We attended Gamescom 2023 and got to play many upcoming titles across the gaming landscape – AAA, indie and everything inbetween. In this mini-series of articles, NantenJex will be sharing his thoughts on the games he played from his hands-on experience and providing important information on each of the titles. Trailers and links to each of the games Steam pages (or closest equivalent) will be included in this article (although many are coming to multiple platforms so if you want to get the title on a platform other than Steam then please check your systems digital store).
Sonic Superstars
- Platforms: Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X, Windows
- Release Date: October 17th 2023
- Steam link: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2022670/Sonic_Superstars/
Adventure through the mystical Northstar Islands in this all-new take on classic 2D Sonic high-speed action platforming.
Sonic Superstars is the latest dedicated 2D Sonic the Hedgehog title and after several past attempts to replicate the classic feel of Sonic in 2.5D game, they have finally pulled it off. Sonic Superstars felt right and like a proper successor to the classic formula. The game comes with four playable characters (Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and Amy Rose) and for the first can be played with up to four players (although I did not get to try this out for myself).
New to this game are the Chaos Emerald powers. Each Emerald obtained allows Sonic et al to use a special ability, with the two I got to try being the Avatar ability (where the player summons several clones of themselves to run across the screen) and the Water ability, allowing the player to travel up to new heights via waterfalls. It seems like each of these power-ups are designed to help make the game easier and are not required to progress, but it’s not very hard to miss the Big Ring that leads to them and the new special stages are pretty easy. The game might be too easy though. The Avatar power absolutely decimates some of the bosses, making it a joke. The best boss in the demo was the only on immune to its powers, but I wonder if that was just a one-off or not?
Not that I’d want to use the Avatar power much if I was playing the Nintendo Switch version of the game as doing so tanked the frame rate for a short while. Nintendo’s hardware can’t handle this much Sonic, and this was only in single-player. I worry what might happen if I played the game in 4-player and if it can even handle it. At least on the PS5 version of the game, which I also played, this didn’t seem to be an issue and the framerate was stable throughout. Hopefully the PS4 version is the same, as that is the one I will be getting (as much as I wanted the game on Nintendo Switch).
Overall, Sonic Superstars is looking to be a solid return to form for the blue blur, in-line with Sonic Mania from 2017. Let’s just hope that the demo wasn’t hiding any bugs and that SEGA doesn’t hold back vital features for a ‘Plus’ version a year from now.
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown
- Platforms: Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X, Windows
- Release Date: January 18th 2024
- Epic Games Store link: https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/prince-of-persia-the-lost-crown
Dash into a stylish and thrilling action-adventure platformer set in a mythological Persian world where the boundaries of time and space are yours to manipulate. Play as Sargon and evolve from sword-wielding prodigy to extraordinary legend as you master acrobatic combat and unlock new Time Powers and unique super abilities.
The Prince of Persia series is back and this time returning to the second-dimension. Made by the team behind the Rayman Origins games, I had a lot of hope for this one and I am glad to say it has been met. The Lost Crown is a search-action title and follows many of the rules found in that genre (an open-world made of several biomes where progression is unlocked by finding new items and abilities). While I couldn’t tell you what these abilities are, as I only had 15 minutes to play this game, what I can tell you is that the game is extremely and very fluid. The player has a lot of movement abilities at their disposal from wall jumps to dashes to launching themselves off poles and even a time-warp power where Sargon will warp back to a spot the player had previously laid an after-image. It’s a quick way of escaping danger or getting behind an enemy.
Combat is very fun in this game with both close-quarters and range attacks at Sargon’s disposal. Sargon has a limited number of arrows but when charged they act as boomerang and can return to the player, keeping your stock refilled. Players can also parry enemy attacks by blocking at the right time, as well as pull of a Super attack that sends enemies flying (although I’m admittedly not sure how I did it. I think it was parrying when my meter was full). Sargon’s weapons can be upgraded at a blacksmith, and new items can also be purchased from merchants scattered across the map.
I played this game on the Nintendo Switch and I am delighted to report that it was super smooth throughout. I was very impressed with Prince of Persia: the Lost Crown and I look forward to getting the full-game next year.
Decline’s Drops
- Platforms: Nintendo Switch, Windows
- Release Date: Winter 2023
- Steam link: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1500180/Declines_Drops/
Grab your punching gloves, put your clogs on and smash your way in the world of Decline’s Drops, a fully hand-drawn platform-brawler full of weird frogs, bizarre chickens and odd hydras! Avenge your destroyed garden and defeat the 6 heads of the Eternal Corp.! If you can, it goes without saying.
Decline’s Drops was a title I had not heard of before this years Gamescom but it is quickly becoming one of my most anticipated indie titles. Made by a solo dev and the product of a kickstarter game, Decline’s Drops is a character action game in the vein of Devil May Cry and Kirby. The game is a 2D side-scroller with a big focus on speed and combat. While I only played the early sections of the game, it seems like there is a lot of potential for the combat to expand out and get rather in-depth as the enemies get much tougher, and judging from the trailer the bosses get really big and bombastic. The player can also perform a sparkshine like in the Metroid games, meaning there is the potential for speedrunning in this title (although the game itself is level-based, complete with collectables).
What drew me to the game initially was the art style. Not only is it adorable but it’s also been fully hand-drawn. It’s just like Cuphead in that regard, but following it’s own colourful style rather than imitating and existing animation style. This explains why the animation is so fluid and the visuals of the levels is really appealing. The first stage gave me major Yoshi’s Island-vibes with its look and colour palette. There’s a demo for the game out right now on Steam, so if this looks and sounds like your type of game then I would absolutely give it a try.
