While Second Hand: Frankie’s Revenge comes with all the bells and whistles of customization, twin-stick shooters live and die by the quality of the combat. Using a myriad of different weapon combination options, players dispatch of various mechanical foes using heavily customized trash robots, built from the ground-up using household appliances and gadgets. The genre itself is simplistic and Frankie’s Revenge capitalizes on that aspect with a basic yet satisfying combat system that’s just as fun with a boxing glove as it is a machine gun.

The entire game can be enjoyed solo or alongside friends but it’s clear the game has been designed to encourage the latter. Each level, while simple in design, is creative and intuitive with varying objectives that keep the gameplay fresh and challenging. Certain missions will have you fishing for objectives, while others have you fueling a train-like vehicle throughout the level to destroy the objective at the end. In co-op mode, this offers plenty of fun and excitement for players of all ages. However, when done solo, it sometimes leaves a sour taste. The objectives are simple enough to complete with friends, but when playing alone, they can definitely reach a level of frustration at times.

One of the games most successful design aspects is the option to scale the experience. You can just as easily enjoy hours of robot bashing fun alongside a seasoned gamer on higher difficulties, as you can playing with very young children or those new to gaming. This offers a level of fun and accessibility often overlooked in the gaming space, making it a fantastic title to play with younger members of the family.

This welcomed accessibility spreads throughout Frankie’s Revenge. Easy, Medium, Challenging, and Hard difficulty options are available, each scaling enemy difficulty and player rewards. This same design approach is featured throughout each level as well. What may be a simplistic task for older players becomes an equally simple but much more rewarding challenge for younger players. Something as simple as having one player defend another while they complete objectives, or one playing a more supportive role with their abilities, it manages to balance these features alongside a game that can be brutally difficult at higher difficulty levels.

Outside of its intuitive level design and smooth combat, Second Hand: Frankie’s Revenge features a bevy of customization options. Different weapon choices, skins for nearly all weapons and character parts, the ability to customize your hideout and some rewarding loot box mechanics to boot. I’d like to mention the latter is harmless fun, there’s no micro-transactions or unnecessary “surprise mechanics” here.

If there’s a single aspect of Second Hand: Frankie’s Revenge that’s lacking, it’s the content. There is currently only a single complete campaign available, another has most of its levels but it’s not complete, and a third has yet to be released. While there’s lots of skins for each customization option, the game would definitely benefit from more items to find and unlock. However, the game is in a very young stage of Early Access and the foundations are solid. Outside of some very minor connectivity issues, I didn’t encounter any technical issues whatsoever, and there’s more than enough content to justify the current price.

At its core, Second Hand: Frankie’s Revenge is a fun, rewarding and exciting foray into the twin-stick shooter genre. A smooth combat experience coupled with a flurry of customization options and combat styles comes together to create something just fun. Pure, unadulterated fun. While it may lack impact and excitement as a solo game, it more than delivers when playing with friends or younger members of the family.

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Hit It Or Quit It – Pagan Online Early Access

Immediately out of the gate, Pagan Online distinguishes itself from other ARPG games of late with a fully voiced cast and cohesive story line. You take on the role of a fallen hero, slain in battle but revived at the Pantheon, which serves as a central hub for both gameplay mechanics and story. A story spanning many chapters, the hero goes on adventure to seek out the absent gods and return balance to the light and dark of the world.

While traditional and almost cliche in places, Pagan Online’s story still manages to refresh and intrigue with its Slavic inspirations, which combines stories and characters from a wealth of Slavic mythology to create something that’s interesting and fun every step of the way. What’s more, it never gets in the way. The Early Access release only features five of the eight chapters so far, but that’s still a solid 20-30 hour experience.

A riveting story is always a plus but the bread and butter of the ARPG genre is the combat, and it’s another area Pagan Online does not disappoint. Featuring WASD controls, while not to everyone’s taste, provides a more strategic layer to the combat, increasing the emphasis on importance of location and movement. Decimating wave after wave of enemies with various skills and abilities never gets old; as corpses scatter across the screen mid-flight, Pagan Online’s greatest combat moments come when a little thought needs be applied.

