La-Mulana

La-Mulana:  A sprite-based exploration game. It can't be that hard, can it?

This game offers up a different type of challenge. So, as a warning, if there is anything in this first paragraph that seems daunting, just move on to another game. Before we even start the game, there are a few guidelines we will need to go over. First, you are going to need are a pencil and notebook. This is mandatory and nonnegotiable, which I will explain later. Second is the manual, which is available on Steam. It must be read. Third, is patience, and lots of it. If you are a controller thrower, go ahead and move on. The last should be time. This is not a game that can be conquered on a quiet Sunday after noon or even a weekend for that matter. Still with me? Let’s get started then.

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Hotline Miami 2

Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number:  The game banned in Australia is a great sequel that ups the violence and controversy with a giant middle finger.

The first edition had what can be considered an almost perfect balance of twitch, action, and stealth gameplay that became one of the most original games made in the recent years. They also managed to package it with one of the most disturbingly violent stories and an extremely retro yet catchy soundtrack, with pixelated graphics. If you've never seen it, you will be surprised by how much blood and gore can be in an 8-bit style game. The sequel, Wrong Number, seems to up the ante with some more variety in the gameplay, even more over the top violence (if you can believe it), and all while maintaining that retro-noir vibe the original had. While the story is confusing through a first run and there are some glaring problems with some of the levels, this is an awesome game that should be picked up if you are a fan of the original.

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New Retro Arcade

New Retro Arcade:  My arcade never let me throw bottles and smoke.

So the guys at Epic just released the Unreal Engine 4 for free and one of the first things people did with it was figure out a way to play old games. On paper, this is stupid, but is actually one of the coolest ways to play your old arcade favorites. Inside this FPS tech demo for the Oculus Rift is a fully functional arcade complete with cigarettes, beer, and a working bowling alley. There are also cassettes you can pop in and playable Gameboys that some poor bastard kids just left lying around all over the place. There are arcade games in there too, I swear.

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