Music: Menu Theme from Battleblock Theater
tip: CTRL+SHIFT+R if things look off.
I've been surveyin' the interwebs for a while now, and that's let me look at all sorts of games from all sorts of different sources. I've also had the common conundrum of hanging out online with friends and not being able to find anything to play (sometimes even by myself, I get lost from time to time). SO, I've had the idea, on a whim, of just laying out all the cool stuff I found here. There'll be more of a focus on things you can download/play for free, but I might talk about some paid stuff here as well. Can't limit my options, you know.
FOR THE BROKE PEOPLE
OpenMBU - I talked about this a bit in my blog about old XBOX 360 games, but to summarize, it's a free, open-source port of Marble Blast Ultra with working multiplayer, I think? MBU is really fun so I guarantee you'll get a kick out of it.
Platinum Quest - another Marble Blast game (technically). It's a mod of a Marble Blast game that contains a lot of levels, including all of the Marble Blast Ultra and Marble Blast Gold levels. I haven't played much of it, mostly because I like MBU's aesthetic more, and this kinda morphs everything into its own aesthetic, but if you want as much Marble Blast as possible, here you go.
Voices of The Void - an unsettling sort of cozy game, where you decipher signals from space and try to find evidence of smaliens. It is... DECEPTIVELY addicting, like how is this free it's so good
NSMB: Mario Vs Luigi - the VS mode from the DS new soup ported to PC. Just as fun and chaotic as I remember it being, moreso now that you can have more than just 2 players lol.
Sonic Robo Blast 2 - a very high-quality 3D Sonic fangame that's been in development for a REALLY long time. Everybody likes to mention that this was made in the DOOM engine, so there you go. There's a lot of really cool mods for it too, as well as online play!
Dr. Robotnik's Ring Racers - built OFF of SRB2, it's an interesting(-ly complex) kart racer available to pick up and play. I haven't played it, but I played its predecessor, SRB2Kart, quite a lot, so I can vouch for the GENERAL feel of the game (it's really damn good).
Sonic P-06 - a damn respectable project aiming to port sonic 06 over to PC, patch issues, and rework the game to be much. MUCH more enjoyable (so far, they're succeeding. with flying colors). The campaigns for Sonic, Shadow, and Silver are playable, and DAMN are they good.
Pokemon Showdown - I'll come right out the gate and say that I don't play Pokemon competitively. Like at all. But Pokemon Showdown is like THE option for those that do. Even if you don't wanna do that though, it is a lot of fun to just battle your friends in Random Battles.
Corru Observer - found this game from a widget thing on somebody else's site (it's now on my site's landing page as well). It is a REALLY intricate point-and-click adventure game with a really unique style, great music and sound design, and BOSS FIGHTS???? yeah I haven't finished it myself but that's mostly just bc I'm busy. CHECK IT OUT!!!!
OFF - yeah i don't know how this is free either. It's a wonderfully strange little RPGMaker game that REALLY sticks with you. The artstyle is unique, the music is atmospheric (Peper Steak my beloved) and the story is captivating. The translation is a little... verbose, and some of the puzzles really got me stuck, but don't let that stop you.
Cave Story (Original) - an INFAMOUS little indie game. I played the + version myself, and I'm very partial to that (especially the redone soundtrack by Danny Baranowsky), but hey! This version is FREE (as was the original version. This isn't piracy, don't worry). Also it's literally like 1 MB cuz it's so old lmao.
Soundwrap - we're getting into the odd lil browser games to play with friends department. Soundwrap is a game where you and a bunch of friends all put a bunch of Spotify songs in, and you have to guess who put what in. Simple, but can be really fun!
Skribbl.io - you know what this is. Don't lie.
Gartic Phone - You also know what THIS is. Still, it's better than using the Discord Activity version (ewwwwwww)
500 CALIBER CONTRACTZ (Demo) - HOLY FUCKING SHIT the y2k aesthetics are strong with this one. Opening that looks like an old flash animation, grungy, dithered graphics, it's got it all. It ain't done yet, but oh my GOD it's so good at least check it out. Also I love the main level's theme it's so heavenly.
Cube Racer 2 - Listen. This game's kinda dumb but me and my friends love it. Sort of like Ultimate Chicken Horse except 3D, in that every time you finish, you adorn the track with hazards and things. more of a "dumb fun" game than anything else, but hey.
FOR THE PEOPLE WITH BROKE FRIENDS
Davigo - if you or any of your friends have a VR headset, get this game. Only the person with the headset needs to buy the game. That person controls the giant, who tries to kill the Knights, who are on PC and can download the Knights Pass to play for free! Reminds me of like, DS Download Play in that way. Glad that sort of system is represented here.
Last Train Outta' Wormtown Similar to Davigo in that only one person needs to own the game (they are the one that creates the lobby). It's cowboys VS a giant worm, where the cowboys have to either escape or complete an objective while the worm tries to kill them. Thing is, the worm can only see cowboys if they're on the sand. It's a lot of fun! and UNLIKE Davigo, anyone can be the worm.
I might come back to this blog specifically, if I find any other noteworthy games, but yeah! I just wanted to dump this out here.