Almost all of the enemies you will encounter have specific attack patterns and abilities. While a few of these can be ignored in favor of just smashing the crap out of everything, others require a little more care and attention. Ignoring that mage on the outskirts of combat as you slaughter dozens of zombies at your door may seem like the best idea, but if that mage manages to hit its petrify spell, you’ll be zombie food in no time.

The careful combination of hack-n-slash gameplay with thoughtful, strategic combat decisions makes each and every battle immersive, rewarding, and challenging – especially when you spike up the game to one of the many different difficulties.

It’s often easy to forget Pagan Online’s fresh entry in the Early Access space. The games polish, production value and sheer amount of content is huge for a game at this stage in development. A robust crafting system creates for near endless methods of improving your characters stats and abilities. Eight unique characters with unique visual customization options, different abilities and different battle tactics, adds a huge level of replay value and the soon to be introduced co-op will ensure that skyrockets.

Pagan Online is a refreshingly high-quality entry into the Early Access space. Providing rewarding combat, tons of different customization and progression features, and an intriguing story, the foundations for a truly excellent ARPG are all here. This one is a sure “Hit It.”

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Hit It Or Quit It – Hades Early Access

While certain elements of Hades take clear inspiration from other titles in the rogue-like space, it’s at the forefront of the genre in its ability to combine an immersive story and interesting narrative atop the otherwise repetitious elements of rogue-like games. Players take on the role of Zagreus, Prince of the Underworld, as he attempts to escape the clutches of his father Hades and meet with the Gods of Olympus. As you continue to explore the increasingly difficult chambers of the underworld, you will encounter various Gods from Greek Mythology, each with a distinctly unique character and incredible art style. On the ability to tell a rewarding story alone, Hades is already pushing the boundaries of rogue-likes.

Featuring a strong cast of characters alongside full voice acting and a well-scripted narrative is never a bad thing but honestly, we don’t hit up rogue-likes to spend the entire time listening to dialogue. Thankfully, Supergiant Games’ decision to incorporate more RPG style characteristics does not detract from the core functionality of a rogue-like game – not even one bit.

Hades has you completing increasingly difficult chambers with more enemies, more traps, more obstacles and more ways to die, and you will die, a lot. Aiding Zagreus on his seemingly endless pursuit of Olympus are a number of God-like weapons and Boons. Currently there are four different weapons types to choose from, each can be selected at the start of a new run. A sword, a spear, a bow, and a shield are the current options for players, each offering drastically different styles of play and various strengths and weaknesses that you can utilize and avoid.

Another standout element of Hades is the progressive reward system. It has long been a staple of the rogue-like genre, rewarding players with progressive upgrades as they continue to fail in order to make the next attempt more successful and more satisfying. Hades boasts one of the best approaches to this in recent memory – various Gods of Olympus, from Artemis and Athena to even Zeus himself will reward you with special Boons when you complete specific rooms and challenges. These vary greatly, from basic improvements that increase attack damage to entirely new abilities that allow you to toss around bolts of lightning whenever you see fit. Furthermore, there are rare and epic versions of these boons, keeping each and every run fresh, exciting, and increasingly rewarding.

Outside of Boons, there are plenty of other incentives to continue your never-ending beat down of the Underworld. Gifts can be found scattered throughout and can be exchanged with various characters you meet for special items that offer bonuses and can be improved as you progress. A small number of items can be purchased in special areas that are added to Zagreus’s bedroom and souls you gather on your adventures can be exchanged for even further improvements to your abilities. In terms of keeping the experience fresh and rewarding, Hades is already way ahead of its competition.

Hades is still at its very earliest stages of Early Access development. It was announced and release under Early Access on December 6, but is already polished, technically sound, and boasts enough features and content to warrant a full release. Usually, with Early Access games, you’re paying for what will be, the potential, what’s to come. However, with Hades, it’s already there.

