One More Dungeon 2 from Ratalaika Games

One More Dungeon

The team at Ratalaika Games have returned along with Stately Snail to release the sequel One More Dungeon 2.

Our friends of Ratalaika Games shared one of their latest titles, One More Dungeon 2, with us and we recently had the chance to sit down and give it a play. We had never heard of the franchise prior to the announcement of this sequel but based on images alone we were excited to dive right in. In both titles you play an unnamed adventurer. I don’t know much of the original storyline but in OMD2 you are held captive by a kingdom of snails, or are they snails and slugs? Either way, they are green and slimy looking, but in a cute way. To earn your freedom, you must run through the dungeons and remove the evil denizens there to keep them from raiding the snail-king’s domain. More than enough justification for me to explore these dangerous spaces.

As I mentioned, the slugs are pretty damn cute and the enemies themselves are rendered in a chunky art style that reminds me of the Super-Hero Squad line that Hasbro released over a decade ago. The stages are randomly generated with each expedition but are hampered by the controls. Most games with a poor controller setup have a chance to make up for this by having easier gameplay, an engaging story or stellar graphics. The controls for this game are obscenely sticky, making aiming with ranged weapons quite difficult. They were so bad that they turned what would have been a great game into one that is only okay. The difficulty (when set higher) was much higher than I expected and provided a great challenge that was made more frustrating by these same controller issues. Overall we enjoyed the game but, without the necessary controls making it nearly impossible at times, it fell short of its potential.

Unlife from Ratalaika Games

Unlife

Nukes have fallen and the world all but destroyed in Unlife from Ratalaika Games.

Unlife begins with what looks like vintage, archival footage of the days leading to the end of the world. Bombs falling on city centers and mushroom clouds. It’s a rather grim sight. You play as Michael, the last surviving member of a rescue team and who’s blood may mean the cure to the infection spread by the monsters from the Black Sea. Combining his blood and that of the creatures stops or slows his own infection and may be the key needed for that cure.

The game controls, level formatting and general vibe remind me so much of Shadow Complex from the 360. I absolutely loved that game. With Unlife, the graphics are not nearly as clean but they do the job well enough. In terms of graphics think of Terraria but with a darker pallet. The game suffers from some poor writing but I have a feeling it was originally written in another language and then translated by Google Translate. This is even more apparent when you die. At death you get a message similar to the iconic “You Died” message in Resident Evil and instead see “You Dead”.

Released by Ratalaika Games on Nintendo Switch, PS4/PS5 and Xbox One, the game seems to be one of the few truly original titles from them and not a port or remaster. While much of the game, as I mentioned, reminded me of Shadow Complex it wasn’t enough like it to fully scratch that nostalgic itch. However I found the game to be less smooth with inferior graphics but with the darker tones it actually worked well within the world of the game and game the combat and overall surviving more difficult. The game was fun with enough similarities to keep me playing for a couple hours and the added difficulty, whether intentional or not, kept me playing a bit longer.

The Adventures of Panzer: Legacy Collection

Adventures of Panzer

The first Adventures of Panzer title was released in 2021 and was rereleased along with it’s sequel in the Legacy Collection from Ratalaika Games.

Originally created by PixelCraft Games in 2021, The Adventures of Panzer is a side scrolling adventure designed to be played on the original NES. A sequel was later developed and added alongside the first for the Legacy Collection release on current generation consoles. This was with the help of Ratalaika Games. You play as General Panzer, a raid leader, who first must find his friend from his raiding party and embark on the most harrowing adventure of his raiding career.

When playing the game I didn’t realize how recent the original was released and immediately began to question it once the first NPCs began talking. Playing a game that looks like it is straight out of the 80’s but dialogue that came from players preparing for a session of World of Warcraft had me really confused. It was also funny as hell. The two experiences shouldn’t have worked as well as they did but they did work. Gameplay felt exactly like I would expect from what I thought was an NES classic. The controls are a little stiff but feels absolutely right for a game that looks the way it does. Further enforcing the NES classic vibe of the game is how unforgiving it is. If you rush forward you will inevitably get injured, frequently. You’ll also fall to your death, quite a bit.

With everything in the experience telling my mind that this was a classic I had never experienced when it came out in the 80’s it left me thinking I was deprived of an experience I should have had. Having actually been released in 2021 I’m actually surprised I had never heard of it until this year. Clearly PixelCraft had done a poor job on marketing it because former NES players will love this one and with the current generation release of the Legacy Collection they now have no excuse to jump in. Same goes for the second game in the series that is also included. They are not only worth playing but are easily some of the best to be released from Ratalaika to date.

Fearmonium from Ratalaika Games

Fearmonium

In Fearmonium from Ratalaika Games you play a Phobia of a young boy, collecting and defeating his fears.

