Redgar: The Space Viking

I've only played on the easy difficulty so far. I still had to learn how to combine power-ups and weapons effectively. This game keeps giving me this 'just one more try, this time I'll make it' feeling, even after countless deaths.

Hotline Valhalla

moved to this right after OTXO, this felt better, but more expensive as well.

A no-nonsense Hotline Miami -like with space vikings. Really impressive soundtrack, and the additional items like shields, teleporters and stealth make the combat more varied than in the games it's clearly inspired by. The story and setting are fun, don't waste much of your time and at no point does the game take itself very seriously, which I think is a refreshing alternative to the philosophical musings of many other violent top-down shooters. Whole package feels very polished, didn't run into any issues or bugs. Played on Steam Deck, on which it ran perfectly. This one is a hidden gem.

I really enjoyed Redgar. I haven't played a top-down shooter since GTA1 and 2, so it was very challenging at first. The gameplay is very smooth, fluid, and fast-paced. You will die a lot until you start to the understand enemies' behaviour and alert sensitivity. Enemies can even become alerted to your presence if you're not careful when changing weapons. But they won't just start mindlessly running at you - they'll stop to pick up a weapon before engaging. Fortunately, between all the melee weapons and firearms, you have a fairly wide arsenal to choose from. You also have abilities you can pick up (only one at a time), which let you choose what style you want to use. The short-range transporter and cloak were personal favorites - although firing while cloaked just feels worng (I blame Star Trek for this). I loved the music. It's exciting and heart-pumping, which suits the action quite nicely. It compliments the game without being a distraction. I did encounter a couple of game-breaking bugs - one of which was at the final boss fight. Though to his credit, the developer resolved the issue as soon as he was made aware. In the end, the game is just simple and fun. The story and characters are quirky, humorous, and a bit over-the-top, but it all works. I can easily see myself going back to this game from time to time.

Solid fun, definitely recommended. Took me about nine hours to finish on Hard, which I think is the difficulty level one should pick. The game can be quite tricky and unforgiving at times, but none of the levels are impossibly difficult. Often you can come up with a slightly cheesy strategy to handle a situation, but even then it takes a bit of effort to find one. There's a nice selection of weapons and items available, and although I quickly came to favor specific ones (not necessarily because they're the most efficient), the levels are set up so that you actually want to utilize a variety of items. I really liked the atmosphere: Redgar looks and especially sounds great. I feel like the setting, which is certainly interesting - vikings! in space! - could have been leveraged a bit more, but at least there's an explanation for the plasma-horned helmet. It's not exactly the kind of game you play for the story, anyways. Some bugs and slightly odd design choices are included in the package, but overall Redgar is a good pick if you're looking for some fast-paced cerebral action.

Well.. well.. well this game came out of nowhere, it's like Hotline Miami 2.5 but in space with few new abilities and quality of life improvements. I won't spoil them, play the game and enjoy it's a nice experience. 8/10

A "hotlike", with some quality of life improvements when compared to Hotline Miamis, but on the other hand some parts that arent as polished 7,5/10