Hidden Gems and Buried Treasures

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By Daniel King.

This part of the year is always one of the more exciting times for gamers – triple-A games seem to drop by the barrelful just in time to find their way under the Christmas tree, with even more to follow just months later. But before we skip a few steps and Eagle Dive into Assassin’s Creed Unity, there’re still a handful of must-play games that might’ve slipped your radar in September.

McDroid
Release: 5th September
Platforms: PC
Developer: Elefantopia
Publisher: Elefantopia

McDroid is the most boisterous and unique tower-defence title to ever miss your video game radar. It’s a terrific spin on the genre which swings through the hordes of lesser titles with its arcade action and creative trategy.
The soft, plushy story and its banter between the squeamishly bubble characters is so innocently charming that McDroid could be easily mistaken as an adapted children’s book. However, it’s the brutal difficulty, hordes of vicious enemies and rusty ‘60s inspired soundtrack that hardens your skin. This might sound like the type of combination to fuel a cynic’s scoff, but it’s actually an effective and genuinely creative formula worthy of multiple playthroughs.

Fenix Rage
Release: 24th September
Platforms: PC (PS4 and Xbox
One soon)
Developer: Green Lava Studios
Publisher: Reverb Triple XP

What is it about challenging games that makes them so alluring? Is it our intrinsic fixation on trying to conquer something so painful? Or are we programmed to believe there’ll be an incredible reward waiting for us behind the credits? No matter which side of the coin you call, there’s no denying that tough games can also offer some of gaming’s greatest satisfactions – even if it’s just inching your way further than you could before.

Velocibox
Release: 8th September
Platforms: PC
Developer: Shawn Beck
Publisher: Shawn Beck

I hope you haven’t worn out your trigger finger just yet; you’ll need it for this twitch-happy runner. Velocibox, otherwise mistaken as a reiteration of Super Hexagon, is a challenging, twitch-based game that’s equal in both happiness and pure frustration. Players guide a geometrical cube at an aggressively accelerating rate through a range of obstacle riddled tunnels, hoping to rack up a score worthy of the leaderboard. Not only will you be guiding a cube through a vortex of obstructions, your progression relies on collecting cube pickups in the same, unhindered run. Imagine driving on the opposite side of the highway at the highest speed your little Nissan can muster, all while hitting every Witches Hat, and you’ll have a fair idea of Velocity’s intensity.

Read the full report in the latest TAT Games Magazine