Gamebox 2.0: Games of May 2024

Just as the summer season begins to heat up, we got our hands on some hot titles this May. For this Gamebox 2.0, we revisited a boomer shooter classic in PO’ed, when on a cosmic date with an eldritch monster in Sucker for Love: Date to Die For, experienced a forgotten 90s PC Engine title in Citizen Shockman 3 and more! Check out everything we played below.

Let Bions be Bygones (Chris): As technology shapes society towards a cyberpunk future than ever before, it’s comforting to see how the twists and turns and cliches of a noir story can adapt to the times. Let Bions Be Bygones is a point-and-click title that follows John Cooper, a washed-up detective disconnected from an augmented world. Cooper not only refuses to accept technological change but also hasn’t accepted his grief from his lost love Carmen. When it feels like John has hit bottom, a mysterious woman comes to his office to offer him a case for a missing girl. Cue the snappy detective remarks and get the usual suspects lined up

The world of Let Bions Be Bygones is a homage to cyberpunk classics like Blade Runner, Alter Carbon, and Ghost in the Shell. As humanity embraces technology in new powerful ways, there is a sharp distinction between the high and low society in the city of Terrahive. The rich live in towering skyscrapers and live beyond death in synthetic bodies called “Bions” once they have died. The lower class is grouped in crowded buildings and is ruled over by criminals. This has caused major tension among the population, creating a powder keg waiting for a spark.

The core gameplay is exploring a few designated areas for obvious clues and speaking with people. The gameplay eases into simple fetch quests, but as the story gets more tense, knowing who to help and how to help gets emphasized. The player can decide how to interpret Cooper to a degree. You can make him use his charm to get people to open up, be dishonest to protect the truth, or be a brute and use some force to get your way, As the player makes dialogue choices, Cooper’s personality changes in small, but meaningful ways. Some additional dialogue options will be available if Cooper socializes in specific ways. There are times when there is an automatic response based on his previous behaviors. Talking to people will reveal key information like locations and items. It doesn’t hurt to talk to everyone, but saying certain things does have consequences.

Let Bions Be Bygone has a branching narrative that reveals different aspects of the mystery. You can’t get the full story on just one playthrough. Playing the game one way uncovers a few details about the case while making other choices uncovers other facts that bring the whole story together. Chasing leads can cause other clues to be missed or people to refuse to speak. It’s tricky to know exactly what is connected without some repeated attempts. However, the game will continue from what would feel like detective mistakes. The game will show an ending that brings all the essential narrative elements together.

Developer Bohemian Pulp puts on a strong presentation that helps immerse the player into the gumshoes of Cooper. The detective, as well as every character he speaks to, is voiced by actors. This gave the story so much depth and personality that kept me engaged to see what encounters happen next. From the scam artist looking to make a profit, gangsters threatening a beating, and Cooper’s imagination of Carmen as the voice of reason, the extra effort to have the voice work makes a big difference. But the game isn’t afraid to poke fun at itself. There is a talking gun that has a plucky attitude and a strong need for things to get violent.

Let Bions Be Bygones is a stellar cyberpunk noir title with an excellent presentation. The game doesn’t have any big head-scratching challenges in terms of gameplay, but if you want to see events lead in certain directions, you have to experiment to find out.  I could see a title like this get bogged down with pointless grinding and minigames. But the game is purely focused on Cooper solving his case. There are a few technical glitches in the May release that make certain buttons unable to exit rooms or talk to people. I had to open up the start menu and close it to reset its hit detection. If you love a good mystery game and want to enjoy a great narrative experience, then Let Bions be Bygones should be on the list of games to check out soon.

PO’ed (Zach): Nightdive Studios continues their quest to remaster and relaunch classic FPS games, and the latest is PO’ed: Definitive Edition, which initially debuted in 1995 on the 3DO (and eventually made it to PS1). You play as a chef on a spaceship that crashlands on an alien world. Initially only armed with your trusty frying pan, you need to fight your way through a variety of absurd alien enemies, including ones that are walking butts, and find a way off the planet. The game came out after games like Doom, Marathon, and (also recently remastered) Dark Forces. It takes some design and gameplay inspiration from them but adds its own quirky humor and massive, open levels that still feel huge playing them today. A few levels in, you get a jetpack, which opens up the levels even more and allows you to get vertical, shown off in levels like “Core,” which finds you blasting up through a massive critical alien device. You also have two “foot” modes where you swap between wearing shoes or going barefoot, with barefoot allowing you to stick a bit more to the environment and is suitable for more precise platforming.

