Best Horror Games On Itch.io – July 2026
By Adele Wilson
Across a bounty of subgenres.Haze Seas Accessories Tier List [Best Accessories to Equip]
By Adele Wilson
The accessories with the best stat buffs in Haze Seas.
Tag: Arcade
Agent P DoofenDASH Review
By David Oxford
3D endless runner-type games are a dime a dozen on the App Store, so it takes something extra and/or special—perhaps even "extra special," if you will—to stand out from the rest. With the Phineas and Ferb license to use the exploits of Agent P (aka Perry the Platypus) versus Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz and all of the hijinks that entails, that might have been enough to do the job, at least for fans of the show (such as ourselves).Unfortunately, Agent P DoofenDASH just comes up short overall by missing a few key fundamentals, and of course, exploiting the free-to-play model. The graphics are great, despite being 3D (translating characters from the 2D hand-drawn Phineas and Ferb cartoons into full 3D models always tends to be a hit-or-miss proposition, but this does it well), and the voices and tunes almost make it feel like you're involved in another episode of the show. They even switch things up a bit by occasionally allowing you to switch over to a hang glider segment which operates much the same way as the running portions.In our experience, the controls are simply a bit lacking. Swiping left and right moves Perry in the corresponding direction, while swiping up has him jump, and swiping down makes him roll. At least, that's how it works in theory—too often, we found that we would swipe in a given direction, only to have Perry do something else, with the worst instance being swiping down to have him roll and instead seeing him jump right into the obstacle we were trying to avoid. As is often the case with these games, it only takes one small slip-up before you have to start all over, so there is no forgiveness here.Incidentally, the tutorial is a little lacking as well. Granted, there's not a whole lot to take in here, and fortunately, as noted, the glider portions operate much in the same way as the running. What the tutorial doesn't cover, however, is cornering and whether or not turning is automatic. Turns out that it isn't—back to the start, and rather quickly after just beginning the game, too. Not a great first impression.Don’t Shoot Yourself! Review
By David Oxford
A longtime classic gaming genre is that of the bullet hell shooter: games which typically put the player in a massive crossfire of tons upon tons of flying onscreen ordnance which appears to be impossibly overwhelming, yet allows players to really strut their stuff as they take down the foes responsible. But what if the one responsible for putting all those bullets on screen… was you?That is basically the premise behind Don't Shoot Yourself!, a bullet hell game in which you must always keep moving, and as you're moving, you're always firing. Eventually, the screen is filled with a bullet hell of your own making, where your own firepower is your greatest enemy as you attempt to simply survive until the time runs out.And, in truth, there really isn't much more to the game than that. The rest comes through in the 50 different levels provided, which each have their own shapes and quirks to add and change up the challenge each time you go in. Narrow walls, odd shapes, and even portals through which your bullets pass in order to come back to haunt you keep things interesting.Graphically, the game doesn't do much—no roving soldiers on a battlefield, no starships blasting through alien armadas or asteroid fields. It's all very simple and basic, yet pleasant. The only problem we really had is that it seemed that some of our bullets weren't hurting us upon contact while others were, and determining which is which proves to be a bit tricky with so many all around you. On the other hand, it could just be a hitbox-detection thing, which is common enough—and exploitable, in the right hands—in these types of games.Groove Vortex Review
By Mike Rose
There can often be a fine line between inspiration and cloning. Inspiration is when you take an idea that inspires you, and either build on the base concept, or branch off with your own take on the concept. Cloning, on the other hand, is when you take an idea that inspires you, and completely rip it off such that there's little to separate your own creation from the original.Despite featuring a disclaimer that it is inspired by Terry Cavanagh's wonderful Super Hexagon, Groove Vortex definitely falls into the latter category, and essentially clones the original without putting barely any of its own spin on the concept. What we're left with is Super Hexagon, but not as good - or to put it another way, a rather pointless experience."Groove Vortex, like Super Hexagon, is all about dodging around walls that are closing in on you. You control an arrow as it moves around in a circle, and you're required to constantly move into position such that you don't go crash. The game will keep going and going until you hit a wall, and your final time is your score.If you want more information on how the game plays, simply go and read our Super Hexagon review, as it's the very same game - well, not quite. In fact, Groove Vortex has plenty of negative quirks compared to its "inspiration," which make buying this version of Super Hexagon rather silly.Meltdown Review
Meltdown is one of the most unique experiences I've had playing a mobile game. Like a confused college student, it has a few ideas on what it wants to be, but it gets lost in its own search for an identity. On paper, that identity is easily understandable. In practice, there are two experiences that are nearly identical. The single difference between the two is enough to shake the game's foundation.Upon first glance, it'll seem like Meltdown is a lot like Bastion, which is a fair assumption. The birds-eye camera view and the 360-degree motion result in this game controlling much like Supergiant's indie hit. Your character carries two guns and a melee weapon. Each gun can be purchased and upgraded by spending coins and upgrade cards dropped by enemies.Customization is one of Meltdown's strong points. Projectile weapons and your character all have individual skill trees. When a gun has been upgraded nine times—it's maximum—a new one will appear in the shop. Your character's skill tree is similar, but lacks the hard limit. You can choose to obtain skill boosts in damage, health, and weaponry. You can ultimately fill it out completely, so there's not much risk in selecting the wrong path. Regardless of skills and which two weapons you equip, you'll play the game the same way, only ammo types and meter regeneration changes.Meltdown's level-based gameplay is the bulk of what the game offers. The default controls are annoying, at best. I found myself trying to adapt to the touch-heavy controls, only to become frustrated and quickly go digging in the options menu. Fortunately, there's an excellent control scheme that mimics a game pad. This setup lets you move with a virtual thumb stick and press virtual buttons for shooting, dashing, and using a melee strike. There's also controller support for those with a compatible pad.Football Heroes Review
