Summer may be winding down, but the games keep heating up in Gamebox 2.0. We commanded mechs in an alternate World War II in Grit & Valor 1949, skied to the beat in Fresh Tracks, became a ninja bird in Atomic Owl, and more. Check out everything we played this month below.
Grit & Valor 1949 (Zach): Set in an alternate history World War II where the Axis forces are on the verge of conquering the world with their army of mechs, you’re the freedom-loving world’s last hope in Grit & Valor 1949, from developer Milky Tea and publisher Megabit. A strategic roguelite, you have a small squad of mechs that you use to fight your way through Axis-occupied Europe, looking to reach the base of Axis operations and detonate an EMP that will cripple their operations and give the Allies their one shot to win the war. You have three different mechs: the machine gun-equipped Ironclad, the flame thrower shooting Draqan, and the artillery launching Thunderhead, along with your Command Vehicle. If your Command Vehicle is destroyed or all three of your fighting mechs are destroyed, your run is over. If you’re a fan of games like Into the Breach, Grit & Valor 1949Â has a similar vibe, where you have to think fast and position your squad to take on the incoming waves of foes.
You have direct control over your mech squad and Command Vehicle, and the key to success is to anticipate where the next wave of enemies is coming from and quickly get your team into position. There’s a rock/paper/scissors style system where each weapon type is weak against one other type but strong against the other. If you put your Ironclad up against enemy artillery, for example, it will be in serious trouble. There’s an X-Com-style cover that you can position behind to absorb damage, and getting to the high ground will give you an advantage as well. The battles are incredibly fast-paced and dynamic, as you have to fight and then quickly redeploy your mechs, but each map also has bonus objectives you can try to complete, and upgrades will appear on the map, which will give one of your mechs a stat boost if collected. After battles, you can choose your path in roguelite fashion, ending up at random encounters and given the option to take on more brutal battles for better rewards. If you can survive to the end of the area, you’ll face a massive region boss that will pose a significant challenge. When your squad is defeated, you’ll head back to base, where you can buy upgrades, research new tech, and install new parts on your mechs so that you can last longer in the next run.
Grit & Valor 1949’s visual style is fantastic, with a dieselpunk aesthetic that makes the mechs feel like something that would have been created in a different 1940s, much like what Wolfenstein did with their strange Axis tech. The game also features a VR mode for those who want to fully immerse themselves in the world. If you’re a fan of fast-paced strategy and roguelite gameplay, Grit & Valor 1949 is a fantastic and addictive game that will keep you playing for far longer than you planned on. It’s now available on PS5, PlayStation VR, PC, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, and Meta Quest.
Liminal Exit (Chris): What’s the difference between an escape and an exit? At first glance, they seem alike, but the meanings couldn’t be more distinct. Indie studio Little Red Dread leans into that tension with Liminal Exit, a compact horror title in the liminal-space subgenre where the challenge isn’t breaking free, but simply finding the way out. Inspired by the Backrooms, Exit 8, and analog horror, Liminal Exit strands players in looping corridors and shifting objects, turning the search for an exit into a slow, unsettling descent through an increasingly cryptic landscape.
Following in the traditional liminal space games, Liminal Exit minimizes the player’s actions and maximizes the surreal exploration aspects of the environment. The player has limited actions to basic movements and pressing one button. The core mechanic is a Spot-the-difference puzzle where the player analyzes their surroundings and finds anomalies. You get a turn to experience a flow of a level that is arranged to be “normal”. Then you must revisit the level for a set number of times, which may or may not have things out of place. Once you make it to an exit, you must decide whether the current loop of a level has anomalies or is normal. Make the right choice, and you move further towards the exit. Make the wrong choice, and you reset the loop to its starting point.
There is no time limit, allowing the game to progress at the player’s choice. You can slowly walk around and take in the rooms, or dash down towards the exit and make a wild guess. However, just because there isn’t some looming threat chasing you, Liminal Exit gives off a remarkable feeling of anxiety. Rooms have impossible layouts and are left deliberately vague about their purpose, making it uncomfortable to venture without your own brain trying to make sense of the environment. Levels can be arranged with many different anomalies; some will be obvious and loud, while others can be subtle and hidden if you aren’t looking in the right direction. The game has a very minimal plot, so nothing in the narration or text will provide deeper clues to solve the puzzles.
Liminal Exit is a simple yet effective horror title that delivers on its promise of unsettling investigation. The looping corridors and empty rooms create an atmosphere of eerie stillness that nicely disorients the senses. The short playtime works in the game’s favor, as the tension doesn’t drop halfway through the experience. Randomized anomalies require careful observation of every small detail and offer a small reward for identifying the differences. Although a few of the more subtle changes can cause moments of frustration. This is especially true when earlier loops give no indication that a specific object or placement might shift. For players who enjoy puzzle-driven horror that thrives on the strangeness of liminal spaces, Liminal Exit captures an unnerving journey into the uncanny, blurring the line between escape and simply reaching the exit.
