Recent reviews by Kituss

You've probably played at least one of his games, the most famous being Super Hexagon, VVVVVV and Dicey Dungeons, but you might not know that he's made other stuff! Smaller-scale games that I feel each deserve a very short review of their own!

But first, about the collection as a whole:
I've played other game collections that worked around a similar "hub" in which you choose what you want to play. Almost all of them are a bit annoying because the launcher counts as a program, then each game as another, which means a lot of potential fiddling with settings when you just want to check out something quickly. This one does not have that problem. Once you've set up the launcher, you're good to go, just like in UFO50. Everything feels very fast and responsive, which makes it a joy to explore the collection. It's a minor detail for sure, but one that I definitely noticed and liked!

Just like in UFO50 once again, each of the main games has a star icon that will be displayed when you've completed a game. The condition could be to just finish a game, but sometimes, you're asked to do something a little more challenging. It's a good idea! I can also attest to the quality of the French localization that was done by Words of Magic! To my surprise, not only the launcher but every single game received a full translation.

Now for the actual games:

1. Don't Look Back - Terry's very first flash game from 2009. You might know this once if you were on Newgrounds around that time! It's a short platformer themed around grief and a certain mythos. Didn't age a bit!
   
2. At a Distance - This one I couldn't really experience fully since it's supposed to be a two-player game. It's a VERY interesting 3D exploration platformer, or at least, the prototype of one. "a little bit of a mess", as Terry says himself, but a fun one!
   
3. Naya's Quest - Also made a bit of noise at the game of release. An isometric 2D platformer that's all about perspective and figuring out where the actual platforms! A bit tough, and actually more of a puzzle game in disguise. I liked it a lot at release and I still do.
   
4. Tiny Heist - A "half-finished, abandoned jam game", prettied up for the collection. What I played was a super cool but very hard roguelike in which you had to rob 15 floors in a row while avoiding guards, cameras, dogs and other traps. Unfortunately couldn't get to the end, but I can see how addictive it could be.
   
5. Mr Platformer - This one is better experienced without knowing too much about it. Just keep playing. Might be my favorite of the collection.
   
6. The Hunt - It's a pretty tough 2002 game about being in a car chase. Feels very 2002 indeed!
   
7. Four Letter Word - Hey, that's a world premiere! Once again, it's better experienced without knowing too much about it.
   
8. Fountain - Very short Ludum Dare game Terry made when he was 30, if that's got anything to do with it! Who can say.
   
9. Grab Them by the Eyes - So... this is a food stand simulator in which you complete with your agressive neighbour, Filthy Burger. Each rounds consists in each of you spending your allocated budget on cards in a very cool mini-game. Then, you use these to customize the sign on top of your stand. Cards are either a message, a color, a border or an effect that will please customers less as time goes on, which means novelty is key and you HAVE to be smart about the mini-game at the start of the day. It's way easier to understand when you're actually playing! A full run isn't too long and can lead to fun screenshots.
   
10. Terry's Trainwrecks - A collection within the collection! Terry's Other Other Games, one could say. These 12 are fun to explore and you'll get through the stack in lest than 20 minutes! Except if you get hooked on Maverick Bird for an hour, but who would even DO that?

The time you'll need to get through the collection may vary depending on how good you are and how much you want to play some of the games. It was about 4 hours for me, which makes the price tag more than reasonable imo! I absolutely recommend giving this a try if you liked Terry's other works.
If you're not too sure about buying the collection and want to give them a try, some of the included games can be found for free on Terry's website. Find this game and others on my curator page Hidden Indie Gems!

Dev is very open to discussion and actively trying to make the game better with each patch. The latest one made the movement a bit less sluggish, making it feel a lot better to move around!

My mouth...

Short and sweet horror game with a huge narrative and atmospheric focus. THRESHOLD's Steam description should give you a good idea of what to expect, which is about an hour and a half of content - double that if you're keen on getting other endings, as it is a semi-linear experience with branching paths. You might want to since the setup is intriguing and not everything will be revealed with a single playthrough!

While THRESHOLD looks, sounds and plays great, what stuck out to me the most was how quickly I accepted a realistic yet progressively more twisted routine. It's hard to get into why without spoiling the game, which means you should play it if you're even the slightest bit interested! A great addition to the "short indie horror" section of your library.

Find this game and other hidden indie gems on Hidden Indie Gems

Great fun for a sunny, cozy afternoon. You basically just run around the island as an apple, talking with the other fruity and vegetably inhabitants, taking on their quest and picking up stuff. Apples Busy Day being half an hour long also means that it doesn't last long enough to get repetitive, which is a huge plus in my opinion! The soundtrack is also very smooth and relaxing, enough that I'm considering adding it to my daily playlist.