The folks at Ratalaika Games have deviated from their normal platform of simply restoring vintage titles and have added Fearmonium to their ever growing library. Max is a teen plagued by fears and phobias. You play as one of these phobias and are on a quest to help Max not only overcome his fears but to embrace some of them. Let’s face it, a little fear can be healthy at times.

The game is a Metroidvania, meaning a platformer in the style of Metroid or Castlevania, where you move through various parts of Max’s mind, eliminating the things that plague him while also collecting balloons as currency. The art style looks like it was hand-drawn like Cuphead with a similar macabre style where the more hideous things in Max’s head are actually there to assist you. Reviewing the details about the game I can confirm that it is hand-drawn. Unlike Cuphead though is that the story is primarily told through comic book-styled panels.

Lady Depression runs most of the nightmare-scape that is Max’s head and assists you from time to time by providing advice. More often than not though, the advice is simply to remind you save the game often. The phobia you play as looks very much like a female version of Pennywise in the art but in game looks less like the terrible clown and more like clown that is meant to look more sad and painted in predominantly blacks and whites. I found the stages to be rather simple in their layout with sections clearly meant to return to with no obvious way of reaching them but otherwise quite easy to navigate. The art is clean and draws you in to the darkness as you eliminate every foe in your path. The game as a whole was enjoyable but not entirely engaging in terms of story. That being said, it may just be that I haven’t spent enough time in the game but it felt like it was lacking in overall substance even though most Metroidvanias are focused more on the mechanics than they are on story.

Murder is Game Over

Murder is Game Over

Murder is Game Over is murder mystery title from Ratalaika Games the features a detective and his dog but they aren’t part of Mystery Inc.

Ratalaika Games brings another graphics-nostalgia title with Murder is Game Over. You play as Detective Guy and his dog Cleo. You’ve both been summoned to a castle in rural Vermont to investigate the murder of a famous game designer. This is the first of three games in the franchise and the first to come to consoles. The copy provided to us for our review was for the Xbox One Series X.

As you play the game you can swap between Guy and Cleo on the fly. This is essential to the gameplay because when questioning suspects you need to be in control of Guy and when looking for clues you need Cleo. Hidden throughout the map are not just clues but also doggy bags. To get the best ending you need to find all thirty doggy bags and as long as you do most of your walking as Cleo you won’t have trouble finding them all. There is also a hidden treasure you might find that helps towards finding the true ending as well. The officer on scene tells you at the start to return to her when you are ready to make an arrest but you are blocked from doing so until you find all the clues.

Once you have all the clues you go through a list of the suspects and their motives, like watching Hercules Poirot or Sherlock, as you explain why each suspect couldn’t have done it and then in detail explain who the real culprit was. There are a few missable achievements so I suggest reviewing the descriptions FIRST. The two easiest are petting the cat and finding the bear in the woods.

Visually the game looks and feels like the classic Zelda: A Link to the Past. The controls are simple and work well with the game. The overall experience interesting. The story begins with an excessive amount of dialogue that must be read and is quite dry. I admit that I was tired when I started and fell asleep during the intro twice (at least). Once I got control of the character tough and started interacting with the story it started to pick up and kept me awake until completing the game in a single sitting. The complete story and the whodunit at the end made it worth the experience and overall I enjoyed the game, I just suggest not being sleepy when you start it because you might have some difficulty at the start.

Cyber Citizen Shockman 1 and 2- a Dual Title Review!

Cyber Citizen Shockman

Ratalaika Games have restored two iterations of Cyber Citizen Shockman and brought them to consoles but do they capture the essence?

Cyber Citizen Shockman has returned, with the second game in the series having not seen since 1992 and both given a new lease on life by Ratalaika games. Both games follow Tasuke and Kyapiko, two teens that have the ability to transform into Shockman. They are beset by evil robots and monsters that appear as a cross between organic creature and machine. The first boss in the sequel is a prime example of this.

The saving is a save state system that can be forced at any time. You had a couple lucky hits and dodged the attacks? Save. Know the next fight kicked your ass one too many times? Save often to make it easier and guarantee success. Doing this on the fly makes these difficult games extremely easy.

Both games look and feel like playing classic Mega-Man titles but without the ready to swap out weapons in the early game. Graphically it takes me right back, another win for the nostalgia masters at Ratalaika. The controls on the other hand are where this game falls short. To be clear I never played the original versions of the game so this could be carried over from that and may not be a failing in the games. Now with that disclaimer out of the way I felt the controls were clunky and at times downright sticky. Multiple moves required hitting the stick a couple times or holding it for a second or two before Shockman would move. This made for sloppy combat that made it more difficult to enjoy and play long term.

Gastro Force

Gastro Force

Gastro Force is a retro first person shooter from Ratalaika Games that focuses on eliminating aliens from the inside out.

