Anchorverse

You can have a lot of fun with the most basic ideas, as long as the experience is worth your time. Simple video games have the ability to attract millions of players, as is the case with bestsellers like Tetris or Super Mario. If the gameplay mechanics are addictive and difficult to master, it’s only natural that players will try to get better and better at it.

Anchorverse is a minimalistic platformer designed to be both fun and annoying at the same time, given the fact that you’ll die on a regular basis and in all sorts of ways. Although all you need to do is travel between a couple of checkpoints and watch out for traps and enemies in between, it’s the crisp controls and unforgiving gameplay that do the trick, so you might not be able to let the game go for a while.

There’s not much of a story to talk about, since barely anything is mentioned in this regard. The action seems to be taking place in some kind of science fiction environment, although the graphics are too basic to convey any actual ideas. Your character appears to be a hero of sorts, and he has the ability to shoot two guns at once in different directions.

Speaking of which, enemies pop out every now and again, and they can shoot you dead if you are not careful. The trick is to react quickly and shoot them before they get a chance to do the same to you, but you may not always be able to do that. Spikes have the ability to instantly kill the hero, so you’d better watch your step. A lot of backtracking is necessary throughout the levels, so you need to make sure to learn the way back.

As mentioned earlier, the graphics are about as basic as they can get in the genre. Everything is designed to appear as minimal as possible, including the environments and the characters. The grungy vibe you get from the backgrounds can induce a certain atmosphere as well, which is amplified by the weird tunes that play while you struggle with the traps.

In the end, Anchorverse has the right mix of fun and difficulty to make it a game that’s hard to put down. As long as you are not the type to back down from a challenge, this should really stretch your nerves a little bit, although it’s still manageable and entertaining in the long run.