Atomic Owl (Zach): Coming from Monster Theatre Games and published by Eastasiasoft Limited, Atomic Owl puts you in the feathers of ninja warrior Hidalgo Bladwing, whose world has been taken over by the evil crow sorcerer Omega Wing, who has corrupted your allies and taken over the world of Judanest. Armed with a magical talking sword, the Mezameta, along with several other weapons, you need to fight your way to Omega Wing, defeat him, and save the world. Atomic Owl is a platforming action game in the style of games like Ninja Gaiden, and you have moves like a dash, double jump, and wall jumps to navigate through the levels. There’s a momentum aspect to the movement where, if you start moving for a bit without stopping, you’ll start to speed up, and that lets you move through the stages faster, which seems like something speedrunners are going to be exploiting in some crazy ways soon.
The game is also a roguelite in the vein of Hades, so when you die, you actually progress the story and grow stronger, allowing you to progress further in the next run. Along the way, Hidalgo can find “Wing Remnants” that grant him different boosts. You have your full arsenal from the start, and in addition to your sword, you have a Castlevania-style whip, a long-range projectile scythe, and a heavy hammer/club. Each one has a different range and damage level, and some work better than others against certain enemies, so you need to figure out which one works best in the given situation.
The game features some great pixel art graphics, blending a cyberpunk/synthwave style with traditional Japanese influences, and voice acting that is extremely well-performed, adding another layer to the characters and world. One nitpick is that the game is a bit too zoomed out, with the characters and world seeming really tiny during gameplay. It’s sometimes hard to see enemies or projectiles coming, and it’s hard to appreciate the sprites when they are so small. I was primarily playing on a Steam Deck, but even so, they still look small on a standard PC screen or TV. On the positive side, the music is absolutely fantastic, featuring some killer synthwave tracks alongside what you might expect in a classic JRPG. There’s a good variety of enemies and gameplay, too, with some stages requiring you to complete specific objectives and things like flying stages that give you a bit of a break from the fast-paced action. Atomic Owl is a fun, solid roguelite platformer with a great visual style and killer music. You can check it out now on PC.
Fresh Tracks (Chris): The snowy land of Norwyn is broken. Once guided by benevolent deities called the Mythics, it has now fallen under the tyrannical control of one of their own: Mar. A lone champion, Skaii, straps on her skis and braves the icy wastes to reunite the Mythics and return melody to a silenced Norwyn.
This is the world of Fresh Tracks, an on-rails rhythm FPS from Buffalo Buffalo that blends the tranquil beauty of a vast winter wilderness with a soundtrack of intense, pulsating action. Inspired by Scandinavian folklore, the game follows Skaii as she navigates treacherous terrain to prove her rhythm and courage. Her journey begins with finding a legendary sword and earning the trust of the mythic Koda, who joins her quest to unite the scattered deities and write the next verse of Norwyn’s song.
Fresh Tracks has rhythmic action gameplay that is similar to Beat Games’ Beat Saber, but completely engages the narration and gameplay into one fairy tale tune. Every stage Skaii visits has a theme and song about an emotional beat or raw energy, designed to keep your body grooving to the beats or twitching with reactions. In later stages and higher difficulties, a fun mix of both styles is achieved. The music is synced to every indicated dash, jump, and strike as Skaii flows through the level. Skaii will move around pathways that will have obstacles and foes blocking her path, and will have to make the best decisions to avoid taking damage. Making mistakes will cost health, but collecting healing powers or charging her rhythmic weapons will restore health. But if Skaii loses all her health, the current course is abandoned, and Skaii returns to the start of the region.
There is a rogue-lite mechanic that lets the player choose the next stage, which acts like a pathway on Skaii’s journey. Stages have different randomized difficulties and buffs that will focus on a particular reward or collectable. Failing a stage will cause Skaii to lose the current cache of buffs and items. But equipment and certain buffs can be unlocked permanently at a traveling merchant store that rides along Skaii after a few stages. This is helpful to gear up in time for trickier runs of songs or to swap out a mythic companion.
The Mythics also alter the flow and presentation of the game. Peter Stormare, Michael Antonakos, Ian Hanlin, Ceara Morgana, and Bethany Brown voice the four mythics and are incredibly talented narrators of Skaii’s journey. Each of the friendly mythics will narrate Skaii’s journey and has a certain style of musical beats based on their mythic personalities. Koda (Morgana) features more poppy beats, Sogvar (Stormare) incorporates more heavy metal elements, while Fars (Antonakos) & Dram (Hanlin) incorporate more classical notes. Mars (Brown) focuses on modern house and dance beats, which will test the player’s timing; she is, after all, the terrifying Mythic queen conqueror.
