been playing a number of cheap indie games on steam. last week i beat both oniken and odallus, which are by the same developer. had a really good time with both.
oniken is an 8bit style action game like shatterhand, with a post-game bonus level based on contra. difficulty ramps up gradually and is brutal but fair.
odallus is an 8bit metroidvania based on castlevania (some touches of rondo here and there) and demon's crest/GNG. less challenging than oniken but like a lot of indie games, the final boss has a difficulty spike so getting the armor upgrade is necessary to use some cool moves.
currently playing Blasphemous (60% done? there's a NG+ with extra bosses but probably won't get around to it) and i cannot recommend it enough. soulslike metroidvania inspired by spanish catholicism (you can even play in spanish dub). the whole game is oozing with atmosphere and disturbing yet strikingly beautiful pixel art visuals. crunchy combat as well. no real cons except the soundtrack is mostly ambient and fast travel is relatively limited.
