The indie scene continues to deliver games willing to put their own spin on familiar genres, even when the results don’t always hit the mark. In this roundup, we take a look at three recently released titles across PS5, from the nostalgic arcade skating of Skatesterre and the tongue-in-cheek beat ’em up action of John Fox to the cute-but-chaotic horde survival of Pets Survivors. Each approaches its chosen formula from a different angle, with some finding more success than others, but all three offer an interesting glimpse at the ideas smaller developers are bringing to the table. Here’s what we thought of them.
Skatesterre review (PS5)
Skatesterre clearly wants to bring back the arcade skateboarding games of the early 2000s, and there is certainly something appealing about that straightforward approach. Playing as Dutch skateboarder Sterre Meijer, the game throws players into compact stages where tricks, combos and objectives are the main attraction. Unfortunately, the nostalgic appeal is undermined by how little the game does with its own identity. Sterre herself is barely integrated into the experience beyond her appearance and some unlockable clothing, meaning the opportunity to build a more contemporary skateboarding game around her personality, fashion and online presence is largely missed. The basic premise works, but it feels more like an imitation of a familiar formula than a game with a strong reason to exist.
The actual skating is similarly caught between simplicity and frustration. There are plenty of tricks to perform, including flips, grabs, grinds and manuals, while the seven career stages provide objectives involving scores, collections and specific trick challenges. The level layouts are arguably the game’s strongest element, with locations such as factories, malls and waterparks offering rails, ramps and alternate routes to explore, and Free Skate provides a useful way to practise outside the time pressure of Career Mode. However, the controls and physics can be decidedly unpredictable. Manuals and grinds can be difficult to balance, landings can result in seemingly arbitrary bails, and the limited speed system does little to provide the fine control expected from an arcade skating game. Some of the simpler mechanics can also be exploited to build enormous scores without requiring particularly skilful skating, which weakens the sense of mastery that should be at the heart of the experience.
The presentation at least understands the aesthetic it is aiming for. The environments have a deliberately old-school quality that fits the arcade design, although the visuals can look rough enough to suggest a production that has not received much polish. Camera behaviour is another recurring problem, particularly when the view gets too close to Sterre or swings around during jumps, making some landings harder to judge than they should be. Technical oddities, including getting caught on geometry and other physics-related glitches, further detract from the experience. The soundtrack fares better, with its selection of punk and skate-rock providing the right kind of energy for chaining tricks around each stage. It is a relatively small selection and repetition becomes noticeable, but the music is one of the more convincing parts of the throwback approach.
There is a decent little arcade skateboarding game buried somewhere inside Skatesterre, particularly for players who simply want to spend a few minutes skating around a colorful level and putting together tricks. The level design gives the game some room to breathe, the soundtrack fits the subject matter, and the uncomplicated structure means there is very little standing between players and the skating itself. Yet those positives are repeatedly compromised by awkward physics, inconsistent controls, technical issues and an almost complete lack of personality. For a game so openly inspired by the classics, Skatesterre needed either considerably more polish or a distinctive idea of its own, especially with Sterre Meijer available as the foundation for something more contemporary. Instead, it feels like a nostalgic recreation that never quite captures what made its inspiration so enjoyable.
John Fox review (PS5)
John Fox wastes little time establishing what kind of game it wants to be. This is a compact 2D beat ’em up built around a ridiculous revenge story, with the titular fox hunting down frog enemies after his pet bug is killed. The obvious John Wick parody is impossible to miss, from the suited protagonist to the revenge setup, but the bizarre animal cast and deliberately silly premise give it enough personality to avoid feeling like a completely straight imitation. There is no great narrative depth here, nor does there need to be, as the story mainly exists to provide an excuse for John Fox to start swinging his katana. We liked the playful tone, although anyone expecting a more substantial campaign will find the roughly 40-to-45-minute adventure extremely lightweight.
That brevity also defines the gameplay. John Fox keeps things deliberately simple, with a basic three-hit sword combo doing most of the work while jumping and, later on, enemy-dropped firearms provide some additional options. Unfortunately, the simplicity frequently crosses into repetition. There is little reason to do anything beyond repeatedly attacking, enemies offer limited resistance to the basic strategy, and the absence of mechanics such as blocking, varied attacks, unlockable abilities or a progression system means there is very little incentive to master the combat. Boss encounters at least require a little more movement and timing, but they remain fairly forgiving. We found the straightforward action enjoyable in short bursts, but the lack of depth makes it difficult to imagine spending much longer with it than the game itself demands.
