Scaling and Review Notes

Review Disclaimer

Every game ranked was played, but also scaled based on research, talking to developers & your feedback. The priority with the scale's initial design was to compare similarity on relatively objective features - so it doesn't claim to include reviews of the depth and clarity you'd get at a games journalism site, nor the intensive time played you might get from player reviews on steam. We try to incorporate and link all of that along with a 'review scale' that checks for bugs. See the heatmap and breakdown! Time played noted so you can take any notes with a big grain of salt! I can't get to high level gameplay in 850+ games so I heavily research every game. Over 80 game creators let me interview or survey them! I Hope to go back and refine. Please argue or submit your own scores and reviews to be incorporated with credit into the notes and score numbers.

Added or last checked on 10/29/2023

Scale scoring from scorecard submitted by Developer. Once evaluated after a couple hours play and some research, will be adjusted and moved up into the ranking proper.

Dev notes plot is optional and the following features are in the full game: endless mode, goal based unlocks, weapon evolution, advanced synergy, broken/invincible builds, chests, vendors, bestiary, achievements and secrets. And it will be a low price.

Help us rank this game! [Submit Review]

Scaling and Review Notes

Review Disclaimer

Every game ranked was played, but also scaled based on research, talking to developers & your feedback. The priority with the scale's initial design was to compare similarity on relatively objective features - so it doesn't claim to include reviews of the depth and clarity you'd get at a games journalism site, nor the intensive time played you might get from player reviews on steam. We try to incorporate and link all of that along with a 'review scale' that checks for bugs. See the heatmap and breakdown! Time played noted so you can take any notes with a big grain of salt! I can't get to high level gameplay in 850+ games so I heavily research every game. Over 80 game creators let me interview or survey them! I Hope to go back and refine. Please argue or submit your own scores and reviews to be incorporated with credit into the notes and score numbers.

Added or last checked on 11/6/2023

Scale scoring from scorecard submitted by Developer. Once evaluated after a couple hours play and some research, will be adjusted and moved up into the ranking proper.

Upcoming game by the dev of 20 Minutes Till Dawn

Help us rank this game! [Submit Review]

Scaling and Review Notes

Review Disclaimer

Every game ranked was played, but also scaled based on research, talking to developers & your feedback. The priority with the scale's initial design was to compare similarity on relatively objective features - so it doesn't claim to include reviews of the depth and clarity you'd get at a games journalism site, nor the intensive time played you might get from player reviews on steam. We try to incorporate and link all of that along with a 'review scale' that checks for bugs. See the heatmap and breakdown! Time played noted so you can take any notes with a big grain of salt! I can't get to high level gameplay in 850+ games so I heavily research every game. Over 80 game creators let me interview or survey them! I Hope to go back and refine. Please argue or submit your own scores and reviews to be incorporated with credit into the notes and score numbers.

Added or last checked on 11/1/2023

Scale scoring from scorecard submitted by Developer. Once evaluated after a couple hours play and some research, will be adjusted and moved up into the ranking proper.

Dev Notes: "The scores I gave are based mostly on the open beta version available on November 6th to November 13th. The demo has many characteristics in common, but more limited content."

Help us rank this game! [Submit Review]

Scaling and Review Notes

Review Disclaimer

Every game ranked was played, but also scaled based on research, talking to developers & your feedback. The priority with the scale's initial design was to compare similarity on relatively objective features - so it doesn't claim to include reviews of the depth and clarity you'd get at a games journalism site, nor the intensive time played you might get from player reviews on steam. We try to incorporate and link all of that along with a 'review scale' that checks for bugs. See the heatmap and breakdown! Time played noted so you can take any notes with a big grain of salt! I can't get to high level gameplay in 850+ games so I heavily research every game. Over 80 game creators let me interview or survey them! I Hope to go back and refine. Please argue or submit your own scores and reviews to be incorporated with credit into the notes and score numbers.

Added or last checked on 11/1/2023

Scale scoring from scorecard submitted by Developer. Once evaluated after a couple hours play and some research, will be adjusted and moved up into the ranking proper.

Help us rank this game! [Submit Review]

Scaling and Review Notes

Review Disclaimer

Every game ranked was played, but also scaled based on research, talking to developers & your feedback. The priority with the scale's initial design was to compare similarity on relatively objective features - so it doesn't claim to include reviews of the depth and clarity you'd get at a games journalism site, nor the intensive time played you might get from player reviews on steam. We try to incorporate and link all of that along with a 'review scale' that checks for bugs. See the heatmap and breakdown! Time played noted so you can take any notes with a big grain of salt! I can't get to high level gameplay in 850+ games so I heavily research every game. Over 80 game creators let me interview or survey them! I Hope to go back and refine. Please argue or submit your own scores and reviews to be incorporated with credit into the notes and score numbers.

