that is Pompom’s main character you play as.) The game balances innovative gameplay, a moderate learning curve, and generous leniency to keep your gameplay flowing. I’m thoroughly enjoying it, at the level of some other top… Read the rest

Moonlighter is a Much Better Game Than I Thought

Posted on by Dave Pizza
The game Moonlighter is a combination of rogue-lite dungeon-crawler mixed with trade simulation and story-rich RPG elements. This timeless, beautifully rendered pixel top-down was released by Digital Sun in 2018, and the game is available on most platforms like PC & Nintendo Switch.Moonlighter is a story about hopeful adventurer Will, a shopkeeper in the small commercial town of Rynoka. Although his family’s shop offers stability and prosperity, it is sustained by the materials found deep in dungeons accessed through gates outside the village. Every night after the shop closes, Will skulks into the darkness to descend into the dungeons before… Read the rest

Mago is a Colorful SNES Style Platformer About a Sorcerer

Posted on by Dave Pizza
Let’s take a look at Mago: The Villain’s Burger. It’s filled with so many fun easy-to-learn but masterable abilities and unique mechanics that you just don’t find in every game. The best way to understand it is most likely visually, but today I’ll be talking about why Mago is a promising look at how its developers are creating something that is, possibly, capable of going big if they wish. So, let’s get started. This game is available on Steam. Mago: The Villain’s Burger is an adventure set in a world populated by fresh NES sprites and joyful playful storytelling. It… Read the rest

Indie Spotlight: Fayburrow – a Super Cozy Student Project

Posted on by Dave Pizza
Today, I plunged headfirst into the free games pile of new releases over on the Steam store. On my arrival, I discovered a cozy little visual novel among the listings called Fayburrow, and I decided to take a look at it. Fayburrow is a free game created by the self-named “Fayburrow Troupe” at VIA University College in Denmark. It just hit the Steam store today. What was first intrigue, turned into a fascination with the conjunction of such delightful graphics with a genre I have not covered in far too long! So, after downloading, I fired it up and took… Read the rest

Playing “Make The Burger” Because It Looked Cool, and it Kinda Was

Posted on by Dave Pizza
Welcome to my post about Make the Burger. This game’s release date on Nintendo Switch occurred this week, although it has a presence on Steam and ItchIO as well. This is a casual food truck sim with catchy and fun pixel environments and a line-up of hungry and paying illustrated customers. Your entire success is dependent on your ability to remember ingredient symbols and who ordered them. Take orders from customers to cook the burgers they want as accurately and quickly as possible. Upgrade your establishment each day by using funds to purchase new ingredients, furniture, and various tools of… Read the rest

Is “Pizza Express” the Predecessor to Good Pizza, Great Pizza?

Posted on by Dave Pizza
My hunger for low-res grounded pixel games lately opened me up to a stellar sale on a game called Pizza Express. Pizza Express is an indie pixel-graphic pizzeria simulator about a fast-paced solo restaurant run by animal friends Gastone the cat and Lucky the rabbit–and also you. The game is fairly simple but incorporates playful dialogue and gameplay that is quirky in the best indie-adhering ways. It is very similar to the game Good Pizza, Great Pizza, but is older and definitely a bit more grassroots. I enjoyed it very much, so I’ve decided to bring this review of it… Read the rest

GOOD PIZZA, GREAT PIZZA is the Ultimate Pizzeria Simulator

Posted on by Dave Pizza
In the Fall of 2020 when I was just launching the Mr. Dave Pizza concept, I played Good Pizza, Great Pizza by Tapblaze on an Android tablet, one of the many formats this game is available on. Today I played the official version released for Nintendo Switch to go back and really see what amused me about this game. Pizza, the food, has always been pretty popular, but in the last five years, it’s developed a near cult status. It’s kind of weird honestly, but it’s spun some pretty creative and entertaining ideas. So, after so much traffic from google… Read the rest

