"Indie Gem Bundle Explosions Edition"

"Indie Gem Bundle Explosions Edition"
Reviewer: Carless Yen
Publisher: Plug-In Digital
Developers: Flying Oak Games, Pixelnest Studio, Alkemi
Platform: Xbox
Price: 29.99
Release Date: 11/27/2019

Indie Gem Bundle Explosions Editions is a pack of shoot em up indie titles that all unique in their own way, especially "Transcripted" which I really loved. All three together will run you around 29.99 and I could have spent this on "Transcripted" alone. I will start with Pixelnest Studio "Steredenn first. This was my second favorite of the bundle, but a very close second. In Steredenn you get one run to see how far you can advance. You take on waves of enemies and bosses, and If you die you start over. There is also a daily wave challenge where you can compete for the leader board position. With this every one starts with a weapon layout, and you see who can go on the longest. Both this and the regular arcade run is fun as hell. If you like games like Aegis Wings or Life force this will really be up your alley. Yes some times the enemies bosses feel slightly repetitive, but the many different type of weapons, and abilities really makes sure no run feels the same. As you defeat the bosses , and cargo ships you will be rewarded with different weapons and abilities. There are even powerful weapons that reward you for quick close quarter combat. Cool ones like saw blades, swords, etc. Same with the weapons there are so many different variations. Missiles, turrents, lasers, auto fire, you can play so many times before ever seeing them all in my opinion. This game being how it is set up with runs really welcomes replay. The Achievements do as well. "Steredenn" is one of those games you can play over and over, and looking at the leader boards a lot of people are. It is very challenging . If you like challenging games as well, you will love this. It took me multiple plays to finally make my way through to the end of the run. I'd say well over 15 play through. Even with playing it over and over it just never felt the same.. Every time I was able to go with different weapons, and had different weapons fired back at me by bosses. Steredenn is well worth your time if you like space shooters like I do. I'd put it up there with "Sine Mora Ex" for one of the tops of this Gen.

Next is Flying Oaks Games "Neuro Voider" this is a little twin stick shooter that I enjoyed , but wasn't blown away by it. It doesn't really do anything I haven't seen before in the genre. That being said I still had a good time with it. It's also Coop up to 4 players that is always a plus. I didn't play with any one , but I bet if I had would had more fun with it. It like Steredenn can be played over a lot , and never really have the same experience as far as character customization. You can have all kinds of different bodies, power cells I think they are called, and weapons. You find them dropped by enemies, as you make your way through the levels. When you finish the level you can look at all you drop. I like how you can ever test your weapons before you equip them. That was one of my favorite parts of the game seeing the different layouts. You have HP which is health but also EP which is Energy Points. Each layout has different amounts, and uses different amounts. So you have to be careful when choosing them to not run low on energy in the middle of tough battles. You can also get powerful melee weapons on here as well. It can be challenging , with hundreds of robots trying to attack you. I like the Shotgun to really take out a bunch at once. The levels really look different, and have a cool neon feel to them. The enemies though, and objectives felt really repetitive. I got bored with it very fast, and it was my least favorite, but I still didn't think it was a bad game. I really enjoyed the music, I really enjoyed the music for all 3 of these games. They all had different Developers, but the music was excellent on all 3. I don't know if this has something to do with Plug In Digital or they just bundled a bunch of cool music games together. Some of the best music in these three than I've heard in Indie games all year.

Last and my very favorite is Alkemi "Transcripted" what is odd is it alone is the cheapest of these three games, but to me the most fun hands down. I enjoyed everything about it. The music, the original concept, the excellent voice acting. I was so surprised by this little game. As soon as it starts you realize your in for something special with the quality voice acting. Every one really delivers on that front. Then you are pulled into a really unique concept of traveling through hordes of pathogens. Destroying these little guys with the game play style of match three like in Puzzle Bobble or Zuma. It also is a twin stick shooter as well. Sort of feels like Geometry Wars as well with the combat, but to be honest I think I enjoyed this more than all of all those. You shoot enemies, and pick up the color orbs they drop.You take those and shoot them into lines of colors. You need to match up 3 to destroy them and shrink the line. This carries over into advancing through levels, and even fighting bosses. At the end of each level you are rewarded with points to use towards purchasing upgrades.They will really aid you on your journey, even if "Transcripted" isn't really difficult it is still awesome to see the changes as you go into the next area. The music in this one is outstanding like the others. I really recommend this one even if you don't purchase the bundle. I'd grab this one I think it's like 7.99 well worth that

Pros:
A little bit of everything in this bundle.
Ton of retro fun.Puzzles, twin stick shooting,shoot em ups.
Awesome music in all three titles
Replay value

Cons:
Neuro Voider kinda repetitive

Overall:

 7.0 A nice little group of indies with killer soundtracks, and enough action and replay value to keep you busy for a long time.