By Nick Tylwalk
Evidence is rapidly mounting that the physical abuse real football players take on the gridiron is bad for their long term health. Happily, football players in video games suffer no ill effects, so we can pile on the excessive violence guilt-free - especially when it comes via Football Heroes and its nostalgic, over-the-top arcade action. It's a big play concept that sadly comes up short of a touchdown due to frustrating controls and annoying glitches.Run Games pitched the Kickstarter community on the idea of a football game with beat 'em up and RPG elements inspired by classics like NFL Blitz and NBA Jam. Not surprisingly, backers rallied around that concept, and the result is a game that challenges you with building the best possible team for winning at a, shall we say, very physical style of football."Since one of the main offensive and defensive techniques is punching opposing players, that's possibly an understatement. You start Football Heroes with a full squad of 18 (the games are 8-on-8, plus you get a kicker/punter and a kick return specialist) athletes ready to take part in a series of tournaments and leagues. They're just not very good at first, so you've got to train them up by playing, and hopefully winning, some games.The controls are simple enough for anyone to understand. A virtual thumb stick makes players run, and can appear nearly anywhere you touch on the screen. Tapping the screen throws punches, while tapping on players either switches who you control (on defense) or throws a pass to that player (on offense). Swiping in any direction launches your guy into a head-first diving tackle.Big Action Mega Fight! Review
There has always been a certain feel that sets arcade games apart from their console and PC brethren. Their unique sights and sounds have fallen alongside the arcade in western culture. Once in a while, a brand new game releases and successfully captures the unique feel of classic arcade games while mixing in modern elements. Big Action Mega Fight! from Execution Labs is a wonderful example.Big Action Mega Fight! takes inspiration from old-school beat 'em up titles like Final Fight and Streets of Rage. Players take control of Brick, a rough and tough gentleman with an amazing mustache. Like those other games, Brick will venture through a ton of stages. Each stage is made up of multiple screens and Brick will need to wipe out each enemy on screen before the "GO!" message allows him to move on. Brick's combat ability is a simple method of tapping and swiping, allowing him to punch, uppercut, and throw enemies. The controls suffer from occasional confusion, such as uppercutting instead of throwing. This doesn't hurt the overall experience too much, but accidentally punching a chicken bomb can be frustrating.Combat reeks of old beat 'em ups. A lot of the enemies' designs are nothing more than palette swaps with each other. Meanwhile, destroyable objects litter the stages, allowing players to throw enemies into soda machines or piles of tires. Everything drops cash or food, as well. Collecting food is the easy way to replenish your health during a fight. Cash is where the game's modern features start to show off in a huge way.After you complete a stage, you'll collect all the coins you picked up during the level, as well as earn a bonus for your performance. Coins and gold teeth (the premium currency) fund Big Action Mega Fight!'s upgrade shop. Between battles, there are three upgrades on which you can use coins. Players can boost their overall level of health and/or damage output, which makes later stages much easier. There's also a menu for unlockable specials. Only one special can be set at any time. These range from temporarily turning Brick into a tornado, to making chicken bombs rain from the heavens. Some specials are much more powerful than others, but there is something that caters to everyone's play style.Tank Battles Review
By Rob Rich
Remember Combat for the Atari? No, I suppose not. Well, it was essentially a game where two player-controlled tanks faced-off in an arena while trying to decimate each other for points. Tank Battles is sort of a modernization of the original; only now with nicer visuals, online play, and a bunch of ways for players to upgrade their performance. Unfortunately, the emphasis on premium currency makes it feel a little too modern.The single player in Tank Battles involves a series of increasingly difficult missions for players to complete. Each one has a total of three stars that can be earned by completing specific objectives (i.e. destroy everything, finish in under X seconds, etc.), and those stars will unlock even more missions or access to new gear in the shop. The general idea is to not get blown up while blowing up everything else, but sometimes the objectives will throw players a curveball and mix things up a bit. The basic controls will have players guiding the tank around a small arena using a virtual stick in the bottom-left corner of the screen, while tapping anywhere else to fire in that direction. A set of three item buttons is also preset at the bottom of the screen, and will activate whatever is equipped with a tap."Multiplayer is mechanically similar - what with the control scheme, wanton destruction, and small arenas - but in many ways feels more like a traditional deathmatch. Up to four players square-off and try to annihilate each other in order to get the highest score, while also keeping an eye out for random power-up drops like health and damage boosts. It doesn't earn stars like the solo mode, but it does allow players to compete for leaderboard status (and rewards), as well as some extra coins.Tank Battles Walkthrough
By Rob Rich
Tank Battles is an action-arcade game created by Gameloft. It's very reminiscent of the Atari classic, Combat, actually. Only now it's dressed up in a more modern style and features a fair number of customization options and power-ups. Gamezebo's quick start strategy guide will provide you with detailed images, tips, information, and hints on how to play your best game."