I can't believe GoG is being so lazy as not to make proper Linux configurations for the DOSBOX games. Come on people, there are multiple Linux verions of DOSBOX, there is no excuse! Or at least let me just download the original CD iso's so I can mount them myself, these weird CD images can't be mounted on Linux's DOSBOX so I can't play these games. This is super lazy.
Slipstream is pure arcade simplicity and fun. It's a true pick-up-and-play game. A retro racer with over the top physics. There are several game modes and you can also play split-screen up to 4 players! The sense of speed is quite exciting, especially if you turn the screen shaking and tilting to the max in the options menu. Graphics are old-school with really colorful and beautiful locations. There's a lot of inspiration in SEGA, as several tracks are named after Sonic the Hedgehog's levels. The best part of the game is the music, composed of a lot of amazing synthwave 80's style compositions. You can switch the songs during the race so you don't always have to listen to the same ones in the same tracks. Something I really like is how some of the game modes consist of tracks strung together, so instead of racing laps on the same track, after one finish, you drive across the next one. One of the game modes also features alternate paths so at the end you can go to a track to your left, or another to your right. On the bad side, there's not a lot of content in this game and the tracks don't have a lot of variety in their gameplay (a few jumps, gadgets, obstacles or particularities in each one would give it a lot more style... I hope to see something like this in an expansion or a sequel). Still this is not a problem if you want a casual game to have a lot of fun in a quick play. (By 'casual' I don't mean 'easy'!) On a personal note, it's important to say that this game was made by one guy from Brazil, using Linux and libre software. You can read a bit about the development process in the author's website and in the game's site. https://slipstre.am/demo-tapes/ This game is really affordable so if you like arcade fun simplicity go buy it, crank up the volume and enjoy!
I've played almost every metroidvania here on GoG and many of them are great. But something I was craving was to feel what I feel when playing Symphony of the night: the cozy sensation that everything happens inside the same castle. And Astalon is the only game here that gave me the same feeling (well, this time around it's a gigantic tower, but you get the point...) Yes, at first it's pretty awkward: the 'souls-like' elements seem to over-complicate things and it's pretty annoying how everytime you die you don't respawn in a bonfire (save room) but instead you appear at the very beginning, the front entrance of the tower. The thing is that when you make some progress you end up connecting rooms in a way that you can reach places that seemed far away just by taking an elevator or a shortcut. It can get frustrating but those who like to explore will really all the hidden passages you can find (if you don't want to explore then go play any of those excellent linear platformers on this site). Of course, as you progress you can get a lot of upgrades, so the game gets easier, just hang on for the first hour or so. Besides the exploration, combat is pretty challenging and there's a lot of platforming too. The game length seems just right. There are many little things that seem a bit arbitrary and frustrating but if you get used to them you are in for one of the greatest metroidvanias on this site.
And also one of my top 3 in the genre. Yes, it's THAT good. Astraight-forward sci-fi action shooter, not unlike Quake 2. The best part of this game is the AI, which is still amazing to this day. You fight mostly human enemies who move constantly, take good cover, ambush you, shoot your explosives, and flee when they feel cornered, only to turn quickly around and shoot you in the face when you least expect it. The AI alone makes the game a lot more fun than most shooters out there, but Red Faction is awesome in almost every other aspect. Level design is amazing (at least once you get past the mines at the beginning). It's almost completely indoors and close-quarters. The atmosphere of the game is amazing, especially thanks to the BRILLIANT music. Oh, and some weapons are great, especially the riot shield and the railgun with a heat vision that you can use to shoot people through the walls. So what prevented this game from being a classic? A couple of downsides that gamers and critics were not able to look past: One of them is the GeoMod, a technical feature that is still impressive today: you can actually blow up walls and even create tunnels through the terrain. And the way walls break is not scripted, it's calculated in real time. Why was the GeoMod a bad thing? Because it was used very little in the single player campaign, so people were very disappointed. There are a lot of unbreakable walls and the levels are pretty linear, so forget about using it as a strategy to go through the levels or surprise foes from behind. The GeoMod still shines in multiplayer though, where you have a lot more freedom and long matches end up with maps that look like swiss-cheese. The other one are the graphics, which I never considered bad, but they looked dated and clunky when the game came out. I still consider the visuals to be very good because they manage to create a great atmosphere.