Added or last checked on 11/8/2023

Scale scoring from scorecard submitted by Developer. Once evaluated after a couple hours play and some research, will be adjusted and moved up into the ranking proper.

Dev Scorecard notes: "Endless mode, weapon evolutions, ""bestiary"", achievements, and a number of other features are coming with the release (not in the demo). The core idea of NeuroSquad is that weapon upgrades are not tied to specific weapons. Instead, you can choose which weapon you apply your chosen modifier to. So this way you can build up your attacks modularly (and swap the weapon from underneath your upgrade stack to a different one)."

Help us rank this game! [Submit Review]

Scaling and Review Notes

Personal Hours Played: 2.7

Review Disclaimer

Every game ranked was played, but also scaled based on research, talking to developers & your feedback. The priority with the scale's initial design was to compare similarity on relatively objective features - so it doesn't claim to include reviews of the depth and clarity you'd get at a games journalism site, nor the intensive time played you might get from player reviews on steam. We try to incorporate and link all of that along with a 'review scale' that checks for bugs. See the heatmap and breakdown! Time played noted so you can take any notes with a big grain of salt! I can't get to high level gameplay in 850+ games so I heavily research every game. Over 80 game creators let me interview or survey them! I Hope to go back and refine. Please argue or submit your own scores and reviews to be incorporated with credit into the notes and score numbers.

Added or last checked on 10/17/2023

Brotato is a common recommendation and many people love it. It does have pretty satisfying one handed gameplay (with optional aim I imagine most people don't use), but personally it doesn't hit the mark. I don't like how the waves are counted off and you level at the end of the round instead of when you get enough XP, nor that every one minute all the gems are swept up - it interrupts the flow for me and removes the gameplay element of trying to gather the drops.

Every match is in the same small box instead of a vibe of exploring an interesting map with secrets. I also think the characters are ugly and the gun designs boring. But I can see how people sink a lot of time into it - it has many positive steam reviews.

Probably it's popular in a big way because of the excellent variety in character builds and possible run combinations and the challenges created this way.

Thread on steam to check back in on later: As fans, do you think brotato-style games are significantly different than survivors-likes?"

Scaling and Review Notes

Review Disclaimer

Every game ranked was played, but also scaled based on research, talking to developers & your feedback. The priority with the scale's initial design was to compare similarity on relatively objective features - so it doesn't claim to include reviews of the depth and clarity you'd get at a games journalism site, nor the intensive time played you might get from player reviews on steam. We try to incorporate and link all of that along with a 'review scale' that checks for bugs. See the heatmap and breakdown! Time played noted so you can take any notes with a big grain of salt! I can't get to high level gameplay in 850+ games so I heavily research every game. Over 80 game creators let me interview or survey them! I Hope to go back and refine. Please argue or submit your own scores and reviews to be incorporated with credit into the notes and score numbers.

Added or last checked on 11/1/2023

Scale scoring from scorecard submitted by Developer. Once evaluated after a couple hours play and some research, will be adjusted and moved up into the ranking proper.

Help us rank this game! [Submit Review]

Scaling and Review Notes

Personal Hours Played: 5.9

Review Disclaimer

Every game ranked was played, but also scaled based on research, talking to developers & your feedback. The priority with the scale's initial design was to compare similarity on relatively objective features - so it doesn't claim to include reviews of the depth and clarity you'd get at a games journalism site, nor the intensive time played you might get from player reviews on steam. We try to incorporate and link all of that along with a 'review scale' that checks for bugs. See the heatmap and breakdown! Time played noted so you can take any notes with a big grain of salt! I can't get to high level gameplay in 850+ games so I heavily research every game. Over 80 game creators let me interview or survey them! I Hope to go back and refine. Please argue or submit your own scores and reviews to be incorporated with credit into the notes and score numbers.

Added or last checked on 10/13/2023

Reliance on trigger is particular to this one, making it a twin stick shooter in VS arena style wrapping. Dark pixel art style will be a matter of taste, I like it. Moving slower when firing and reliance on trigger for early progression makes it feel slower and a little more boring personally, though. Also earns it a lower spot on this list for mechanic differences.

20 Min is a common suggestion for folks looking for another VS-like game, likely because it had a public version out pretty early in the wave, but I feel it's also kind of closer to other top down shooters pre-Survivors, before the genre got as defined. Some may like it more due to the more hands on feel, others will bounce before getting to the real bullet heaven aspects.

