I Wrote Mini-Reviews of Every Game in UFO 50

UFO 50 is a bizarre and ambitious game design experiment that I got completely obsessed with late last year. Contained inside this $25 Steam game are 50 (that’s right, F I F T Y) 8-bit games developed by the devs behind indie darlings like Spelunky and Downwell, all held together by a shared faux history as the supposed output of a pioneering 1980s game studio.

Since each game in UFO 50 is a complete experience with a title screen, attract mode, end credits, and the like, I decided it would be fun to jot down some notes on each one as I play through the collection. The following notes were previously posted 10 at a time (in “release” order) on the Ani-Gamers Patreon for $5+ patrons, but now I’m putting them all together into one big article available for free on our blog. If you want to support more articles like this, become a patron on our Patreon!

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Barbuta

Platforming dungeon crawler. Slow, clunky movement, zero explanations, and lots of secrets. It’s cool that this is the first game. It’s really challenging and initially off-putting, which encourages you to try other games and makes it rewarding to come back to later.

Bug Hunter

Turn-based tactics/strategy game, a little like Into the Breach. It has a deck-builder element too, which makes it feel more modern than I expected. The trade-off of using energy to attack or buy more cards is interesting and adds a lot of tension!

Ninpek

This is really hard! An auto-scrolling platformer/shooter. Lots of tricky, dense enemy placements that require you to replay the level and memorize it. Not really my kind of game, but it feels very period-accurate.

Paint Chase

Really cool concept, a kind of Bomberman-meets-Splatoon. You drive a car around a top-down map and coat the ground with your paint color. Starts simple but quickly becomes a puzzle game requiring clever use of items and obstacles.

Magic Garden

Simple puzzler that’s one of my favorite games so far! Collect slimes and spin inside special zones to get rid of them and get points. Like Snake with some Pac-Man mixed in. I eventually hit a flow state with this one.

Mortol

Puzzle platformer where you spend limited lives to sacrifice your player and help the next life make it through, largely by transforming into platforms. Like many good puzzle games it successfully made me rewire my brain to succeed.

Velgress

I thought it was going to be Metroid, but it’s more like a roguelike Kid Icarus or Downwell. Climb up and shoot your way through a tunnel with collapsing platforms. Great gamefeel but the collapsing platforms are really punishing and require fast reflexes.

Planet Zoldath

Roguelike Zelda 1. Map AND puzzles AND enemy attributes change every run. Not that hard on its own, but every run it’s like learning a new game. Neat! Though I didn’t find it all that fun moment to moment. This is the first game I completed.

Attactics

Some of the most fun and the most frustration I’ve had in this first row. Turn-based tactics that feels a bit like chess, in that you’re lining up attacks across the board. Very satisfying when it works. At level 6 it gets too overwhelming with the number of enemies and the super fast clock forcing you to make your move. I wish I could play this with unlimited time to think and strategize.

Devilition

Really clever puzzler where you get a random assortment of bombs with different explosion patterns, and need to place them to create a chain reaction by detonating only one of them to kill enemies. Later levels get difficult, but success in earlier ones sets you up with extra allies to make subsequent levels easier.

Kick Club

A series of small arenas where you attack enemies by kicking a soccer ball. A nice level of challenge with some unique movement and attack options. Managing the location of the character and the ball at once is fun.

Avianos

A lite version of a grand strategy game (so I’m told) where you take over a map and build buildings and recruit units every turn. There’s some interesting progression where you pray to a dinosaur god every turn to determine your action set, and level them up every time, but you don’t always have access to every dinosaur every turn.

Mooncat

Very strange! An exploration-based platformer controlled with the face buttons instead of the D-pad. I’m still trying to get the hang of it but the unconventional control scheme is a really cool idea, feels way better in my hands than I expected, and genuinely makes it feel like a lost ’80s project.

Bushido Ball

I initially loved this; it’s Pong meets a fighting game, with samurai. (Also maybe WindJammers? I’ve never played it.) The movement and attack options are varied and feel great, but the AI has perfect input reading which makes it frustrating. Probably very fun in multiplayer. I’ve been obsessed with getting good enough to win the tournament, but no dice yet.

Block Koala

Simple and a bit dull block-pushing puzzle game. The only unique thing seems to be that some blocks can combine or push others based on the number on them, but it’s not enough to make this feel special.

Camouflage

Bypass enemy sentries by changing colors to blend into the background. Pretty easy to beat the early levels but there are bonus objectives that get tricky. I love the camouflage stealth/puzzle mechanic. The undo button is greatly appreciated.

Campanella

Clearly one of the flagship games here (and the first prominent appearance of the titular UFO). You navigate levels by tapping a button to generate lift, and you die if you touch the walls. Requires a lot of concentration but very satisfying when you win. Cool, neon visual style. This is one of the most straightforwardly “that’s cool as hell” games in the collection.