The arsenal of weapons is highly unique, from the frying pan, which gets more deadly the more damage you take, an endless supply of butcher knives to slash and throw, a drill that acts like the chainsaw from Doom, a “Meat-Seeker” that shoots deadly, bouncing meatballs and more. If you’re not used to boomer shooters, and even if you are, the levels can get a bit confusing at times, as lots of them have solutions that involve finding and going through invisible walls. I wandered around a few of the levels for quite a bit before finding the right path out of the level, and the wireframe map can be a little cluttered and confusing, depending on how complex the level is. It does make any area you’ve already explored green and the unknown regions blue, so you have a general idea of where you need to go but be prepared to explore and experiment. The enemies are also pretty relentless, even on the “normal” difficulty, with one instance where I was assaulted and knocked off a ledge within a second of starting a level. The game features three episodes with a certain number of levels to beat. The weirdness of the arsenal and enemies and the openness and vastness of the levels set PO’ed apart from other boomer shooters, today or back in the 90s. If you want a unique, retro shooter experience, PO’ed: Definitive Edition is out on Steam, GOG, PlayStation 4|5, Xbox One, Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch.

Footgun: Underground (Chris): The frantic action of soccer is interplayed with the punishing difficulty of a roguelike in Footgun: Underground. Developed by Turtle Knight Games and published by CobraTekku Games, Underground is a unique entry in the action-adventure roguelike genre. The plot of Footgun Underground is set in a dystopian future, where mutated creatures and robotic drones hunt down resisting humans. The player takes up the role of a cybernetic-enhanced human, awakened from an underground cryo capsule. Armed with a weaponized ball, the player ventures into a subway system to find a way out.

Players navigate through procedurally generated underground caverns filled with enemies and traps. They are armed with footguns, which resemble soccer balls (at least us in the USA). These balls are versatile weapons that are kicked into enemies and can cause massive destruction. Similar to pinball, knowing when and where to strike is very important. Kicking a ball will leave the player open to attack until the ball makes it back to them, and enemies will not be passing it back willingly. There are no penalty cards underground, and taking too many hits will send you back to the beginning.

Combat is fluid and satisfying. It only takes a few levels to get the basics to learn how to dribble the ball and kick in the right angles. However, watching for enemy movements, incoming projectiles, and timing the dribbling can be a lot to look out for. With one enemy on the screen, it’s not too difficult. But three or more and things get chaotic.  There is some skill to line up good shots, but it gets tricky and can almost feel like pure chance where the ball will exactly go.

The game’s roguelike elements mean that each run feels fresh, as players must adapt to different layouts and enemy placements. After each area is completed, new items and balls can be obtained. Some items give a passive boost to the player or more power to the ball. Several ball types like lava balls and saw balls attack in different patterns. These can be tweaked a bit with small abilities to more air time or the ability to drop mini mines on every bounce.

Footgun: Underground is impressive for an indie title. It incorporates the athletic ability of a soccer with the intensity of a Megaman title. The roguelike structure provides that no two runs are the same, encouraging players to come back for more. Additionally, the game offers various unlockable weapons, abilities, and character skins. This gives every attempt a chance to explore and experiment with different playstyles. While it has a few rough edges in the gameplay department, the overall experience is highly entertaining. Footgun: Underground is now available for PC, Xbox and PlayStation networks.

ScreenPlay CCG (Zach):  I’m always interested in checking out new digital CCG games, and one based around movies seems like it would be right up our alley. ScreenPlay CCG comes from Comico Games and is free to play on Steam. You play a Director who battles other Directors to complete “filming” on your movie first. You win each match by completing objectives for your “Lead” character, who gets points for things like playing cards, doing damage, or when minions die. If you can complete the “story arc” for two lead characters before your opponent, you complete your movie and win the match. Instead of a mana system, ScreenPlay features a “Reel” system where you have five (and eventually six) film reels to complete the various actions. Each character you can play takes a certain number of reels, and actions like attacking and dodging also take reels. You play as many reels as possible, and you can skip reels if needed. Once your reels are played, the “scene” plays out, and both player’s actions are played out. The significant strategic element of ScreenPlay is to try and predict what your opponent will do and when and then play an action on your timeline that will counteract that. For instance, if you think your opponent may attack one of your characters first thing, you may want to have that character dodge. You can swap your lead character out for other leads if the game is leaning in a specific direction for the character’s story arc, but if they get defeated, they are a cooldown for a certain number of turns.