Like a few other titles on this list I put in most of my time with it before I was "officially" researching survivors-likes. So it just has a bit less in the way of notes. Sorry!

Scaling and Review Notes

Personal Hours Played: 5.6

Review Disclaimer

Every game ranked was played, but also scaled based on research, talking to developers & your feedback. The priority with the scale's initial design was to compare similarity on relatively objective features - so it doesn't claim to include reviews of the depth and clarity you'd get at a games journalism site, nor the intensive time played you might get from player reviews on steam. We try to incorporate and link all of that along with a 'review scale' that checks for bugs. See the heatmap and breakdown! Time played noted so you can take any notes with a big grain of salt! I can't get to high level gameplay in 850+ games so I heavily research every game. Over 80 game creators let me interview or survey them! I Hope to go back and refine. Please argue or submit your own scores and reviews to be incorporated with credit into the notes and score numbers.

Added or last checked on 11/9/2023

Bing is in Wonderland and you can be too! Fairly unique title on the list and has features that may appeal to a wide range of players.

Picked this one up from my Steam Queue unsure about what it exactly was and I've never been happier. First of all, I just want to say that it's incredibly refreshing to have fun silly games based on mythology not as overdone as Norse, Greek, Celtic, etc and Beijing based Wanba Studio really delivers. And in an incredibly silly lofi refreshing way. The localization team deserves a nobel peace prize.

It's a "sidescroller" but really only in small arena style stages linked together in the now classic branching paths rogue-lite fashion. You don't see all your paths on a map, but you can pick a stage with a certain kind of power progression. New skill, stat increase, vendor, etc. It's somewhere near Hades but also feels a little brotato style with wave design.

So in that way it's perhaps more similar to other dungeon crawlers, but they say "without exploration elements". With the picking up resources off the ground, over the top upgrades, and general streamlined presentation it fits in well with what a lot of survivors-likes fans are looking for.

Tons more build depth, weapon variety, etc than you'd expect from it at first. Just packed with content. Maps, characters, bestiary, you name it. Sometimes the UI organization is rough but it can also be really creative so hard to ding it too much.

Besides the change in perspective, the biggest difference is with the complexity of controls. It's an action heavy game, though not really a tactical or challenging one. It lends itself very well to button mashing so I quite enjoy it, but the amount of different buttons involved can make it less accessible (I have to play in rounds with my partner for runs, since my hands tire easily.)

I very much appreciate that it has only auto aim, no manual aim, so at least that part you don't need to worry about. Which is good because this most definitely is a bullet heaven, even if the dungeon crawling nature of it makes it perhaps not a survivors-like. There is auto-fire, but it's a mid game unlockable hence partial score.

More scoring modes: We're judging the area selects as "maps/stages" in the VS sense, since they function very similarly. Has both jump and dodge but can't go past -1 in that column anyway. Early runs to clear the first few stages were maybe 8-10 minutes. Probably can go down if you're better and go up on later levels.

But speaking of that, the button mash friendly action focus and streamlined nature also makes this a game that appeals highly to my partner as well as me (while my partner sometimes bounces off buildcrafting and I bounce off games too reliant on tactical button presses). It reminds me a bit of Hades, which I was able to complete runs of, in that when it's going well you're constantly dashing around the screen.

Lovely uglycute art style based on classical Chinese ink wash paintings, I'm honestly unsure I've ever seen anything exactly like it. Especially mixed with the lowbrow humor. This is probably off a little bit since I'm not an expert on the art history, but my first impression was like if Binding of Isaac was made during the Tang Dynasty. Screenshots and even videos don't really do it justice. Just fresh.

Sometimes a game might actually get dinged in 'subtle' humor when it's got a lot of poop jokes, but it's got a wide range of humor overall. Something I thought was a UI bug was a "prank" so watch out for those. Did I mention the music is really good? Devs should play this game and take notes.

Scaling and Review Notes

Personal Hours Played: 1.2

Review Disclaimer

Every game ranked was played, but also scaled based on research, talking to developers & your feedback. The priority with the scale's initial design was to compare similarity on relatively objective features - so it doesn't claim to include reviews of the depth and clarity you'd get at a games journalism site, nor the intensive time played you might get from player reviews on steam. We try to incorporate and link all of that along with a 'review scale' that checks for bugs. See the heatmap and breakdown! Time played noted so you can take any notes with a big grain of salt! I can't get to high level gameplay in 850+ games so I heavily research every game. Over 80 game creators let me interview or survey them! I Hope to go back and refine. Please argue or submit your own scores and reviews to be incorporated with credit into the notes and score numbers.