Fresh Tracks is an immersive musical action experience that rhythmic gamers will definitely enjoy. I greatly enjoyed the two levels we tried at Pax East 2025 and have been waiting to revisit the game just as the weather starts to crisp in the fall. The gameplay is comfortable, but it becomes increasingly complicated by the visual noise that can overwhelm the screen if the player isn’t tracking every movement carefully. There is a lot of replayability due to the different combinations of mythics and the randomization of levels, so each run has a unique playlist and experience for every trek into the snowy planes. Fresh Tracks captures that perfect rhythm-game trance, locking you into a state of flow where the music and action are one. For gamers looking for a perfect cozy, groove-filled title, Fresh Tracks has the beats for you. Fresh Tracks was released on August 26th for PC and PlayStation 5.
Rusty Rangers (Zach): Developed and published by Fantastica!, Rusty Rangers is a new Metroidvania/roguelite platformer. Set in a “technopunk” world, the evil Baron von Gasenstein has taken over and erased the entire world’s memory of the past, except for the elite team known as the Rusty Rangers. The Rangers plunge into the depths of the Baron’s lair to stop him and his henchmen and save the world. There are six playable Rangers, although they are all locked except for one at the start. After choosing your Ranger, you’ll enter a procedurally generated dungeon, where you’ll have to complete specific objectives and battle bosses to proceed. If you die, you end up back at the Rusty Rangers base camp, but you can buy permanent upgrades, unlock new Rangers, and buy items to take into the next run. Each Ranger has different weapons and abilities, like a warrior riding a fire-breathing dragon, and the game does a great job coming up with a wide assortment of wacky characters and enemies to battle. Anubis, for some reason, is one of the shopkeepers back at Rusty Rangers HQ, and one of the bosses is an evil leprechaun, to give you an idea of the crazy places the game goes. The pixel art is fantastic, and there’s some great animation, especially with some of the bosses you take on later.
The platforming is solid and exactly what you would expect from this type of game, with hooks to jump on to get higher in the level and obstacles like spike pits to avoid. The game features a Metroid-style map that expands, and one particularly helpful feature is that warp points are plentiful. Most major rooms will have a warp point, and you can go back and forth at will. It’s incredibly convenient to find the entrance to the boss and be able to warp back to the store you uncovered and stock up on an item to give you an edge in the fight.
One minor complaint is that the weapon of your first Rusty Ranger feels a bit weak, as it’s a relatively slow gun that doesn’t have any cool alternate modes, and it doesn’t really have a satisfying impact on the enemies. Later Rangers are more interesting, but you have to grind a bit before things really get going. Rusty Rangers is a solid Metroidvania, but it doesn’t do anything to shake up the genre. If you’re looking for a new Metroidvania to check out and enjoy roguelites, Rusty Rangers is now available on Nintendo Switch, PS4/PS5, Xbox, and PC.
UVS Games – Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Starter Deck (Chris): The heroes in a half-shell are launching out of the shadows and into the arena of card-based battles. Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo, Raphael, and a few of their allies and enemies are featured cards for a new cards released by UVS Games and Nickelodeon. I got my hands on these new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles starter decks and took a nostalgic trip back to the ’80s with the pizza-loving turtles. Each deck comes ready to play with a full 60-card set, including a Starter Deck-exclusive character card and five other cards you won’t find in any booster packs. The rest of the deck features alternate art versions of classic booster cards, all decorated with the iconic artwork inspired by the original cartoon.
The cards perfectly capture the explosive, ‘cowabunga’ vibe of the early TMNT era. If these were your turtles, you would see these designs everywhere, from stickers, coloring books, and cereal. I really enjoyed the green theming of the Playmate, which is something I wished I had as a backpack for school back in the day. The deck I opened featured Master Splinter as the character cards, so it felt like the turtles were on a mission to protect their father in battle, which was often the case in the TV show.
This deck is designed for new players to understand the basic flow and strategy of the Universus card battles, but it can also boost decks of seasoned players. The additional TMNT booster sets increase the playable characters to 15 and feature over 180 cards showcasing both new and classic turtle designs. For players looking to mix things up, the TMNT cards can be mixed with My Hero Academia‘s Eraser Head Deluxe Starter Deck or Attack on Titan‘s Mikasa Battle For Humanity Clash Deck to create a supreme ninja theme deck to unleash. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Starter Deck was released on August 7th and is available for purchase at your local tabletop store or a retailer listed here.