The PS5 version also has some control quirks that prevent the otherwise uncomplicated formula from feeling as polished as it could. The button layout can take some getting used to, and the lack of control remapping is an unfortunate omission for a game that relies so heavily on a small number of inputs. Hit reactions are limited as well, which reduces the impact of landing attacks and makes the combat feel somewhat less responsive than a good beat ’em up should. On the audiovisual side, however, John Fox makes a better impression. Its deliberately retro pixel art has plenty of charm, with the exaggerated characters fitting the tongue-in-cheek premise nicely, while the music provides an energetic accompaniment to the action. The environments themselves are much less impressive, offering limited interaction and variety, and the soundtrack could have benefited from greater variation during the short campaign.
Ultimately, John Fox is an uncomplicated little brawler that succeeds more through charm and immediacy than depth. We enjoyed the absurd revenge premise, the colorful pixel-art presentation and the fact that it gets straight to the action without wasting time, but the lack of combat variety, progression and replayability keeps it firmly in the realm of a quick arcade-style diversion. That is not necessarily a problem for a budget release, and the short runtime means the repetitive nature is unlikely to become truly exhausting, but it does leave the impression that a promising foundation could have supported a considerably better game. For players looking for a cheap, silly and brief beat ’em up, John Fox has enough personality to make the trip worthwhile; those looking for a more substantial brawler should probably keep their expectations firmly in check.
Pets Survivors review (PS5)
Pets Survivors takes the increasingly familiar horde-survival formula and puts a suitably silly spin on it by handing guns to a collection of murderous pets. There isn’t really a narrative to speak of beyond the amusing premise, with the focus firmly placed on surviving increasingly crowded arenas rather than telling a meaningful story. That simplicity is arguably part of its appeal, as the cute characters and eccentric weapon choices give the otherwise familiar setup some personality. At the same time, the game struggles to make that premise feel like more than a novelty, particularly when compared with the sheer number of survivors-likes already competing for attention.
The core loop is straightforward: enter an arena, eliminate waves of enemies, collect experience, select upgrades and eventually take on a boss. Between runs, accumulated coins can be spent on characters, weapons and permanent improvements, while completing certain objectives unlocks additional pets. There is some fun to be had in discovering the more unusual combinations, and weapons such as magical books or even a fish that throws fireballs are considerably more entertaining than the straightforward firearms. Unfortunately, the upgrade system rarely delivers the build experimentation that makes the genre so addictive. Most improvements simply make the existing weapon more powerful through extra damage, penetration, bouncing bullets, critical hits or similar bonuses, meaning runs tend to converge on the same basic approach rather than developing genuinely different builds.
The controls are uncomplicated and work well enough for the deliberately accessible experience, with manual shooting available for those who want a more traditional twin-stick-shooter feel and automatic fire for a closer approximation of the usual survivors formula. That flexibility is welcome, although the underlying combat never develops the intensity that would make manual aiming particularly compelling. Progression is also extremely generous, with upgrades and unlocks arriving so quickly that the sense of long-term development disappears after only a handful of runs. The low difficulty reinforces that problem: once a few useful upgrades and pets have been unlocked, surviving becomes more of a formality than a challenge. For players looking for a relaxed ten-minute blast, that can be a positive, but anyone expecting the escalating pressure and frantic build-crafting associated with the genre may find it rather tame.
Visually, Pets Survivors goes for a colorful, uncomplicated presentation that suits its cute-pets-with-guns concept, while the music and hit feedback help give the action a satisfying arcade-like quality. The individual pets are easily the most charming part of the presentation, with some of their abilities providing amusing little surprises. The problem is that there simply isn’t enough variety elsewhere to keep the experience visually or mechanically fresh. There aren’t very many stages, with the same boss structure and limited enemy variety, while the action itself remains relatively subdued. Pets Survivors is therefore an easy game to pick up, and its low price and short runs make it reasonably approachable, but on PS5 we found it difficult to ignore how little there is beneath the surface. The pets may provide a cute hook, yet the lack of substantial build variety, challenge and content ultimately leaves this particular survivor struggling to distinguish itself from the pack.