Figment 2: Creed Valley is a Vibrant & Dali’esque Game

Posted on by Dave Pizza
It seems that Figment 2: Creed Valley, is a new game headed to Nintendo Switch in February of 2022. I’ve been all about checking out these Switch demos right away, and when I saw this listed today I downloaded it immediately. I wasn’t quite sure what I was dealing with here, as it seemed somewhat derivative but also cozily familiar, the reason of which I discovered later. This game is really pleasant-looking though. It reminds me of moments from games like Bastion but also games like Weaving Tides. It’s pretty cute really, with enough prickly wholesome creepiness to stay interested.… Read the rest

Sable – This is a Strange Game But Freaking Beautiful

Posted on by Dave Pizza
Sable is a very promising story-rich open-world game with lots of punch in the aesthetics and some very captivating design qualities. Most noticeably, is the 2D illustration in a 3D environment, but also the story. Gamers will feel like they are flipping through a really high-quality graphic novel that has come to life on whatever system they’re using to play it on. I wondered throughout the demo whether this was an alien world, a fantasy world, an ancient world, or something that exists within its own celestial sphere of storytelling. In fact, it is all of these things. I wasn’t… Read the rest

Glyph is A New Hidden Gem Platformer I Played

Posted on by Dave Pizza
“Glyph” is a puzzle/platformer released this month. I was able to secure a copy through my friends at Indie Game Collective. I was curious about Glyph, primarily because of the smooth and colorful graphics, pretty apparently Egyptian theme, and also because, while I don’t excel at puzzle platformers, I am getting better. And naturally, I just wanted to test my skills at what seems to be an extremely feature-rich game. I made it peacefully through quite a bit of the intro in the recorded gameplay and learned enough to tell you about this interesting game. Take to the ground or… Read the rest

Doggone Hungry: This Good Boy Wants All Of Your Snacks NOW

Posted on by Dave Pizza
Doggone Hungry is a lovely little PC doggo game about an adorable pup, his favorite toy, some loveable humans, and that gosh darn cat. You’ll pounce countertops against the clock to acquire enough, and by enough I mean as many as he wants, snacks to bulk up and solve the exasperating crisis of your unreachable toy duck Quackerjack. The style is a colorful pretty much low poly location-based game filled with humans relaxing and occasionally opening doors for you. Don’t be so quick to bark after lunching on some prepared hot dogs they had sitting out because you will get… Read the rest

Mini Motorways is A Little Great Game About Traffic

Posted on by Dave Pizza
Mini Motorways is a delightful traffic planning sim released within the last month. It boasts charming flat graphic aesthetics with an intuitive casual style game experience. The sleek 2D environment bleeds indie simplicity worthy of a gaming machine or a new phone. The gameplay is relatively simple but allows interactive city planning in a selection of metropolitans all around the world. Start with a small group of structures within the map and drag road tiles and other traffic structures between color-coordinated structures to advance. As you progress, you’ll learn tricks and skills to create a flawless infrastructure. I’m excited to… Read the rest

Dark Dragonkin is A Little, Simple Indie I Played

Posted on by Dave Pizza
Dark Dragonkin is an indie dev project from Twintertainment that is a top-down pixelized fantasy RPG/dungeon-crawler. Players control multiple characters in a group to make them work together to defeat enemies and advance the story. This game is still deep in the dev process with a potential audience of RPG fans and general indie gamers. It feels very attended to as a solo dev project though, and the potential to scale abilities and environments into a fully fleshed world is entirely real. So, I sat down with Dark Dragonkin and played through the first level. I recommend if you test… Read the rest

Toodee and Topdee is one of the Best Indie Puzzlers Out

Posted on by Dave Pizza
Toodee and Topdee is so far one of my favorite platformer concepts that I’ve ever tried. A while back I did a documentary review that talked a bit about the game Fez. While much different conceptually, they both have a neat mechanic that combined 2D platforming with shiftable perspectives. I’m not sure how efficiently I can describe this concept without getting into some straight-up academic theories involving geometry, so be sure to watch the video, but suffice it to say it is really, really neat. Plus anybody can play! The game has a compelling intro with a demagogue world-merging backstory,… Read the rest

