The most interesting arcade games released in 2018
All the best and most popular games of the year, upcoming releases, and hits from the past. Use filters to narrow down search.
Genital Jousting
Arcade
January 18, 2018
Genital Jousting is an unusual party game developed by Free Lives and published by Devolver Digital. We take part in various minigames, with up to eight players in local or online mulitplayer mode. What is unusual about the game is that we are controlling flaccid penises with wiggly anuses. Our "protagonist" can be dressed up in various clothes which will make him somewhat unique and easy to distinguish among the other "characters" controlled by the rest of the players. Our goal is to penetrate our opponents' genitals and at the same time avoid being penetrated. However, that is not the only thing to do in Genital Jousting. The game offers a couple of different minigames, like racing, herding the dachshunds, or unusual football. Due to the erotic themes, the game is for adults only.
Iconoclasts
Arcade
January 23, 2018
A colorful platform game based on the principles of metroidvania titles and developed by the creator of the Noitu Love series. The player takes on the role of Robin, a young, mechanically inclined girl that tries to find out why is it considered illegal to construct machines. The experience mingles exploration, puzzle solving and combat.
Strikers Edge
Arcade
January 30, 2018
Strikers Edge is a 2D arcade dodgeball game, in which players observe the action from the top-down perspective. One assumes the role of a chosen warrior and then tries to kill the opponent with arrows, spells, javelins, and daggers. Even though this game is mostly focused on the multiplayer mode (both local and online) it also features single-player campaigns revolving around each separate hero.
Treasure Adventure World
Arcade
February 7, 2018
A remade action-adventure game developed as a joint project of Robit Studios, the authors of the original game from 2011, and Chucklefish, the team responsible for Starbound. The action of Treasure Adventure World takes place in a world where a mysterious sorcerer had defeated a dangerous monster using the power of twelve magic artifacts. Unfortunately, the battle had several consequences – the continents were covered in water and divided into small islands. Years after that event, a young boy decides to retrieve the missing artifacts and return the world to its former glory. The mechanics of the game are built from a few different adventure, platform, or logic games elements. Our protagonist traverses the world and fight against his enemies. As the game progresses, the hero gains new experience levels, increasing his power and health points, while found coins enable him to buy various items facilitating the game.
Sprint Vector
Arcade
February 8, 2018
Developed exclusively for VR headgear and motion controllers, Sprint Vector is a first-person arcade game with racing elements created by Survios. In the game, the player assumes the role of various sportsmen participating in the titular competition held by the mysterious Mr. Entertainment, whose dynamic commentary accompanies each race. After choosing a character, one is tasked with beating the futuristic track in the shortest amount of time possible. The competition takes place across diverse locations such as ancient ruins, mountain peaks, caves, or streets of futuristic cities. Each track is filled with numerous obstacles that one has to overcome, i.e. traps such as mines, as well as a number of power-ups including energy weapons and temporary boosters. Gameplay builds on multiplayer competition allowing up to 8 players to race against each other. Developers have also prepared a set of special challenges for those who prefer to play alone.
Aegis Defenders
Arcade
February 8, 2018
A game developed by an indie studio, GUTS Department, that combines elements of metroidvania and tower defense. The game is set in a fantasy world where the only things left by a technologically advanced civilizations are ruins and powerful artifacts. The main characters, a mechanic called Bart and his granddaughter Clu, declare a war on the Empire – in order to end its hegemony they embark on a journey to find a legendary weapon called the Aegis. During this adventure full of dangers they have to not only visit various locations and avoid countless traps but also solve puzzles (which often require their cooperation – we can switch between the characters freely) and fight with enemies. Sometimes, they have to defend places, characters and objects from incoming waves of enemies – your success in those battles depends on using Bart's abilities that allow him to construct useful items, and making a good use of Clu's skills both in combat and placing traps. During the game we get new equipment and upgrade the already owned one. This allows us to reach previously unavailable places and eliminate increasingly bigger and more dangerous enemies. Aegis Defenders can be played alone or with another player. The developers were inspired by the first few installments in The Legend of Zelda and Final Fantasy series, which is reflected by the game's pixel-art graphics.
Alto's Odyssey
Arcade
February 21, 2018
A continuation of a well-received 2015 mobile endless runner Alto's Adventure, developed by Snowman. Like its predecessor, Alto's Odyssey does not feature a story as such - in the game, the player assumes the role of a snowboarder who has to overcome the obstacles, jump over chasms, run from the enemies, catch runaway animals, and perform various snowboard tricks, for which he is awarded points. Instead of the snow-capped mountains known from the first installment, the player gets to travel to a desert location filled with dunes, ruins of ancient cities, and a ton of new threats. Similarly to other endless runner games, the track is generated procedurally and has no end. The player has to avoid making any mistakes, cover gradually increasing distances, and get as many points as possible. Like its predecessor, the game features minimalist visuals; however, they are bound to appeal to many players with their pastel color palette.
Moss
Arcade
February 27, 2018
A three-dimensional platform game developed by Sony. The title was designed for PlayStation VR. Moss invites the players to a fantasy fairytale-like world, in which a mysterious stone awakens an ancient creature. A mouse hero named Quill is trying to face the threat. In order to succeed, she embarks on a dangerous journey through forests, dungeons and caves filled with riddles. The title is inspired by classic 3D platform games and focuses on exploration, beating environmental obstacles, solving puzzles and fighting enemies. The game fully supports VR technology and offers colorful, climatic graphics.
