If you’ve been following Gamer Social Club on the website, news podcast, or socials recently, you will see the UK team attending the London Games Festival’s New Game Plus event.
It was a great event that the team hopes to return to next year. Lady V has an excellent write-up on the show itself, if it is something you’re interested in attending in the future. Mark, V, and Harry also discussed some of the show highlights on a recent episode of our weekly news podcast.
In a new short series to finish up our coverage of the show, the four GSC contributors who attended the show will be writing up their top-5 games of the show. Many of the games featured at New Game Plus were new to us, and will likely be new to our audience too. GSC likes to give a spotlight to smaller indie titles, just as much as the household name franchises we all love.
Please do these passionate small developers a favour and check out their webpages or Steam store listings for further details.
So without further ado, here are some of my highlights from the event. I played a lot of games that day, and they were all great, but these are the ones that I really enjoyed.
ZOE Begone! (PC, PS5, Switch, Xbox Series)
- Developer: Retchy Games
- Publisher: PM Studios, Inc.
- Release date: TBC
ZOE Begone! was one of the games that I was there to play, and I’m glad to report it did not disappoint.
Hand-drawn bullet hell! What else do you need to know? My time with the game was super fun. It looks great and is inspired by the 1930s animation drawn-on-film; it looks like it’s going to be one of those games that’ll be very much “just one more go”.
Described as a “frenetic shooter combining the run-and-gun mechanics of Metal Slug with the infinite loops and shmup-ing of Resogun” it definitely felt great to play. The controls were responsive and it was satisfying to play. I really enjoyed it when the boss arrived and it was literally the animators paintbrush!
It’s developed by one solo dev, with another person helping with the fantastic music. This is one to watch out for. Be sure to wishlist it on Steam if it takes your fancy. You can download a demo of ZOE Begone! from Steam.
Gunboat God (PC)
- Developer: Janson RAD
- Publisher: Fireshine Games
- Release date: TBC
I didn’t know about Gunboat God before I got to New Game Plus, but as soon as I clocked the striking artwork and colours, I had to see more.
You are tasked with becoming the “all-powerful Gunboat God” in this shooter ’em up. You’ll fight hordes of monsters in hundreds of quick-fire missions, giving you different objectives to complete. You’ll unlock upgrades, skills, and abilities to really transform your gunboat into something truly devastating. Which you’ll need if you’re planning on challenging the multi-stage bosses.
Alas, Gunboat God is currently only releasing on PC, but we can hope for a console release down the line, too. Check out the Steam page for more info.
Robes & Wrinkles (PC)
- Developer: Tombstone Studios Ltd.
- Publisher: Tombstone Studios Ltd.
- Release date: TBC
You know in comedies films or shows when a character runs out of weapons so he starts just throwing whatever’s to hand at his enemy? That’s the vibe I got when playing Robes & Wrinkles. It’s a game where everything not nailed down is a weapon.
The plot is that you’ve been betrayed and you are tasked with climbing your tower to reclaim your throne. To do so, you must defeat enemies and solve puzzles in this first-person, physics-based power-fantasy game.
It was a lot of fun to play, and the humour is great. Your skull companion is good craic, as all good skull companions should be.
There’s a demo available on Steam, so go check it out.
Odinfall (PC)
- Developer: Ember Paw Games
- Publisher: Fireshine Games
- Release date: 11 March 2025 (Early Access)
Similar to Gunboat God, Odinfall was not on my radar, but when I clocked this chaotic-looking Viking-themed rogue-lite, I had to give it a go.
You’ll take on waves of enemies and 100s of enemies and bosses in procedurally generated levels that you must conquer to win your freedom. As with all rogue-lite type games, you’ll unlock new skills to take on the hordes with your range of playable characters.
The game was fun to play, and it looks super slick. I can’t wait to spend more time with it. Hoping for a console release, but it’s in Early Access on Steam for now.
Hyper Sentinel Fusion (PC)
- Developer: Four5Six Pixel, Huey Games
- Publisher: Huey Games
- Release: TBC
Another game I wanted to play at New Game Plus. Hyper Sentinel Fusion reminded me of the 90s Mega Drive (Genesis) days of the spaceship shooters. Chaotic maelstroms of bullets and huge, screen-devouring enemies. From what I played, it certainly looks to be channeling that vibe.
Hyper Sentinel Fusion is a shoot ’em up, roguelite combo. You’ll pilot your fighter to take on procedurally generated space ‘titans’, then you’ll land and enter and infiltrate a space to plunder the goodies with your droid. Then, of course, you’ll use your goodies to upgrade your moon base,e where you can unlock secrets and chat with the cast of the game.
It was great fun to play, and I look forward to playing more of it in the future (hopefully on console!).
I had a lot of fun squadding up with the UK Gamer Social Club crew and heading to our first gaming event in New Game Plus. There were lots of great games on show, and although it was a bit cramped in places, it was great to meet devs, play some great games, and discover titles I’d never heard about.
Here’s to next year!
