Indie Action Games on Steam

I decided to make this one big collective topic, because there's a surprising amount of indie games of this type on Steam. Nelo was one of those.

Anyway, here are some of my findings.

Assault Spy

https://store.steampowered.com/app/767930/Assault_Spy/

Played this one last June/July. There are definitely some polish issues, like the framerate, the style meter blocking your view sometimes, and other glitches, but it's a good action game that most closely resembles NieR: Automata with the bullet-hell style enemy design, and the dodge-run thing (Other than that, not so close). This is definitely one for the combo crowd, and it's executed pretty well, especially for how obviously low-budget this is. I'll make some notes later.

The developer is currently making what seems to be some sort of Gravity Rush-esque action game.

Proxy Blade Zero

https://store.steampowered.com/app/313980/Proxy_Blade_Zero/

This game is about $3.20 CAD at the moment.

It seems to be a primarily efficiency-focused action game based around parrying. It follows this old-school design of room-hallway-room, with many reviewers saying that it was really like a PS2 game.

I also already really like the developer. He responded to a negative review by showing how the game should be played.

Hippocampus: Dark Fantasy Adventure

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1079940/Hippocampus_Dark_Fantasy_Adventure/

Just came out last week.

Can't really say what this reminds me the most of. There's definitely some platforming involved, and the aesthetic vaguely reminds me of Chaos Legion, but not very much.

Either gonna try Proxy Blade Zero, or Hippocampus, since I've only got about $14 CAD on Steam at the moment.

>like a PS2 game
Best praise a game can get.

>reminds of CL
Some of those environments look exactly like CL's.

Proxy Blade Zero looks very interesting. Thanks for pointing it out while it's on sale!

I can vouch for Assault Spy. It is a bit janky around the edges but it's loads of fun. As you said, one for the combo crowd - it reminds me a little of Marvel vs Capcom in terms of pace and fluidity. The anime voice acting is a bit irritating, but the soundtrack is pretty good.

Gave Hippocampus a try, and refunded it quickly, since I also want to play Proxy Blade Zero. I was obviously being extremely unfair to the game, but I wanted to try and get PBZ while it was on sale, and possibly try Marlow Briggs. So, here are some garbage impressions from myself:

- Framedrops are common
- You can't roll unless your guy is facing/moving in the direction you want to roll in, so it's running on this hybrid of tank controls, and analogue controls. I could probably get used to this with time, but like I said, I was being ultra, super unfair.
- Couldn't find a way to remap M&K controls, or controller
- This is the first time I've had to use claw grip for platforming, because it does this weird camera swoop every time you jump on an orb.
- Lock-on constantly resets the camera when I just want to lock-on. Could probably get used to this, but right now, I just didn't bother.
- Camera is slow as fuck, and there's no way to change it
- Crap translation. This is something I will say definitively. Remember how Chaos Legion said that dodge was Shift + Jump, even with none of the buttons being called "Shift"? Similar idea there. Plus a whole bunch of spelling errors.
- Got a bug that made me skip the tutorial, and I had to restart the game. Only 5 minutes of my time wasted, but this just seems like a huge red flag for future bugs.

As I said, really unfair impressions on my side, but I REALLY wanted to try Proxy Blade Zero, so I refunded it as soon as I got afraid that it would take more than a couple of hours for me to get used to.

Good to see some indie-love! I really haven't dived into that sub category at all. Either because they seemed half measured, cheap or just lacking in focus. I think that's mostly my problem is that the Action genre games I see tend to grab what they think at first glance made these games good, and emulate that. I.e. all moves being super over the top flashy, while the whole style aspect in DMC3 came from enemies being so dangerous and combining attacks look flashy, while the initial moves were quite basic.

I'm just rambling. Hahah! Sorry

Which indie game would you recommend and like most so far? Regarding action games of course!

I've only tried 2 so far, Assault Spy and Nelo.

Nelo is currently unfinished, and I haven't gotten enough of a grasp on the mechanics, even after all this time. I'm pretty bad at it.

Assault Spy, however, is actually finished, and is pretty good. Like I said, there are definitely some polish issues, but it's a surprisingly well-made game. There are two characters, Asaru and Amelia, and each of them have their own weapons/attacks. I'm surprised how many attacks and inputs the guy managed to squeeze out of them without resorting to full on Ninja Gaiden dial combos.

If you play Assault Spy, I recommend getting it on sale when it's half-off. And remap the dodge to a shoulder button instead of a face button.

Regarding your point about most indie action games being ridiculously over-the-top, that is something I can 100% confirm. It's pretty obvious that the massive amounts of particle effects are there to make the mediocre, albeit functional player animations less obvious.

Anyway, I'm gonna try Proxy Blade Zero today, just got back my refund money. If I like it, expect to see something new in your inventory. It's like, $3 after all. Nevermind, regional price bullshit got in the way of that plan.

Another one: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1165870/Mahou_Arms/

Hideki Kamiya on twitter retweeted it. https://twitter.com/i/status/1255443063209701376

I'm interested in this as well, but beware: it's a full uncensored hardcore porn game and they don't tell you that anywhere on the steam page

> it's a full uncensored hardcore porn game and they don't tell you that anywhere on the steam page

HA! I figured this out when I took a look in the game's review sections, took me by surprise.

Have you guys heard of Aztez? For my money, it's the best action game made by a western developer and it's criminally overlooked. It came out a couple years ago and bombed pretty badly unfortunately, but it's basically a roguelike action game with light strategy elements going on in between the arena fights.

The combat design was clearly made by people who understand the appeal of Japanese action games and titles like the original God of War games and it shows. The weapons are all unique and fun to use and the flow of combat feels phenomenal. It even has a mission mode for good measure.

It has an interesting balance that can appeal to both the combo oriented folks and the more efficiency focused folk.

I remember that game being pushed by a few combo-nutters. Also got invited to a developer-discord or something at the time to talk about it but ended up skipping it. Might be worth checking it out now though, totally went absent on my radar.

It's certainly worth a look for sure whenever you have the time. It turned out to be quite the pleasant surprise for me when I played it earlier this year considering it came from just a two-man development team. I haven't logged in as many hours playing it as I would have liked, but I eagerly look forward to returning to it. I'm still absolutely gobsmacked how this game nailed the fundamentals where so many other games fail.

I've not played much of Aztez. Just didn't grip me for whatever reason. I did think the board game/roguelike/strategy combo was a brilliant idea though. Pretty much every action game could benefit from a mode that lets you learn and practice mechanics til your heart's content, whilst keeping you on your toes with constantly changing situations and modifiers.

Another game for the "revisit these ones" list...

Looks interesting. I'll add it to my wishlist.