The masters of rereleases and retro style gaming at Ratalaika Games are back with another port for consoles with Gastro Force. The game was originally released on PC in 2022 and again on consoles in September of 2023. The game focuses on the last soldier set to defend the galaxy again aliens from an eldritch nebula. Basically this means that you will be facing monsters full of tentacles and some that are very bug-like.

The game looks and feels like I’m playing my memories of the original Blake Stone from the PC. Both games you run around killing a ton of aliens but with one big difference- GF gives you a map. The map makes traversing the similar hallways much easier because it not only shows the layout but shows the areas you’ve walked. That means if you get turned around it’s easy to orientate yourself again. Graphics are on par with the 90s shooters I grew up with. Controls are smooth and take little effort to master. I had a lot of fun with this one, kept telling myself I’d put it down after just one more level and eventually realized hours had passed before closing the game.

Ashina: The Red Witch

Ashina

Ashina: The Red Witch is part of the same world of My Big Sister from Ratalaika Games but is it’s own title.

In Ashina: The Red Witch, from Ratalaika Games, you play as Ash, a young woman who wishes for something new while clinging onto the loss of her mother. The game starts as you make dinner for you and your sister, talking some trash as siblings do and enjoying the home-cooked meal. After the sister leaves for the night, you awake to the sound of someone in the other room and find a yokai making food and almost starting a fire. He steals a keepsake of your mother’s and runs. Chasing him leads you to arriving in the afterlife and a world full of yokai. Here you must track down the item, with the help of the thief and his friends.

The dialogue in this game is great. The banter between the two sisters alone is worth playing for. I legit laughed out loud while playing through making dinner during the game’s intro. I honestly can’t say the last time I laughed that often just during the opening, never before in an RPG/JRPG game either. Visually the game and animations are clean, despite being made in a retro style, very similar to SNES titles from back in the day. With the amount of laughing I’d done during my first two hours of gameplay is anything to go by I expect the rest of the game to be funny as hell and a great deal of fun.

Sephonie from Ratalaika Games has arrived on consoles

Sephonie

Ratalaika Games have ported over another game that was originally a PC release, this time with Sephonie, a gem developed by Analgesic Productions.

Sephonie follows three scientists from all over the world as they head to the island of the same name. As they approach the island they are greeted by a wave of energy, distorting their signals and washing them up on shore. A chaotic way to start the adventure for sure. The goal of your trio is to research the odd behavior in the local wildlife and immediately learn that it is happening to the bacteria as well when a member of the team begins having a strange reaction to an injury caused by coral.

The game focuses on pushing these researchers to their limits by testing them with physical challenges as well as twisting their dreams against them. Analgesic and Ratalaika have made this a near perfect port as controls are fluid and easy to learn. The platforming aspect of the game is pretty simple to grasp early on but increase in complexity as you progress. Visuals are clean as is the audio but I would have preferred if there were some voices for the characters- you can get so much more out of a character’s emotions or feelings by listening to them. Listening sure beats reading a ton of dialogue, especially when you’re a little tired. Curious to see where the story goes but I hope it’s not as dialogue heavy as the start of the game was.

Where the game shines most is the puzzle system. You play Tetris-like game mode to learn about different things in nature where you place various shapes made of blocks together. When you run out of pieces to place or run out of room to place them you have every set of blocks that touch that are the same color, as long as there are at least three, vanish and fill up the bar. Your goal is to completely fill the bar to complete your task. Trying to plan ahead and fill the bar leads to an engaging experience that makes the game worth playing for this alone.

Replikator

Replikator

Replikator is a twin stick shooter from the folks at Ratalaika Games and posits that death is only the beginning of the story.

Ratalaika Games how been kind enough to share a copy of their latest twin stick shooter, Replikator. The game places you as a mercenary aboard an, until recently, abandoned scientific facility in space. Your role is to explore the facility and learn the secrets of the Replikator device. The first time you are killed by the denizens of the facility you learn that the device be able to make duplicates of any item, including yourself when you die. Like most twin stick shooters the game provides an isometric view that looks like feels like JRPGs from the SNES era.

Unlike most games of this style there is a limited amount of ammunition for your guns so aiming is essential. The good news is if you do run out you have a powerful melee attack you can use. Most enemies will have consistent attack patterns making both easier if you are patient. Trying to speed through the map is one of the easiest ways to end up dead. Along the way you will find dozens if not hundreds of weapons to use and items to improve your skills. Remember to explore everything and be patient. Did I mention, be patient? My impatience resulted in my death more than any single foe.

Visually the game felt like I was returning to some of my favorite titles from the early 90s and matches the level of quality we are used to seeing from Ratalaika. Overall I found the game engaging and at the same time frustrating. I have terrible aim and with limited ammunition some of the map sections were harder than they should have been. That is entirely a reflection of my skill and not of the gameplay quality. At $10USD the price is quite reasonable for the hours of gameplay you’ll find and I have played some garbage titles with higher price tags too. Once again I find myself looking forward to seeing what Ratalika comes out with next.