Samurai Gunn

An excellent example of how games can do more with less. Its combat is deceptively simple, there are no character advantages, and the tight, dangerous environments each feel unique. However, the lack of an online multiplayer mode will likely keep it relegated to “great party game” status.

An exciting, kinetic single-screen multiplayer with excellent level design, but little to reward the solo player.

The great level design, accompanied by charming 8-bit style artwork, an incredible soundtrack and the fact that you need to be very quick-thinking and account for every centimetre of space, really make this a special game in its genre.

Simple to pick up and play, the precise, tension-filled combat is capable of turning friends into bitter rivals.

It’s a masterclass of design purity: every one of these elements exists for a reason, and its potential is exploited to the fullest. But Samurai Gunn’s genius lies in its dizzying speed. It condenses organic, balletic setpieces worthy of an action flick finale into mere seconds, the ground filling up with the bloodied pixel remains of the fallen.

Samurai Gunn revels in its own simplicity.

Every time I play it I feel like I've mastered a new piece of the physics engine, or a new nuance to wall-jumping. It's one of those games that keeps on giving years later due to a solid foundation, so long as you have the company to enjoy it with.

Samurai Gunn seems to be a simple game, but really it's a frenetic and addictive multiplayer action game.

A fighting game has to be pixel perfect to successfully reward patience and strategy. Samurai Gunn just isn't there yet.