Hades is an incredibly ambitious rogue-like that’s already delivering on its promises just weeks after its release. It is a must have for any long time fans of the rogue-like genre, and a fantastic entry level experience for those looking to get their feet wet.

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Hit It or Quit It – The Textorcist Beta

A private exorcist for hire, the wise man of the church Ray Bibbia has a unique way of dealing with any threats. Rather than use holy water or pray, he utilizes the power of Holy Bullets (or Hollets) through reading specific pieces of scripture. Type out what it says at the bottom, and damage is dealt.

There’s a catch though – players must type out what is written at the bottom while dealing with threats. Bullets, vomit, and bombs turn what is normally a straightforward affair into a defensive shoot-em-up. It can be tricky navigating the waves of fire with the arrow keys while typing when there’s an opening, but it provides a thrilling feeling that carefully balances both defense and offense. Those hoping to camp out in the corner of each arena are SOL too – Bibbia must be in range before he can attack. Note that getting hit is not the end of the world either – players can pick up their lost book with enough finesse, and pick things up where they last stopped if timed correctly.

When you have a keyboard and a character to control, it sounds like an awkward combination, and it can admittedly prove to be cumbersome. Bullet patterns are thick, and passages are long. However, there are strategies like typing with one hand or memorizing passages that ensure success at the expense of practice. It is through this way that the game manages to channel the arcade spirit, and the high score leaderboards encourage replayability.

The three fights included in the beta are tied together with a story featuring crazy beggars, girls that must be exorcised, a demonic outbreak, and sleazy nightclubs. The amount of variety, when paired with the solid sprite work, give this title a personality all its own. Each fight has its own gimmicks too, from defusing bombs to avoiding vomit that obscures the scriptures. Though each fight ends far too fast, the amount of variety provided changes things up enough.

Between bouts, players will explore the confines of Bibby’s place. Don’t expect to be off the hook either – players must use their typing skills to open up his computer, read his journal, and do other tasks. Plot skews on the side of silly, which might not appeal to some, but it is appreciated nonetheless.

The Textorcist’s concept of typing while battling is wildly unique, and comes together like peanut butter and chocolate. Though it has a learning curve players have likely never seen before, it still manages to stand out in the dense Steam landscape.

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Hit It or Quit It – Grimm & Tonic Early Access

The first episode Grimm & Tonic opens up with a number of bombshells. After players choose their gender, players learn that they have been fired from their job and are filled to the brim with anxiety. To make matters worse, death literally knocks at their door, saying that their time is up. There’s just one problem – you lack a soul due to a lack of friends, relationships, and passions. Unsure as to what to do with you, he enlists your help at New Eden City’s dive bar Dead-End. Once players arrive here, they meet the bartender Saul Weston. Handing over the almighty Cocktail Grimoire, he brings you on board and tasks you with dealing with its many patrons.

A visual novel at heart, the entirety of “On the Rocks” has players mixing a number of drinks for different people, all while learning more about these different characters. Gameplay follows a simple formula – players must guess a drink that the patron wants using the Cocktail Grimoire, and then either ask a direct question or make small talk to progress.

However, once the first customer walks into this “watering hole for the soul,” things quickly start to unravel. Drink orders are literally a guessing game – one person’s request for “something sour” lines up with the whiskey sour drink, but another person asking for “something unique” equates to a guessing game that devolves into clicking every entry. It gets frustrating fast, and even cocktail connoisseurs will struggle with matching the drink up to the patron.

Those who get these people what they want will then dive into conversation. Certain people can be standoffish, offering brief responses to friendly inquiries. It oftentimes feels like you’re exhausting all options before finding the right one. It might look like these people have unique backgrounds – one comes wearing a skull, while another works at a startup – but the short length of each exchange fails to go into any depth. Those that successfully chat up their customer will be rewarded with Soul points, though these do not have much weight in the grand scheme of things.