ANTONBLAST
- Platforms: Nintendo Switch, Windows
- Release Date: 2024 (TBD)
- Steam link: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1887400/ANTONBLAST/
ANTONBLAST is a fast-paced explosive action platformer that’s all about destruction. Play as the enraged Dynamite Anton (or his cranked-out coworker Annie) and use your Mighty F’n Hammer to demolish bizarre worlds, tussle with screen-filling bosses, and steal your Spirits back from Satan!
ANTONBLAST is the latest big Wario Land like following Pizza Tower from earlier this year. While both titles clearly pulled from Wario’s Game Boy Advance (GBA) outing, ANTONBLAST more strongly resembles its inspiration. From the graphics, colours and resolution of its sprite work, it feels very much like a game made for the GBA. However, ANTONBLAST takes adevantage of its hardware to be more bombastic, with big set pieces that ramp up the excitement of a level during its ‘Happy Hour’ escape sequences.
The game also clearly takes a lot from the Crash Bandicoot series as well, and not just with its many breakable crates (including green nitro crates that hurt the player). The game has many systems in it that feel inspired by the marsupial’s titles, such as the clutch boost system feeling straight from Crash Team Racing. It was not as easy to get to grips with as I would like, but that might just be a case of not being used to how the game played. Regardless, I’m excited for whenever ANTONBLAST releases (hopefully next year) and if anyone else is interested in trying out this game, there is a demo on Steam right now. So download it and check it out for yourself.
The Spirit of the Samurai
- Platforms: PS5, Xbox Series S/X, Windows
- Release Date: 2024 (TBD)
- Steam link: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1507120/The_Spirit_of_the_Samurai/
A village in peril. A samurai reanimated. An Oni advancing. Fight an army of undead warriors and Japanese monsters as a human, a Kodama, and a cat in this 2D stop-motion action adventure.
The Spirit of the Samurai is a 2D action game that’ shard to classify as a single sub-genre. The game has three playbale characters: a samurai, a little kitten named Chisai and a kodama, and each one has very different playstyle that make them almost feel like they are from different games. At Gamescom, I only got to try out the samurai and kitten styles, although judging from the brief snippets from the trailer the kodama likely plays very similar to the samurai.
So how does the samurai play? His sections are focused heavily on combat, fighting monsters and other samurai using a wide-variety of sword stances, as well as a bow with different types of arrows (both normal and fire in the demo I played). The way this combat is executed is incredibly fluid, with the attacks being done through the movement of the right joystick. Pushing the joystick up will initiate a high-combo and pushing it down will inititiate a low-combo. Then left or right will have the samurai attack at a medium height in either direction. The player can seemlessly swap between all of these stances (as well as the bow with the press of the bumper button) and as the player gains expereince and levels up their stats, even more sword stances can be unlocked. These can then be equipped in order to subtley change the effectiveness of the Samurai against certain enemies, and there are a lot of stances. It is very impressive. The combat seems very well thought out and I was impressed.
I was less impressed with the kitten sections. While I only goot to play it briefly, the kittens gameplay is more like that of an action platformer. The kitten cannot attack and so has to stealth their way across a 2D environemnt, avoiding the gaze of powerful enemies and clearing jumps where one accidental pixel off will lead to death. And that latter point is my main issue with the kitten section. Right now it’s too harsh to the player, sometimes feeling like your advancing via trial and error rather than telegraphed hazards. A good example is when the kitten hides inside a log while running from the big monster. While you would assume the log is safe, as the monster can’t see through it, the monster will actually pick up the log and find the kitten if the player choses to hide there. And this revelation comes way too late for the player to react and safe themselves. It just felt a little unfair to me.
This all said, the part of this game that i think stands out the most is the animation. All of the objects in the game are rendered at a lower frame-rate than the game itself, giving them a stop-motion effect that looks really cool. In fact, I’m pretty sure the monsters have been made and rendered in stop-motion first which is pretty great. I expect no less from a developer whose mainly done animation projects before now. There’s a lot of promise for this title, but it unfortunately still seems like it has some time until it will be ready to release.
Pepper Grinder
- Platforms: Nintendo Switch, Windows
- Release Date: 2024 (TBD)
- Steam link: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2076580/Pepper_Grinder/
Pepper Grinder is an action-packed 2D adventure blending traditional platforming with an alternate drilling mode that allows you to dive in and out of the earth like a dolphin swims through water.
Originally scheduled for 2023, Pepper Grinder is a 2D platforming adventure staring the seafaring Pepper and her trusty drill Grinder as they travel across several worlds in the pursuit of treasure. The main gimmick of Pepper Grinder is using Grinder to drill through dirt and keep momentum going in order to launch yourself to new platforms, or barge through obstacles in your way. These can be enemies but sometimes these can be barriers that, when moved, trigger other barriers in an area to move, creating a kind of mini-platforming puzzle that players need to solve to advance.
I don’t have much to say about Pepper Grinder honestly. It’s a fun game and has the potential to be a very good precision platformer if it choses to go that route. It certainly has a good flow to its movement gameplay which is always a plus for any game in this genre. I did find that there is a big reliance on using verticality in its level design to generate challenge, which means the punishment for messing up is naturally falling down and losing a lot of progress, which can certainly be demotivating. That said, there are some fun stage gimmicks that crop up as well to add a bit of variety, and lots of collectables for players who like that in there games. I don’t think Pepper Grinder will stand out as the next indie masterpiece or anything but it certainly won’t be a bad game by any stretch. It will be enjoyable for fans of the genre, so if you are one then keep this title on your radar for next year.
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