RiftStar Raiders
Arcade
February 28, 2018
A top-down space shooter game designed specifically to deliver a co-op experience. The creators of the game, Climax Studios, were inspired mainly by titles popular long ago in arcades. The player takes on the role of an adventurer-pilot, who lives in the criminal center of the galaxy. The protagonist earns their living by selling valuable pieces of hardware salvaged from destroyed spaceships, oftentimes neutralized by themselves. Everything changes when an AI-controlled alien fleet declares a war on the civilized part of the galaxy. Smelling a great fortune to be made, the protagonist quickly sets out to save the world. The player's goal is to defeat the aliens, but definitely not for free. One flies here in a squad of up to four players. Moving across 2D maps, the player will face countless enemy ships belonging to the aliens, law enforcement, or rivaling pirate gangs. Everyone who stands between the player and valuable loot is the target in the game. Using the hardware collected, the player can create new weapons, shields, and engines, in order to make the ship's capabilities suit one's play-style.
The American Dream
Arcade
March 14, 2018
A humorous arcade game, in which players have to complete daily activities using pistols, rifles, and shotguns. The American Dream was developed exclusively for Virtual Reality headgear and dedicated motion controllers, both of which are required for the game to work.
My Tamagotchi Forever
Arcade
March 15, 2018
The production that evokes the spirit of classic Tamagotchi games, in which the player takes care of various creatures. During the game, it is vital not only to feed, bathe, and clean after them, but also play with them – by doing so, you can be sure they will go to bed willingly.
Eat Beat Deadspike-san
Arcade
March 22, 2018
A rhythm game, in which the player controls the titular Deadspike-san – a special move of Ragna, the main protagonist of the BlazBlue series. The gameplay of Eat Beat Deadspike-san sees us press two buttons rhythmically in order to eat various types of food found across the stage.
BanG Dream! Girls Band Party!
Arcade
April 4, 2018
A free-to-play mix of classical music-rhythmic game and visual novel, in which we follow the lives of several Japanese high school students starting their musical careers in amateur rock and pop bands. The title offers dozens of original music pieces as well as covers of popular anime songs.
Oddmar
Arcade
April 19, 2018
A colorful, two-dimensional platformer game for mobile devices, created by Mobge Games - a Turkish developer. With its relaxed atmosphere, the game describes daily life and habits of Vikings. As a platformer game, Viking Mushroom offers twenty-five different levels filled with opportunities to jump and climb. The player encounters large numbers of traps, enemies and collectibles as well. The titular mushrooms are significant here, for they were eaten by Scandinavian warriors in order to acquire superhuman powers, according to the tradition. The game recreates such situations, for each of many kind of mushrooms available gives access to a set of useful abilities. The game offers colorful visuals, resembling the Rayman series in this aspect. What deserves special attention is the fact that both the plot and certain gameplay mechanics are rooted deeply in the tradition of Vikings and supported by research conducted on their culture.
Light Fall
Arcade
April 26, 2018
A two-dimensional platform game. It is the debut title of the Canadian studio Bishop Games. In Light Fall the player is taken to the fantasy realm of Numbra, where the darkness won the battle with the light. The player assumes the role of a mysterious boy. The player must reveal the enigmatic past of the boy and save the citizens of Numbra from the incoming danger. The action is presented with a classic side perspective and the gameplay focuses on traveling through locations filled with traps and obstacles. Luckily, the player can do much more that only run and jump. They are equipped with Shadow Core, a device that enables them to create additional platforms, which can be used both for moving and for neutralizing traps. Usually there is more than a single road leading to the objective and exploring various areas is rewarded with collectibles and Easter eggs.
Subaeria
Arcade
May 9, 2018
A unique mix of puzzle and arcade game with addition of roguelike’s features. It has been developed by the Canadian team at Illogika Studios. The game takes us to the titular submerged metropolis ruled by sentient machines. We play as a girl named Styx and her faithful companion Dron on their quest for revenge. Subaeria’s gameplay is based on exploration. We observe the 3D world from an isometric perspective, and since the heroine can’t use weapons, she must try to manipulate hostile robots (known as The Cleaners) to make them fight each other. This is where the little drone comes into play, as it can be used to control the robotic adversaries. The gameplay is complemented by good-looking 3D visuals.
The Watchmaker
Arcade
May 17, 2018
A steampunk action-adventure game with logic features. The title was developed by the independent studio Micropsia Games from Chile. The Watchmaker takes place inside a giant clock tower, and during the game the player assumes the role of a guard named Alexander. One day, a sabotage takes place in the tower, disrupting the flow of time and causing the protagonist to grow old extremely fast. In order to avoid death before his time, he must travel through subsequent sections of the tower to find and defeat the person responsible for the sabotage. He must also restore the proper flow of time. The game combines features of an adventure game, a 3D platform game and a logic game. The main focus was placed on solving various environmental riddles, but the game also contains typical action sequences and boss fights, during which the protagonist uses a variety of useful gadgets. The fact that the protagonist is getting older was used as a creative replacement for the classic health bar.