If anything, it is far too easy to get a bad ending. Our playthrough of the episode ran around 20 minutes, and one wrong option put a screeching halt to the title. Things were over before they even began, and though there are alternate endings and B-sides that feature brief character vignettes, there is almost no character development for the protagonist.

Unfortunately, Grimm & Tonic is fairly buggy as well. Not only are there typos, certain dialog choices will hang. The only way to have the plot proceed at these points is to go into a separate menu and close it out, which gets especially frustrating the fifth time you do it in such a short period.

Grimm & Tonic has got an interesting concept, but the first episode’s execution is lacking. There is the potential for something good here, but the awkward dialog and rampant bugs make it far too frustrating to play in its current state.

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Hit It or Quit It – HyperParasite Pre-Alpha

In a cruel twist of fate, players control the villain of HyperParasite, rather than the hero. As a parasite run amok, players will fend off the denizens of a seedy town, all as you cause chaos and destruction in your wake.

There’s just one catch though – your blobby form cannot do much. A dash move that does some damage is at the players’ disposal, but it is easy to get taken down with just a few simple blows. To truly succeed in this roguelike, players must take control of their enemies. A Possession Cone can be aimed at the target of your choosing, and once locked on, players can then become that character.

There’s certainly no shortage to choose from – basketball players, cart-pushing hobos, boxers, street walkers, and newspaper delivery girls are just some of the dozens of targets players can control. Each one also has their own attack method and special move, adding some variety.

It’s just a shame that almost no balancing has gone into its cast and crew. Some characters will put you at a distinct disadvantage – for instance, the urban warriors’ molotov cocktail launches at an arc that will miss most of your targets, while the police officer can only fire six shots before reloading. When compared to others that can spam attacks ad infinitum, it’s far too easy to get stuck with a bum character.

Gameplay is done twin-stick shooter style, with players navigating areas like the downtown and the sewers as they destroy anything and everything. However, most areas plunk characters into an arena-style setting, forcing them to take down waves of baddies to progress. Smash TV and Nex Machina used a similar setup, but the lack of variety makes everything start to run together before too long. There is the chance to grab upgrades, find brains, and purchase perks with money earned on the battlefield, but it does little to alleviate the grind.

In true roguelike fashion, however, death means starting from the very beginning. The route to the perfect run is far too random though – some areas are a walk in the park, while others are downright unfair. We may be admitting our scrub nature here, but the “Double Trouble” boss and its two trucks with machine gun fine are next to impossible to solo. If the game offered more balance, this challenge would be a bit easier to stomach.

As of this writing, there are no major bugs to speak of. There is a lack of online co-op (just local), and only an almanac is available to view outside the main mode. Those looking to get the most out of the pre-alpha best enjoy the main mode and get good at dealing with the throngs of enemies.

HyperParasite concept of possession stands out, but the action could use some balancing. When paired with its roguelike nature, it just becomes far too random and frustrating to master in its current state.

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Hit It or Quit It – TeleBlast

A multiplayer game at heart, players must bring a friend or three along for the journey. There is no support for bots, and no online play is available as of this writing. This is unfortunate, as even a basic AI could have given this game some legs. It is awkward to crowd around a single computer to play this game, and is a serious oversight.

Those that can overlook this fault can choose from one of six different triangles and choose from one of the two modes available. The main attraction, TeleBlast, is your basic deathmath scenario. Players must fight against one another until one remains, and this continues until a set amount of kills has been made.

There’s a catch though – players cannot simply fire at their opponent to defeat them. Those that try will be surprised to see their bullet ricochet off of the enemy like it is nothing. Rather, when the bullet is in motion, players can press the fire button a second time to teleport to where the bullet is, creating a force field of energy in its wake. This leads to an offensive style of play, one that encourages players to get up and personal.