Mini Racing World is one of the Most Unique New Racing Games

Posted on by Dave Pizza
Mini Racing World is a newly released game that fits comfortably into the big leagues of indie racer games. As you may know about me, but probably not, I’m quite fond of low poly racing games. There are not a lot of options available for this genre, so it is refreshing to see this out there. Mini Racing World is an indie race circuit and stunt track game with an emphasis on style with a generous margin for skill tiers. Customize your vehicle, hone your talent, and progress through a variety of tracks to play. Developers call driving in this… Read the rest

Weaving Tides is a Hidden Gem I Played

Posted on by Dave Pizza
Weaving Tides sits comfortably in a genre of its own. Unlock a world map woven together through magic threads. You’ll ride upon friendly creatures known as carpet dragons and weave new threads to move forward. With brilliant surface-swapping mechanics that allow you to traverse impossible terrain, exquisite graphics, and smooth gameplay this is surely a work of art as much as a playable game. The artistic aspects of Weaving Tides are exquisite. You can just feel the silky textures of the world as you traverse, feeling perhaps you are enchanted, or simply on a very fine adventure. In collaboration with… Read the rest

Potion Party is That Great Colorful Pixel Alchemy Sim Out

Posted on by Dave Pizza
Potion Party is a recently released indie co-op that involves running an alchemy shop and racing around part of your lab to create potions for hurried customers. Its style is a pleasant top to bottom, cute, pixel art environment. Get in the groove as an alchemist to the thumpy party music of its namesake. Players may enjoy reasonable tasks along with adequately challenging objectives. In addition, there is a respectable host of elements that advance the needs of player skills as levels are completed from customers to creatures. I think this game is really fun and am delighted to share… Read the rest

Magic Trick is A Cool Little Freebie Indie About Skating

Posted on by Dave Pizza
Magic Trick is a 3D first-person skateboarding game that combines elements of popular wholesome achievement games with a skateboarding theme. It is rich in cotton candy pastels, low poly maps, and anthropomorphic characters to interact with through each island. You can play this game with a controller or keyboard and mouse. The storyline is driven by skateboarding objectives of traditional moves like ollies, grinds, flips, and jumps. It is a fully released game and exists in the realm of dev games that are available at a very affordable price mark for lots of fun! Really Pleasant Tony the Hawk I… Read the rest

Wheels of Aurelia 1978 is a Free Hidden Gem

Posted on by Dave Pizza
Wheels of Aurelia is an interactive-fiction-style racing game set in Italy in 1978. The left-hand steers the wheel of a gritty game that is full of themes of crime, punk, and danger. While the themes are a bit serious, its thematic integrity is in check by fun, innovative game design, and a serious historical snapshot. Drive through the coastlines in low-polygon graphics and talk to your passengers about anything. Wheels of Aurelia: Clarification There are a few things to make clear immediately here. As I said, the game is gritty. Some topics are about heavy life issues. I don’t find… Read the rest

Fall Guys is Still Awesome and Now It’s a Freebie on Nintendo Switch

Posted on by Dave Pizza
So, the idea behind Fall Guys is this: you create a jelly bean-like thing character and design them, then you push play and skydive (on a load screen) into a pink, purple, and cotton candy blue obstacle course of hilarious wonder with 60 other jelly beans. If you make it to the finish line in time before at least 40 players you qualify for the next round. If not you have to start over. Fall Guys is A Squiggly Silly Delightful Game I was so pumped when the Medieval Pack came out with this Wizard costume, it is so perfect you have… Read the rest

Sky Rogue is a Unique Retro Flight Sim

Posted on by Dave Pizza
When I first started reviewing games, I wrote a list of flying games that I found intriguing around the time Sky Rogue first appeared on my radar. I feel like Sky Rogue has evolved from my first perception of it though. My own style is a bit different too since I’ve stepped out a bit more from my digital pacifism, at least on principle. Not much though. This is another game that has action-packed gameplay without being too coarse. I love Sky Rogue and I hope you will too. Let’s take a look. Sky Rogue The Game It’s a game… Read the rest