I really really wanted to like this game. It looks amazing (that waterfall background is one of the most beautiful areas I've ever seen in a game), music is wonerful (especially the piano tunes) and so far is the indie game that feels closer to Symphony of the night in terms of presentation and atmosphere. It's not a clone though, as this one is set in a different planet and you explore past and future versions of it, where a few changes made in the first have an effect in the later. Characters and story are interesting too and, even though I don't need to relate morally to a game, this one shares some nice values. The huge problem is, as many other comments stated before, the difficulty. I bought this game once, refunded it, and decided to give it a second chance (even hoping the developer would patch it now that the sequel is announced). Now I'll refund it again because I consider it unplayable. Normal difficulty is so easy, that once you upgrade your scythes they just float around you killing almost every enemy you touch. And if you play on hard mode (first finishing the game on normal, or using the code NIGHTMARE777) any enemy can kill you with a couple of hits. That would not be such a big issue if it wasn't for the fact that some save rooms are very far from each other, forcing you to lose a lot of progress because you made a slight mistake. Some hardcore gamers might enjoy the hard mode, others may like the very casual gameplay of normal difficulty; but in my case I'll just hope the sequel is a lot more balanced.
Contra and Probotector games... I just rushed to buy it. What could go wrong? Well, many things, as it seems. The emulation sucks, you can't remap the controls, the original aspect ratio may not fill the screen, games run slowly (NES and SNES games, come on...). You can't extract the ROMs to play them on better emulators, and so there's no possibility to use mods (Probotector really needs mods, the original version with 3 lives is unplayable). The games are great, of course, some of the best games ever; but we shouldn't support this lazy crap. Refunded!
IMPORTANT: Many of the reviews yous see here were for a previous version of the game which apparently was not quite good. But the game we get now is completely different and it's awesome. Slain is a 2D sidescroller centered in combat, where you fight using a sword (which after a few levels can be set on fire! YEAH!) and a couple of secondary powers. You can use your sword to block enemy attacks by hitting a button in the exact moment. If you do it right, your enemy will be stunned and you can deal a devastating attack on it. That's about it, there's actually not much more to do, but every encounter is a challenge, since even the weakest of the enemies can kill you if you don't fight well. This is a low-res game in a 16-bit style, but every level is crafted with a lot of attention to detail. Each room looks different and original, and everything, from the platforms to the backgrounds, looks amazing. The style is inspired by heavy metal album covers, so everything is filled with skulls, bones, demons and gore. The soundtrack is just amazing and the music is composed of really cool heavy metal songs, with actual guitars banging. I wish there were more games with this kind of music because it really gets you in the violent mood! When you defeat a boss, you can push a button to 'pray to the Metal God', which is basically rolling your head and waving your hair to a metal riff. If you want action games that get to the point, get this game, you won't regret it.
I'm sorry, I just don't feel the way most people do about this game. For me it's just boring and artificially lengthened. Hollow Knight is a game that looks and sounds like a Tim Burton movie. The music is great, the art has personality, but despite all the details it all looks the same, it's just a lot of black shades over a single color. That's especially bad because it's really hard to find your way in this game, every room looks the same to me. And that leads me to the worst aspect of the game: the map. It doesn't help at all. You can't just automatically add every room you visit to your map like in every other metroidvania. Nope, here you have to keep buying pieces of the map, A PENCIL if you want to update it - and even if you do, the map only gets updated when you save, and if you already bought the map piece of the area. Also, it's easy to lose your money, and to get it back you have to do a lot of tedious grinding. That wouldn't be that bad it you'd only use money to buy items, but in this game you need to buy a lot of items that are mandatory to make progress. Another thing I hate is that every time you hit an enemy YOU are knocked back a little. It's like the game is punishing you for doing things right! There are a lot of small platforms with the typical enemies that fly towards you and make you fall. But in this game if you manage to hit them, you will fall anyway because of said knockback. It's just super tedious and time consuming, I spent several hours in this game and barely felt like I made any significant progress, it just feels like a chore.