Golfaria

A golf RPG?! Kind of. Ironically one of the most Zelda-esque games so far. You navigate an overworld and find holes with characters and challenges inside, all while bouncing your ball over hills and off of walls to traverse. I’m so bad at this. I’ve barely seen any of the game so far. You have a maximum number of strokes and you die if you use them up without landing in a hole, which really impedes exploration.

The Big Bell Race

The movement and visuals of Campanella, repurposed for a racing game. What a perfect concept! It has items a la MarioKart. This is tons of fun. I desperately wish this had more courses. Give me a whole MarioKart universe of games with this movement mechanic.

Warptank

One of my favorites. The gravity-bending platforming of VVVVVV with a little bit of… Megaman I suppose? You can’t jump, but you can warp and shoot directly above your head (including while attached to a wall). Also features a cool, crusty high-tech visual style, a little like Metroid.

Waldorf’s Journey

At its core this is kind of a golf game! A platformer where you jump between platforms by flinging your character in an arc. It’s very hard to get the angle right and funny when you screw it up. Surprisingly, there are upgrades and advanced tactics necessary to succeed.

Porgy

My top game so far. An engrossing Metroidvania that forces you to take greater and greater risks to power up as you dive into an underwater maze. Really satisfying progression and a huge world to explore. I’ve spent five hours already!

Onion Delivery

The controls here aren’t for me but I love the silly theming and car animations. It’s basically top-down Crazy Taxi with controls that don’t rotate relative to your car.

Caramel Caramel

Side-scrolling cute-em-up, seems pretty standard to me other than a fairly unremarkable rechargable “photograph” super move. Hard but fun, with nice speedy movement and satisfying shooting. Great music.

Party House

Very clever! It’s a deck-builder/poker game dressed up as a party invite simulator. Make your party as cool as possible, but invite too many troublemakers and the cops will get called. Requires some tricky planning and predictions.

Hot Foot

A sports game where the modal control scheme gets a little too complex for the limited available buttons. I haven’t quite figured this one out yet.

Divers

A diving JRPG! Haven’t played this much since it really doesn’t explain much, but it’s extremely atmospheric and has complex systems (left- and right-hand equipment slots, some kind of rock-paper-scissors elemental mechanic) with no explanation on how they work.

Rail Heist

Side-scrolling turn-based stealth, with tons of options for how to approach problems. A weird combo but it’s pretty cool. Like many stealth games it manifests as a kind of puzzle game. The Western movie title cards look really cool in pixel art.

Vainger

Metroid meets VVVVVV, though I’m told the closest analog is a game called Metal Storm. You can reverse gravity at will! Very easy to pick up. There’s a cool upgrade mechanic where you can re-spec an upgrade into different slots to get different abilities, a little like the equipment in Porgy.

Rock On! Island

Took me a while to figure out the mechanics of this one. It’s a tower defense where you upgrade your defenses each time a new wave of enemies appear. A lot of the effects of the upgrades are unexplained, which makes it hard to pick up, but it’s satisfying when a build works.

Pingolf

A side-scrolling golf game with obstacles and theming inspired by pinball. The neon-tinged visual design is so slick, and the level design is absolutely devious. Requires multiple playthroughs to build the experience to not fall for the designer’s tricks.

Mortol II

The original Mortol concept, but in the form of a platforming action game rather than a puzzler, with additional character types to add tactical variety. And no lives or save points! I’ve barely made it past the first screen, this is brutally difficult.

Fist Hell

Basically a straightforward beat-em-up. It’s pretty fun for what it is but it’s not a genre I typically love. I like the detail that zombie heads are items you can pick up and throw.

Overbold

Roguelike top-down multidirectional shooter. You fight fixed numbers of enemies each round, then use your winnings to buy upgrades. I like the custom difficulty mechanic of upping the challenge in a round to win more money — it reminds me of the difficulty mechanic in The World Ends with You. Unfortunately I find the actual combat a bit dull.

Campanella 2

This really does feel like the kind of big, ambitious sequel you’d get in this era (or maybe in the 90s: Super Campanella, if you will). Now you have health instead of being insta-killed by walls, and you can leave the ship and do some platforming and shooting. That’s a lot to manage, though, and it feels less immediately accessible than the first game.

Hyper Contender

The second game I beat. A 1v1 platform fighter with a Sonic-style rings system and some unique movement mechanics for most of the characters. Initially the enemy AI felt way too hard, with too much ability to predict projectile trajectories, but I figured out their patterns with some practice. Very fun multiplayer.

Valbrace

A genre I have very little experience in: a Wizardry-style first-person maze-based RPG. (Is there a word for that?) The combat has a fun real-time movement and dodging system with cooldowns that helps break up with monotony of walking around the maze. I enjoyed the limited time I spent with this one, but I’ll have to double back to it to give it a more thorough look.