Added or last checked on 11/9/2023

Totally fucked up cute little game about burning tiny pixel people alive. Great twist on the movement only formula so far, where you start burnign things just by staying still for a second (though there is a special move button.) As you level up there are some skills that technically shoot, so we can call this movement focused game a single stick shooter if we want to.

We're giving it a 0 for the No Movement Penalty column since you need to stop to light things on fire, which is basically a movement penalty in terms of gameplay. But it doesn't feel bad, since the main challenge of the game is moving! You don't collect XP on the ground (you get it by setting things on fire as they burn) so it gives you a reason to balance avoiding enemies with another objecitve (like moving towards xp in other survivors-likes)

It feel Vampire Survivors influenced so I'm going to call it a survivors-like, but it doesn't really feel like wave survival just because of how it's aesthetically presented. You dodge a lot of clouds (that actually do have similar formations to many survivors-likes enemy formations) but you usually can't kill them. I think we can also call it a dodge em up. It's also certainly an "enemy hell" since there aren't really bullets, which is a term we don't use for tags but is defined in the key.

It's cute as hell and actually does some kind of cool stuff in terms of pixel simulating the fire (not really necessary and it's no Noita, but it's fun!) The main mode is based on points, not time, but it's pretty similar in play so we give it a high partial score for timed survival. You get powerups through your run but they really are just power ups and don't interact with each other for builds or change the play style much. Primary healing is by starting fire.. on ground.. but there's also heals so "heal on ground" is a full point either way.

It has the presentation of a game with a lot of unlocks, and I think it's there to keep you going if you really like the gameplay and want a reason to, but at the same time I don't think it actually has the build depth or variety in gameplay or build reasons to really chase the unlocks. It's more just like challenges with small rewards to keep you playing a generally enjoyable gameplay loop. It doesn't really feel cheap or like it's trying to trick you into seeing more depth that isn't there, but some people may be disappointed. I think it's enough to give it high scores in those categories though.

The gameplay at the start is, I think for the most part, what you get, from what I've seen of anyone playing. Which is fine for an arcade game, but means you have to like it and not expect a ramp.

I'm giving it high scores on the review, but honestly it's a little hard to review this because it's like if playing pacman made me feel like a war criminal. I think that's good? It's certainly unique. It's a fun little arcade game, but without the build depth I imagine most people will be happy with it but only play for a few hours and not a few hundred.

Scaling and Review Notes

Review Disclaimer

Every game ranked was played, but also scaled based on research, talking to developers & your feedback. The priority with the scale's initial design was to compare similarity on relatively objective features - so it doesn't claim to include reviews of the depth and clarity you'd get at a games journalism site, nor the intensive time played you might get from player reviews on steam. We try to incorporate and link all of that along with a 'review scale' that checks for bugs. See the heatmap and breakdown! Time played noted so you can take any notes with a big grain of salt! I can't get to high level gameplay in 850+ games so I heavily research every game. Over 80 game creators let me interview or survey them! I Hope to go back and refine. Please argue or submit your own scores and reviews to be incorporated with credit into the notes and score numbers.

Added or last checked on 10/29/2023

Scale scoring from scorecard submitted by Developer. Once evaluated after a couple hours play and some research, will be adjusted and moved up into the ranking proper.

Dev Scorecard notes: "While carrying some similarities to VS in basic mechanics, Roboom is something else. In Roboom, core staples of the bullet heaven / horde-survival genre act as a means of storytelling, giving the player the atmosphere and feeling the Robocon story wants to convey."

Help us rank this game! [Submit Review]

Scaling and Review Notes

Review Disclaimer

Every game ranked was played, but also scaled based on research, talking to developers & your feedback. The priority with the scale's initial design was to compare similarity on relatively objective features - so it doesn't claim to include reviews of the depth and clarity you'd get at a games journalism site, nor the intensive time played you might get from player reviews on steam. We try to incorporate and link all of that along with a 'review scale' that checks for bugs. See the heatmap and breakdown! Time played noted so you can take any notes with a big grain of salt! I can't get to high level gameplay in 850+ games so I heavily research every game. Over 80 game creators let me interview or survey them! I Hope to go back and refine. Please argue or submit your own scores and reviews to be incorporated with credit into the notes and score numbers.

Added or last checked on 11/15/2023

Scale scoring from scorecard submitted by Developer. Once evaluated after a couple hours play and some research, will be adjusted and moved up into the ranking proper.

Help us rank this game! [Submit Review]