Devil’s Derby
In Devil’s Derby, players navigate a multi-layered arena on skates, battling endless hordes of demons and monsters. The gameplay emphasizes player movement such as slides, dashes, grinds, wall runs, rocket jumps, and blast jumps to maintain momentum and evade enemies. You know, the usual stuff we all like. Combat involves using an SMG for continuous damage and a hand cannon that can be charged for powerful energy blasts. As players achieve higher scores their arsenal upgrades, enhancing combat effectiveness. The game operates on a “one life, one level, one score” system, encouraging players to compete for high scores on global leaderboards.
Devil’s Derby was released on April 2nd, and is available for purchase for $6.99 (no demo, unfortunately).
RIG Riot
I recently interviewed Sage Boatman, the developer behind RIG Riot, which you can read here if you haven’t already. RIG Riot is an upcoming roguelike third-person mech-action shooter where players pilot customizable mechanical suits through increasingly challenging stages. The game emphasizes fast-paced combat, allowing players to collect weapons and mods with powerful effects to tailor their playstyle. If you’re a fan of the Armored Core series (specifically Armored Core VI, which was Boatman’s main influence), definitely give RIG Riot a try.
While there’s no public demo, you can request access to the playtest through Steam.
Metal Eden
Metal Eden is a stylish, fast-paced sci-fi shooter coming from Reikon Games — the same folks who made Ruiner. You play as ASKA, a battle android zipping through a dystopian city called Moebius, trying to save what’s left of humanity — which, in this case, are their digitized minds (called “COREs”). If you enjoyed Ghostrunner or Ultrakill, this one’s probably gonna scratch that high-speed action itch.
Metal Eden is expected to release in Q3 if this year, though you can play the Steam demo right now.
Haste
Haste is a fast-paced 3D roguelike platformer developed by Landfall Games. You play as Zoe, a letter carrier navigating procedurally generated worlds filled with rolling hills, obstacles, and hazards. The gameplay emphasizes momentum, rewarding timely jumps and landings to build speed and activate abilities like dashes and grappling hooks. Players must maintain high speeds to avoid a creeping energy force and can collect in-game currency (“sparks”) to purchase items and upgrades.
Haste was released on April 1st for $19.99, though a free demo is also available for download.
The Local
While The Local was technically released back in February, it’s still worth mentioning. The Local is a free-to-play, fast-paced movement game developed by Tobey Gronow and published by JINC. Drawing inspiration from classic Surf and Bunny Hop (B-Hop) mechanics, it offers a rich traversal experience in a large, playground-like world. While the game is F2P, a $9.99 Supporter Package is available as well for those who wish to support the developer (who we also interviewed recently).