It sounds great in theory, but the execution leaves something to be desired. For one, the size of the force field depends on how long the bullet is out in play. For those looking to get a quick kill, the best course of action is to either have a bullet in the field or pray that a quick shot is close enough. The former approach is too imprecise, while the latter approach offers too small of a range and leaves players open. It takes two hits to kill an enemy, so players are still wide open after landing a blow. As a result, matches often devolve into a game of chicken, where all sides don’t want to make a move.

The two maps available in Early Access are fairly uninspired, and do not offer many strategic elements. Made up of two lines and four lines, almost no creativity is at play here. There is no personality to the game, and the single track that plays during battles will not inspire players to fight on.

Those that’d like to mix things up a little bit can play the “Capture the Flag” mode. It works as it should…well, one of the maps does. Despite us trying multiple times, the game kept freezing on us on the second map.

Both of these modes offer a number of variables that tweak some elements, but these modes are fairly limited. There are no time limits or stats to view, so there is not much to play with.

A “Quick Play” mode is also available, but we were not able to get it working. No other options are available as of the Early Access build we played.

Though the concept of teleportation in TeleBlast is unique, the engine could use some serious work. As of right now, there is not enough content or strategy to entice players.

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Hit It Or Quit It – Ring Of Elysium Early Access

Immediately players will notice the spawn mechanics are totally different from Fortnite, PUBG and H1Z1. You don’t come in from above, instead you choose the location in which you spawn. This removes the needlessly tedious initial 30 seconds of the round, instead allowing players to get into the meat of the game nearly instantly. I wasn’t convinced at first but the option to select your spawn really grew on me, and is now one of my favorite features about the game. You can also see the location where other players are spawning, giving those seeking a chaotic bloodbath the chance to spawn in the heat of battle while those looking for a more survival-based approach can spawn out in the sticks.

There are two other notable changes to the BR formula that present themselves before the game even starts. Character customization is already implemented and while it doesn’t rival Skyrim, it’s more reminiscent of MMORPG character creation, with greater detail and more variety. Secondly, you get to pick an equipment pack before launching into the game. This allows every player to start with a gun and also a piece of equipment. Either Climbing Tools, a Snowboard or a Glider, and they are all just as cool as they sound.

The Climbing Tools allows you to climb specific routes up mountains, providing access to fast travel over long distances with conveniently placed zipwires. The Glider can be used to jump from high locations and escape danger while the snowboard allows for faster travel wherever there’s a slight slope. There’s few things more satisfying than celebrating a kill with a 360 tail grab snowboard trick. While simplistic in design and implementation, these features really improve the speed of transitions between early and mid game, and promise endless potential for insane gifs and shares.

Other unique elements of Ring of Elysium include first-person and third-person options, with each forcing that particular perspective for the entire lobby of 60 players. An already impressive arsenal of weapons, equipment and attachments, and an interesting end-game mechanic that offers a really interesting insight into the state of the battle royale genre as a whole.

Unlike other games in the genre, Ring of Elysium’s “gas” mechanic is actually that of a dangerously cold weather front moving across the map. As such it does not conform to the restraints of a simple circle, instead offering a far more realistic approach to forcing players into an enclosed space. The victory mechanic is also very interesting as a helicopter appears at the end of the game with enough space to seat 4 people. In the final moments of battle, as players fight tooth and nail to survive, there is the option for 4 players to call a ceasefire and escape together, but seldom is this the case. Each time I have survived to the point of the evac helicopter arriving, the remaining 4 players would rather kill each other and die than all escape together. Showcasing the true brutality of the genre in its purest form.

Ring of Elysium is a well executed, technically sound and innovative approach to a genre already stagnating. For a free-to-play Early Access game, there is zero reason not to make Ring of Elysium your battle royale game of choice.

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Hit It or Quit It – Synthwave Dream ‘85

The goal of Synthwave Dream ‘85 is a simple one. Picking a radical ride of your choosing, players must drive along an endless procedurally generated track, hitting crazy fast speeds and drifting to get points. When we say crazy speeds, we absolutely mean it – players will go from 0 to 200 kilometers per hour in a matter of seconds. There is also a nitro that is very generous with its boost power, which can get that number to 300 kilometers per hour and beyond.

