Messhof - Killscreen

Blood Dungeon

Messhof's Blood Dungeon, a platforming autoshooter, arrives Aug. 25

Mark Essen drew it himself again: a weekend Game Maker sketch, animated on a $50 tablet in parked cars, grown over years into a bullet heaven you parkour through.

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Nidhogg 2 is going to eat you alive

Remember Nidhogg (2014)? Before its release there was whispers of it as the 2D fencing game that people just couldn’t stop playing. After its long-awaited arrival it made its way to other platforms, until it seemed to become nearly ubiquitous—its pixels once only glanced at now brash and animated in

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Flappy Bird meets dubstep in Flywrench

Flappy Bird meets dubstep in Flywrench Test your rhythm with Flywrench Time your moves with the beat in Flywrench Spin, flap, and slide your way through the disco madness of Flywrench It’s your turn in the spotlight- just make sure it doesn’t fry you

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Three new games to dig into this week

Sign up to receive each week’s Playlist e-mail here! Also check out our full, interactive Playlist section. ALIEN: ISOLATION (PC, MAC, PS3/PS4, XBOX 360/XBOX ONE) BY CREATIVE ASSEMBLY Ridley Scott’s seminal space slasher Alien and the tension of a survival-horror game are such a perfect pair that it

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Local-multiplayer game Heli Brawl is Matisse meets Messhof

Something about developer 2bam’s depiction of Walter from The Big Lebowski getting his head blown off is distinctly Henri Matisse. The art direction in their game Heli Brawl, alternatively, Helibrawl, has a similar striking color palette and deformed abstract quality. But the other half of it—the fi

Issue 01

Manufacturing Discomfort with Messhof [KS01]

Mark Essen (Messhof) creates games that thrive on discomfort, from the sickening drone of Randy Balma to the merciless difficulty of Flywrench. We explore how his background in art and film, and his preference for controlled randomness, shapes his uniquely unapproachable yet alluring designs.