The game has a highly polished look and feel, with full voice acting for the various characters and a great art style that lets you know exactly what character or property the game is parodying while still making it unique and fun to their game. There are characters like a shark rapper named “Jaw-Z,” for example. As you progress in matches, you earn booster packs that will unlock more characters, lead actors, and directors, but you can also spend money if you want to buy specific cards in the game’s in-game store. A crafting system lets you earn cards without spending money, and you can build out three different decks with any combination of lead actors, characters, and actions. A lengthy tutorial takes you through 4 chapters to introduce the various mechanics and strategies. Then, you can take on bots in practice mode or other players in casual or competitive multiplayer. There are tons of systems and strategies going on in ScreenPlay, and, as such, it will take a bit longer to get a handle on than some other CCG games. There’s a lot to remember and keep track of, from having characters “perform” to attacking and dodging to playing minions and ensuring you are working toward your lead characters’ goals. I would highly recommend playing the tutorial, but it will most likely take a few practice rounds to start to get a handle on the game’s flow. It’s unique, and the theme is a ton of fun with lots of in-jokes and references for movie fans. Since it’s also free, I recommend checking it out on Steam and playing around to see if you want to dig into it.

Way of Rhea (Chris): When a forest creature sets out to master the mystic arts, they must go through many challenging trials to control and utilize their powers in Way of Rhea. Developed and published by Anthropic Studios, Way of Rhea is an indie puzzle title that will give people a colorful brain tease. The game is set in a fantastical world, where the player controls a magical creature on a personal quest to be a puzzle master. They will journey through four different biomes, each representing a specific terrain type and each with sets of color-themed challenges. It has a simple premise of trying to open up colorful doorways with matching colors, but the game makes completing that goal way less obvious.

In the opening chapters, you find orbs and special light stations that will change the player’s color. This will usually allow you to pass through one type of doorway or elevator before encountering a blockage of a different color. You’ll spend moments wandering around to figure out the ideal steps to exchange colors and walk in certain directions. Luckily, there is an undo action that lets the player go back a moment. This is a great feature as you don’t have to do a hard restart to make one small change in your plan. After experimenting on a level and everything seems to click together, you’ll feel like nothing can stop you. You’ll come to recognize certain patterns a bit better than you did in the earlier chapters. However, when you think you have the basics packed, other levels will add fun twists to shake things up from getting too stale. Later levels will make you carefully time opening doors for allies to pass through and even when to drop orbs so they don’t accidentally get taken.

Way of Rhea is a relaxing and wholesome puzzle title that makes good use of its minimalistic gameplay mechanics. This title calmly asks players to appreciate small things and utilize them to take on bigger challenges. The hard-drawn artwork and tranquilizing soundtrack will get players concentrated on solving the next objective. The game is very approachable for all sorts of gamers and is great for younger players who need something with less overloading visuals. Way of Rhea was released on May 20th and is available on Steam.

Cyber Citizen Shockman 3: The Princess from Another World (Zach):  Originally released in 1992 on the PC Engine, Ratalaika Games has brought Cyber Citizen Shockman 3: The Princess from Another World for the first time to Western audiences. Obviously, based on the title, this is the third game in the Cyber Citizen Shockman series, with Ratalaika previously releasing the first two games together last fall. The series protagonists, Tasuke and Kyapiko, are on vacation when a strange ship arrives overhead and mechanical baddies start attacking the city. The duo transforms into the Shockman cyber armor and heads off to defend the city, going up against a bratty princess from another dimension who wants to unleash powerful ancient magic to rebuild her fallen civilization. The game feels like the Valis games, where you travel through side-scrolling platforming levels with your primary weapon being a sword. The sword has a basic and turbo attack, which you use by holding down a button, and a charge attack, where you can unleash a ball of energy by holding down the main primary attack button. You also have a jump…and that’s pretty much it. The gameplay is highly simplistic, and there are no power-ups, upgrades, or other moves. The game is also relatively short, playing out across seven levels, although the difficulty starts to ramp up in the last few levels.

