Guacamelee 2 feels great to play. It’s a demanding platformer with elements drawn from the beat ‘em ups of old but executed with such precision they feel modern. The way throwing a punch can be intertwined with hoping over a pit of lava transforms every obstacle into a puzzle.

Despite surface similarities and homages to dozens of video game classics, Guacamelee 2 feels unique and unrivalled, even if the whole doesn’t surpass the sum of each amazing part.

I went into Chasm searching for something that would knock me on my arse. What I found was entertaining, but nothing more. Plenty of secrets, hidden dangers, and mysterious evils lurk deep within Chasm’s side-scrolling labyrinth, which is made lively and vibrant thanks to some truly amazing pixel art.

Halfway through 2018 though, there’s almost nothing in Chasm I feel like I haven’t seen before.

Rogue Legacy is a great game, but, five years after release, a few things were missing from it on PC. Cloud saves, for one, as well as key rebinding for mouse. Yes, there was actually a person who wanted to play Rogue Legacy, a side-scrolling platformer, with mouse controls, and the developers have finally made that happen.

Earlier this week, Chasm, the years-in-development action-adventure platformer inspired by games like Super Castlevania IV, finally got a release window of summer 2018. Below got similar news last month when its developers announced that the long-awaited roguelike would be out before the end of the year.

It's been a long road for both games, but one their designers say was worth taking.

It took Ska Studios just over a year to get its side-scrolling action game onto the Vita, but the wait was worth it. Salt and Sanctuary takes the best of Metroidvania-style games and Souls-likes and condenses it into the idea portable experience.

Following up on the success of Norse mythology action RPG Jotun, Thunder Lotus Games goes back to the drawing board with Sundered, a replayable Metroidvania heavily inspired by the writings of H.P. Lovecraft.

Video: Headlander is a wild new Metroidvania for PS4 and PC from the folks at Double Fine Productions and Adult Swim Games. It is a disco fever dream mix of shooting, puzzles and exploration. It's pretty damn swell to play as a floating head! Join me as I talk about director Lee Petty's approach to design, shoot the heads off a lot of robots and examine what does and does not work in Double Fine's latest charmer!

Briefly: In unexpectedly wonderful news, Xbox's Major Nelson revealed Ori and the Blind Forest is getting an expansion on PC and Xbox One this year. There aren't any details on what to expect yet, but if you haven't yet played one of this year's best games, get on it!

Briefly: The magical time-travelling metroidvania, Timespinner, has managed to reach its Kickstarter goal. It is currently working towards two stretch goals, a PlayStation 4 port and a PS Vita port, for which it needs to collect an additional $US13,000 and $US23,000, respectively, in about three weeks.

This is Timespinner, the next big PC indie platformer (I'd say metroidvania, but people don't like that word). It's being developed by Lunar Ray Games, a studio headed by an ex-Bungie employee, and it looks quite excellent.