However, simply going fast won’t get you anywhere…so to speak. In honor to get a high score, players must utilize both their brake and emergency brake, creating a drift that leaves a skidmark for the ages. This mechanic has been utilized quite well in series like Mario Kart, Ridge Racer, and Burnout, but the physics found here don’t work quite as well.

Steering in Synthwave Dream ‘85 is somewhat stiff, making it feel like you’re fighting with the controls as much as the countersteering. The high speeds and narrow tracks make it easy to careen off course, which can automatically end the game if players don’t right their path in a set amount of time. It is also far too easy for the car to clip the edge of the track, making it impossible to get back on the track. What would normally be an easy thing to remedy is borderline impossible due to the way each car handles.

This is made that much more difficult with the life meter that each car has. Your whip will blow up if it goes to zero, but players can earn health by drifting and using nitro at the same time. This is a risky proposition, and it normally would be welcome if it weren’t for the fact that many tracks generated are either straight shots or narrow. Handmade courses would have gone a long way here, and the air of randomness that comes with no two tracks being the same makes things that much more difficult.

In random spots money can be netted by driving over floating dollar signs. Though this is a nice addition that incentivizes multiple playthroughs, everything in the game’s garage is far too expensive. Spoilers and wheels are easy enough to acquire, but getting $250 when a car costs $70000 takes far too long.

The game does deserve some points for its presentation. The thumping beats, CRT filter, and vignetting are nice touches, as is the old school VHS and computer presentation. There are some bugs as of this writing – music would drop out and would not return without us restarting the game. Also note that the game has some horrendous load times – it took us 33 seconds to boot the game up on our gaming PC.

Synthwave Dream ‘85 nails its 80s atmosphere, but its gameplay is somewhat dated. The procedurally generated levels and rigid drifting physics simply do not get along, forcing players to fight the game at every mile of their drive.

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Hit It or Quit It – Icons: Combat Arena Early Access

If you’ve played any entry in the Super Smash Bros. series, you’ll know what to expect in Icons…because the game is more or less the same thing. Players must knock their opponent out of one of five arenas, using regular attacks, charged smash attacks, dodges and rolls, grabs, and special attacks that are determined by the direction used. There is even a percentage-based mechanic and a stage called “Wavedash Arena” – it wears its inspiration on its sleeve.

Unlike other contenders like Slap City, however, this one lacks any sort of soul or character. Starting out, players can choose from three characters: the heavy hitter orc Xana (who looks like Overwatch’s Zarya), the energy-wielding warrior Ashani, and the goat-like speedy character Kidd. There are other characters that can be purchased, but it feels like each character is just a generic adaptation of ones from more noticeable releases.

This extends to the movesets for each character – most characters have abilities that are 1:1 recreations of those found in Super Smash Bros. Kidd is especially guilty of this – he plays exactly like Fox, down to his “shine” counter. An homage is fine; a blatant copy…not so much.

If the game played exactly like Super Smash Bros, this might all be forgiven, but the engine present here is lacking. The attacks don’t have the satisfying impact that players have come to expect, which is not good in a game like this. There are no items either, and all stages are variations of the same flat terrain with some platforms. Everything may be tourney legal, but the end result is sterile.

To add insult to injury, more than half of the cast can be purchased with in-game “Spectra” currency, or for $24.99. This in-game currency is milked for all its worth; you can buy skins, emotes, holograms, victory poses, platforms, player icons, tokens, and charms. If that’s not enough, there are also loot boxes (dubbed “Portal Packs”) that start at $2.99. It’s a money grab in poor taste.

Icons: Combat Arena might copy Super Smash Bros’ platform fighting formula, but it lacks the soul that made Nintendo’s offerings so great. In its current state, it is an easy pass.

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