Tasuke and Kyapiko also play identically; it seems like an aesthetic choice if you want to play. The two standout aspects of the game, though, are the music, which veers close to Mega Man X territory at times, and the cutscenes, which are fully animated and feature full voice-acting, which was possible originally thanks to being released on CD on the PC Engine. The game has all the modern touches you would expect from a release like this, including different filters and color schemes for the graphics, the choice to play the original version or a 2024 update with a new cutscenes translation. There is also a rewind and fast-forward function that will let you undo mistakes if needed. Cyber Citizen Shockman 3 is a fun game, but its simplicity makes it a bit less attractive than other games that were its contemporaries back in the day, and it would have been cool to get all three games together instead of 1+2 and then 3. If you’re a PC Engine/Turbografx fan, this is something you’ve probably never played in the West unless you imported it or emulated it unofficially, and it’s out on Steam, PS4/PS5, Switch and Xbox One and Series S/X.

Sucker for Love: Date to Die For (Chris): We heard the saying of finding love in all the wrong places, but does that still apply if the place is some endless cosmic horror? Well, it does and without scares, there can be love in Sucker for Love: Date to Die For. Developed by Akabaka and published by Dread XP, Date to Die For is a refreshing twist on the visual novel genre, blending elements of horror and romance with an unconventional sense of humor. Date to Die For is the second entry in the Sucker for Love titles about humans stumbling into love with cosmic, Lovecraftian entities. This time, the lucky (or unlucky) protagonist is Stardust, a young girl who returns to her hometown under mysterious circumstances. Her family has gone missing and the town is mostly empty, except for a few odd people lurking around. With the help of a magical spellbook, Stardust summons the demon Rhok’zan who is responsible for the events in the town. However, Rhok’zan needs Stardust’s help to set things right, and the pair team up to outsmart a deadly cult and stop an out-of-control curse. If they survive long enough, they might find love along the way.

Date to Die For is staged like a 90s anime. It has a distinct anime style similar to Sailor Moon and the chapters are presented as VHS tapes. Each chapter unfolds something a little different about the greater narrative and features unique elements to the gameplay. The game almost entirely takes place in Stardust’s family home. It has plenty of rooms to explore, but things get creepier, that extra space turns that place into a mini-maze. You’ll have important keys lying around the house and follow the directions in the magic book to complete spells. However, you’ll be on your guard when moving around the house. As soon as a cult arrives at the home, every closed door might hide a crazed killer. The player has to manually open doors before entering the area. However, if the player can spot a suspicious person, they can back out of the action, saving them from an attack. Progressesly, certain entities will make things less obvious about their presence while others will actively chase after you.

There isn’t too much over-the-top horror that would shock most players but it does pack a few frights with jump scares. However, it doesn’t take long before you get used to being scared and more annoyed that you make a mistake. The game offers a few alternate endings to chapters that reward players for trying slightly different things. A few of them aren’t so obvious, but the game at least shows you where you can branch into one of two paths in the chapter.

While the horror elements are a big draw, Date to Die For is still rooted in traditional visual novel mechanics. Most of the story is told through Stardust’s dialogue with others. Rhok’zan is intrigued by Stardust’s seemingly endless optimism during these bizarre events. As they bond closer through completing tasks to cast magic, something does grow between them. Their dialogue is playful and flirty but if it gets a little too spicy, nothing a quick spray of water can’t cool down. Other characters get their own time to shine and give you a glimpse of the people they were before the cult took over.

Date to Die For has that fun blend of whimsical and eerie. It’s a standout title in the visual novel genre, offering a delightful mix of horror, romance, and humor that leaves a lasting impression. The game scores well for big 90s anime fans like myself and gives just a gameplay challenge to keep me from simply watching the story on autopilot. If you love quirky titles with a ton of kawaii favor, then set a date for Sucker for Love: Date to Die For when you can. Sucker for Love: Date to Die For was released for PC on April 23 and is available for PC.