Rakshasa

OK so it’s Ghosts & Goblins with an Indian coat of paint. Easier than it seems at first glance thanks to the power-up system. But the real star is the death system: when you die you turn into a ghost and have to collect tokens before enemies get you, but every time you die there are more tokens.

Star Waspir

Fiendishly hard! A top-down arcade shooter. Cool mechanics: tap a button to spray bullets or hold to fire a concentrated stream, and power-ups are unlocked by collecting letters and matching three. Too many bullets and power-ups on screen, plus enemy placements designed to put them and their bullets in front of power-ups, but I had some fun trying to get the hang of it.

Grimstone

A Western-themed JRPG! I love the idea of picking your party from a list at the beginning with minimal context, kind of like Pokémon starters. And the timing-based attacks make the turn-based combat more exciting. This is a long one and will need a lot more time before I have full thoughts on it, but it’s impressive that it’s just one of 50 games!

Lords of Diskonia

A strategy game with two levels of zoom: at the top level it has some board game resource-management mechanics, and when you enter battles it becomes a turn-based tactics game (with a hint of golf) about flinging discs into one another. The fights are tricky and require precise positioning and creative use of the environment to win. Not really for me but I appreciate how unique it is.

Night Manor

A point-and-click slasher horror game where you try to escape from a house! I won’t spoil it, but the game includes a unique mechanic to keep you on your toes in what’s otherwise a very slow-paced, thinky genre. I’ve been struggling with a few of the puzzles, but other than some timing-based challenges it’s relatively easy. I’ve been really enjoying popping into this occasionally to make some progress and learn the full backstory of the manor.

Elfazar’s Hat

Visually it looks like a top-down adventure game but it’s basically a multidirectional shmup. Features a match-three power-up system that feels like it’s inspired by Star Waspir — a nice touch for the meta story of UFOSoft. The highlight though: rolling. I’m a sucker for a good dash/dodge mechanic, and this roll with a few invincibility frames is really satisfying when I manage to dodge some bullets and finish off an enemy.

Pilot Quest

I spent an embarrassingly long time playing this before I discovered some of the key mechanics. It’s another spin-off of Campanella, this time as a clicker game mixed with … Zelda and Stardew Valley? It’s all about resource management: collecting raw resources and cashing them in for tools to help produce more resources. The most engaging aspect is the “Wild Zone,” basically a Zelda overworld with a time limit (determined by your resources of course) where dying loses all your stuff. The interplay of exploration and resource management really got me and I’ve spent a lot of time in this game.

Mini & Max

Another genius concept. A huge open world platformer ironically played entirely in a small room. The twist is your character can shrink and grow, so you position yourself around the room when large and shrink down to do your exploration and platforming, meeting a bunch of bugs and other tiny denizens of the room. A bit of Doki Doki Panic, a bit of Minish Cap, with a surprising amount of lore and narrative. One of my favorites in the whole collection.

Combatants

A real-time strategy game with hints of Killer Queen: collect seeds and spawn worker and soldier ants, and command them to beat your enemy queen. The trouble is that the movement is slow and the AI is unresponsive. You can tell ants to follow you, hold, or automatically move, but no matter what they tend to mill around doing not much of anything. I tried to get into this a few times but it’s no fun. The only real clunker in the collection!

Quibble Race

Sports betting! Bet on a different “Quibble” (little alien guys) each race, and spend money to add various cheats like injuring another Quibble or giving your Quibble steroids. Hilarious, and a fun twist to turn an ostensible racing game into a black-market gambling game. Surprisingly, I won on my first try, but I want to give this some more time to explore the surprisingly varied ways to win.

Seaside Drive

A shmup with movement locked to the bottom of the screen and a drifting mechanic requiring you to keep moving while shooting. Moving forward and back also tilts your shots, creating a really fluid and exciting interplay between movement and aiming. And did I mention this is far and away the coolest looking game in the collection?

Campanella 3

The penultimate game in the collection gives us a little taste of faux-3-D shooters a la Starfox. Now the Campanella flies straight forward into the Z axis, and enemies can appear both in front and alongside you. The idea of shooting both in front and to the top/bottom/left/right is really cool and a bit brain-bending, especially since your shots along the X/Y axis are more like thrusters, so you need to move in the opposite direction of your shots. There’s also some really fun pixel art typography in this one.

Cyber Owls

Not satisfied with making 50 separate games, in their last game the UFO 50 team delivers five different genres in one! You play as four bird secret agents, and each one has to complete a level in a different genre: action platformer, shooting gallery, top-down stealth, and side-scrolling driving-themed shooter. If any of them get captured, you can send another one to save them by playing a FIFTH genre: a they-move-when-you-do tactics game! I haven’t beaten a level yet, but I’m so impressed with the creative genre-blending going on here.

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And that’s it for my UFO 50 impressions! It was my favorite video game of 2024, and I highly recommend you pick it up if you have any interest in even a couple of the games in the collection.