After months of hype, Acclaim officially rose from the ashes and finally showed off their slate of upcoming games. The “Play Acclaim” event featured a strong mix of retro-inspired classics across genres, including 2-D platformers, 3-D action titles, sports games, and more. Unfortunately for me, there were zero mentions of any new wrestling titles or any licensed games, despite Acclaim’s past success as a destination for great licensed games.

You can watch the VOD of the full event below:

We first heard from CEO Alex Josef with some introductory words for the event, hoping we all enjoyed his company’s upcoming titles. After a short hype reel, we were finally treated to what Acclaim has in store for the new generation. 

Note: all of these games will be released on console as well as PC, but some of them are available now on PC only.

Grid Beat! from Ridiculous Games batted leadoff for the presentation. It is a rhythm-based top-down dungeon crawler where “Hackers” move to the beat a la Crypt of the Necrodancer. 

Basketball Classics from NamoGamo was next. It is a 5-on-5 8-bit pixel basketball game. The title promises real NBA players — they have likenesses, will they get names? It also features Inside the NBA and Craig Sager references, among others. Great news, it’s available now on PC!

Next was Ground Zero Hero, a goofy Vampire Survivors-type autoshooter developed by solo game dev Rowan Edmondson. Some serious care went into this – it’s well worth checking out. It’s also available now on Steam.

I described Pixel Washer in my notes as a “funny little pig game that reminds me of Earthbound and Mutant Muds with Power Washing Simulator-type gameplay.” I think I nailed it. I love the piggy so much. Pixel Washer is available to wishlist now on Steam with a demo you can check out.

Next was the world premiere of Talaka, a 2-D side-scroller with an aesthetic straight out of a sketchbook. I’m a big fan of the character arts, I’ll keep my eye on this one. Talaka is available to wishlist now on Steam. 

Toss Down is a 3D action game with lots of explosions and stuff happening on screen. You play a package handler trying to complete deliveries by any means necessary. Seems like it could be a roguelike so you’ll probably hear about it on Party XP if my co-host Lakan discovers it.

The Prisoning: Fletcher’s Quest would have been the most impressive game of the showcase if not for the two games that followed it. It is a 16-bit 2d Sidescroller that gives me Mega Man and Spelunky vibes. It has really great music and sprite art, I will absolutely check this out. You can wishlist it on Steam now.

From the early responses I’ve seen, HYPERYuki: Snowboard Syndicate will likely be the hit of the showcase. It’s a SSX Tricky spiritual successor with a Jet Set Radio art style and vibe. I’ve been beating the drum that EA Big might have been one of the most important and talented game development studios for years and the world would be a better place with more of their games back in circulation. This is a great start. You can wishlist HYPERyuki: Snowboard Syndicate now.

Lastly, the event ends with a false finish and displays Katanaut, a gory cyberpunk samurai game. Heavily reminds me of Katana Zero with a slightly more gruesome art style. Also, the main character has tentacle powers. Color me intrigued. Katanaut is available now on Steam.

All in all, this was an incredibly strong first showing for Acclaim. I’m interested in more games than I’m not, which is always a good sign, and there will likely be more games shown in the coming months. Like I said before, my only hopes are for a new wrestling title and potentially some new licensed games that take advantage of the company’s past successes with beloved licenses. But for now, we’ll just have to wait for future ‘Play Acclaim’ showcases.