Power Rangers Battle for the Grid is a Morphin’ Good Time

Posted on by Dave Pizza
The Power Rangers Battle for the Grid DLC packs showed up on Steam today. I remembered I have been eager and hopeful about the core game which is available on Xbox Game Pass, and I knew what I had to do, review the core game! Whatever your cultural disposition, I suspect it’s probably not hard to be aware of the Power Rangers–whatever your impression of them may be. For me, it was a show that catered to cool heroes fighting the ever-creative monsters on weekdays after school on TV! Alright… IT’S MORPHIN’ TIME! This game made me realize how special… Read the rest

I Played Chair Simulator, that Hilarious Freebie Indie On Steam

Posted on by Dave Pizza
I must have a sick sense of humor if I decided to go on this journey so eagerly in the gaming universe. I have a sense of humor, sorry for the orneriness. C’mon though: Chair Simulator!? I love it. What’s weird is it actually wasn’t that bad. And it’s free. If you literally have nothing else to do, just try it. Obviously, the creator was tongue in cheek when they created this, but I was surprised by the attention to gameplay that was put into this for being what I guess is an ironic game, or maybe it’s a personal… Read the rest

Because It’s Hot! Why Pizza? is a Weird, Interesting Indie

Posted on by Dave Pizza
I’m back, reviewing a game. An indie game. A very indie game. An indie game prologue. Because it’s hot! – Why Pizza? Freeze frame. But seriously, I am in recovery from an intense year of reviews. So, when I saw this perfectly amusing stylized demo on Steam with a radical pizza theme, I narrowed in on it. What IS this!? Because it’s Hot is a platformer y’all. But I almost forgot since this game is so much more kooky and creative than most games at all. You choose your anthropomorphic animal/pizza-head whatever, character. Then jump through a colorful ToeJam &… Read the rest

Space Mechanic Simulator is a Really Terrific Game I Tried

Posted on by Dave Pizza
Let’s talk about an upcoming space game! Space Mechanic Simulator is a 3D space-sim in outer space. So far, this game is still in development, but that may have changed by the time you read this. It is currently in development with a demo on steam that I am reviewing here. Your job is to repair space stations, spaceships, and presumably other space vehicles with a sophisticated drill and a meter. Obtain parts from drones or 3D print them. Once you have detected the malfunctioning equipment, remove it and replace it with a new part. Space Mechanic Simulator: First Impressions… Read the rest

Orbital Racer Has a Futuristic Pilot Immersiveness That Can’t Be Beat

Posted on by Dave Pizza
Orbital Racer is a realistic space-sim pilot racer originally released for PC in 2017, now available on Xbox One and Series X. At a standard indie game price for nominal quality, I think this is one of the best racing games I have ever played. Players are given a selection of ring-wing fighter jets that can be raced with or without combat. Each race starts off in an area in orbit around a planet in our solar system. You will navigate your ship through HUD point rings with beautiful space scenery in the background and collect power-ups to earn your… Read the rest

Surviving Mars is the New Staggeringly Ambitious Space Indie

Posted on by Dave Pizza
Surviving Mars is a scientific strategy and simulation game about colonizing the red planet. Players are taken through the very basics of roving the terrain for information and resources. As their knowledge increases, it becomes possible to start envisioning an extraplanetary colony. Learn about theoretical technologies as well as real ones and how they interplay in our future on Mars. Within this context, it is a game about exploration and survival! Surviving Mars: A Compelling Intro I’ve got to admit, this is the first time in a while I’ve started up a game and immediately became immersed for a good… Read the rest

Genesis Noir is a Unique, Interesting Indie in the Hidden Universe

Posted on by Dave Pizza
Genesis Noir is an experimental detective story that takes place in a cosmogonic setting in different parts of the universe. If that already sounds mind-blowing, it’s artistically extravagant in the creative gears that turn its two-dimensional, or even 5-dimensional, gameplay mechanics–metaphorically at least. The game starts wandering the streets of some strange alternative 1950s cityscape and blows open a new case to investigate with a bang, a big bang. Yes, that one. In this review, I’ll talk about the game–and also talk to you about a new project I’m working on involving space exploration in games. Genesis Noir: Cool Beans… Read the rest