24. Assassin's Creed® Chronicles: China

Assassin's Creed Chronicles: China Trailer

Shao Jun recently returned to China after being trained by Ezio, hero of Assassins Creed 2. As the last remaining member of the Chinese brotherhood, she is bound and determined to not only revenge her fallen comrades but rebuild the brotherhood in China.  

It takes everything there is to love about the Assassin’s Creed gameplay and puts it into side scrolling action. Hide in the background and assassinate the unsuspecting victims in the foreground. Use numerous weapons and abilities to avenge your brotherhood, including a sweet Chinese-style sword. Use the sword to kill enemies on ledges above you. But if you can make it through a level without being detected and without killing non-assassination targets you gain massive amounts of points.

Enjoy some fun take outs

Survey your surrounding from the safety of cover.

Shao Jun in her beautiful brush strokes

23. Strider

Strider Trailer

You are the ninja assassin, Hiryu Strider. Your mission, this time around, is to bring down Grand Master Meio and his corrupt regime. He will unleash many incredible enemies on you, including the Four Winds who are master warriors set to protect Meio’s cities and developments.

To get there you will use cyphers, incredible power ups that do anything from setting enemies ablaze to freezing them where they stand, and amazingly fast fighting techniques to carve your way through hundreds of enemies.

The world you explore is massive. You’ll need to get through many interconnected levels to reach Meio. And each level contains different styles of enemies. Some of these are other ninjas, some are machines, some are city guards with big guns and big shields. And you’ll need to figure out how to defeat them all if you hope to take down Meio.

Strider Gameplay

Use Cyphers to make it through challenging fights with numerous enemies

This guy looks ready to beat Strider down

22. Guns, Gore & Cannoli

Guns, Gore & Cannoli Trailer

This is an over-the-top shoot-‘em-up set in the roaring 20’s. You are the hardboiled gangster, Cannoli. You’ve come to Thugtown to look for a lost good fella. The problem is every goon in town has turned into a brain-munching undead goon. So now you must take down hundreds of the undead along with still-living mob bosses to try and find your buddy.

This is a 2D, hand-drawn game. It is comical and crazy. You can team up with a friend or figure out the mystery alone. Get ready for prohibition style settings—think speakeasies and cars with serious flair.

This game is loaded with different guns, zombies, and costumes. Cannoli can be anything from a scantily clad woman to a hardened mobster. But no matter the costume, you will have to talk with your Uzi a lot. Mobsters tend not to give out information without some convincing. Ammo can be found in spades and the environment is yours to destroy as well.

Guns, Gore & Cannoli Gameplay

Team up to get down to business in Thugtown

Just a few undead to keep you busy

21. Mighty No. 9

Mighty No. 9 Trailer

You are Beck. You were built to battle other bots in an epic battleground. But something has gone terribly wrong. Every other battle bot has been infected by a mysterious virus, and now you must battle your way through them to find the villain responsible for unleashing the virus.

You can play the classic arcade style game which features 12 missions and lots of platforming fun. Or you can choose to play just the bosses and race the clock. You can even race your friends online to see who can complete each level faster.

This game is meant to be reminiscent of the 90’s arcade classics with their patterned boss fights. So expect to feel like a kid again as you fight through the challenging infected battlebots.

Mighty No. 9 Gameplay

Construction bots can be very deconstructive

Fight the other battlebots to save the city

20. Roguelands

Roguelands Trailer

Things have fallen apart on Earth. This has unleashed a being known as The Destroyer, who has opened a rip in the space-time continuum. You play as a space cadet out to save the universe from this being. Your job is to go to distant planets and gather precious resources.

This game is an epic RPG. And it is in pixelated style. But it is definitely still pretty and a blast to play. You will fight tougher and tougher opponents. And the catch? When you die, you lose everything. Except what you have stored on your ship. This means you do not have any armor or weapons or loot that you may have gathered since leaving the ship.

So be careful out there! And take down The Destroyer.

Roguelands Gameplay

Your ship’s appearance is up to you

There’s a lot of angry critters here

19. Salt and Sanctuary

Salt and Sanctuary Trailer

You were supposed to escort a princess and bring peace to your kingdom after decades of warfare. Instead, a mysterious monster attacks your ship and you wake up washed up on an unknown shore. You must now get through hordes monsters to find the answer to why you are here and what happened to your princess.

Often called the 2D Dark Souls, it is an RPG with some ambitious gameplay. You can customize your character’s looks, class, etc. Just like you would expect from an RPG. From there you’re thrown right into action and must fight a boss you WILL lose against. But don’t let that turn you off to the game. Sometimes you have to lose to move the game forward.

Controls are intuitive and you can have fun stringing together parries, blocks, power attacks, magic and even very satisfying killing blows. The world is extremely open for you to explore. You can take the obvious path or venture off and explore.  It’s all up to you.

Salt and Sanctuary Gameplay

That’s some serious lightning

Do we really wanna pick a fight with a boss that big?

18. This War of Mine

This War of Mine Trailer

This city has been torn apart by war. You are one of the unlucky few who did not make it out on the refugee ships. Your job, for however long this war is going to last, is to survive. Nothing more, nothing less. You are not an elite soldier. You are just a civilian trying to make it until ceasefire.

How you survive is up to you. The game is simple enough to understand. You hide during the day. You scavenge at night. You’re scavenging for goods to improve your dwelling and, of course, for food and medicine.

You control not only yourself but up to 3 others to start. More people may join you as you play, if you let them.  You’ll need to use all the survivors in your hiding place to craft things that will make your life smoother until the war halts. This can be anything from a shovel, to go through debris, to a weapon, to fight off other scavengers who inevitably come knocking.

This War of Mine Gameplay

Explore looted and destroyed dwellings

Survivors can die if you aren’t careful

17. Broforce

Broforce Trailer

The world is in trouble and it’s up to the Broforce to save it. Armed with basically everything explosive, the broforce is setting out to blow some junk up in the name of freedom. Run and Gun as basically any action hero from pop culture.

These heroes are over-the-top ripped. And most likely will be wearing a tank top. They use guns that range from big to ginormous. And villains are anything from muscular goons to Satan himself.

This is a bit-type game. And everything can be destroyed: walls, cages, oil barrels, everything. Play as Chuck Norris, the Terminator, even a very muscly male Ripley (Alien). Fly that American flag at every check point and kill some demons.

One word: ‘murica.

Broforce Gameplay

Play as Rambo and explode all the things

Can you name all the pop culture references?