We need more short games like this, and we need to support them when they do come out. Spread the word, buy the game, leave a review!

Very mixed recommend. A decent metroidvania that unfortunately overstays its welcome quite a bit by committing a few cardinal sins of the genre towards the end:

• No real movement speed upgrade until very late game: something that slightly boosts your dash and will likely be one of the last upgrades you pick up
  
• Underwater movement being slow as molasses
  
• A couple of big areas with no fast travel, which makes backtracking a bit of a pain

All of this culminates in an absolute slog of a last fourth of the game in which you need to go back to four places in order to use your new "I can go underwater" ability. A completely baffling decision that destroys the story's quick pace. It's entirely unnecessary and ends the game on a really sour note, when the rest of Yars Rising is a very okay metroidvania that lacks juice and exploration but makes it up with style, a smooth difficulty curve and a banging soundtrack.

Definitely needs some touching up in order to be more accessible to people and more fun, but a great effort to revitalize the Yars licence! I enjoyed the hacking minigames that are straight up stages from the original Yars' Revenge on the Atari. Thirty bucks is too much, but wait for some updates and pick it up on sale - or better yet, pick up the soundtrack right now!

- THIS REVIEW WILL BE UPDATED ONCE I'VE FINISHED THE GAME -

EDIT: My opinion hasn't changed much after finishing the main game content: it's pretty cool, and some of these treasures are super fun to collect. The swords in particular were a big highlight imo. I also have some frustrations: some levels could benefit from a couple more checkpoints, having the intro replay every single time you're trying to speedrun a level is very annoying, some of the content borders a bit too much on frustrating instead of challenging, and there's a lack of game settings that's a bit of a bummer.
However, the game is actively being updated so I think it's a question of time before some of the creases get ironed out!

I haven't finished playing it through and am about halfway through, but what a cool little platformer! It's structured in four worlds with three levels each, and a level will always have at least a couple of hidden collectables to find. Some are simple, asking to explore a bit off the beaten path, while others whole quests dedicated to them and feel great to find.

Gameplay is on the simple side with you running and jumping most of the time. You may pick up some items with different effects, but they're often inconsequential and the main meat of KOOB DOG will be platforming and exploring semi-open levels. While just running through the twelve levels can take a couple of hours, there's a bit more to go through for the 100% as mentioned previously, including hidden stuff I wouldn't dare to spoil!

I absolutely recommend giving the game a try if you're even remotely interested in retro 3D platformers, since 10€ isn't too much of an asking price and two hours will be enough to decide whether you're into it or not. Plus, the dev is very helpful on the forums and has prepared a Q&A section for tips if you need some!

Find this game and others on my curator page Hidden Indie Gems!

I tried the demo during the last Games Fest and had an absolute blast playing it. The atmosphere is very much like Melos and Marina's other games such as Anodyne or Sephonie, but with an even greater sense of exploration, mystery and a bit of mischief. The bumpslash combat system is fun to play around with and finding new levels in tucked away corners of the overworld, with one being one of my favorite boss fights ever, is a wonderful feeling that I can't wait to see expanded on in the full game.

Absolutely give it a try! It's a free demo that's not too long, yet is beefed up with lots of fun content.

Seems to have received a lot of updates since release, but as of June 12, 2024, Lulu's Temple has received its final update! This makes it a quick and fun ride, lasting about an hour of high-tension exploration and platforming. Using both a gun (that you can charge for a burst of bullets) and a torch (that you can charge to throw at your enemies or to light distant wall-mounted torches) is more fun that you might expect, since you have to juggle between the two to illuminate your surroundings, kill enemies and toggle traps from afar. Having only one life point is a bit rough, but checkpoints are frequent enough that it's never too much of a problem - except for those ninja mummies which can and will get you every single time!

Absolutely recommend getting it, Agelvik does some great short games and deserves more support. It's frequently on sale too :)

Fantastic platformer that joins others in the "knowledgevania" subgenre, in which you have every single tool at your disposal to finish the game at the start, but you slowly "unlock" the way to use them through experimentation. Leap Year does this perfectly by using its short length to craft a small, tightly designed world that feels wonderful to progress through. It's cheap, it's short, it's just difficult enough - can't recommend playing it enough! Beware of spoilers.

Wonderful collection of mini-games dressed in a fun overworld exploration with hidden secrets, extremely colorful characters and just a bit of murder, as a treat. Cheap, doesn't overstay its welcome and very froggy 🐸🐸🐸🐸🐸