Subdog - cute underwater collect-em-up for Android & PC

Dogs love bones, that's a well known fact.But what lengths will they go to to retrieve one of their prized treats? Well venturing into the hazard filled depths of the sea is something they will gladly risk if this new indie game from Dark Pixel & Oskey Studios is anything to go by. After a tentacled ocean beastie nabs the titular hero's bone from right under his nose, he dons his underwater apparatus and dives in without a moments hesitation. What follows is a straightforward 2D sidescroller, which plays a lot like the swimming sections in classic platformers such as Super Mario Bros, Donkey Kong Country, or... well, every other 80's and 90's platformer that featured a underwater stage. 

Wizard Wizard - a free indie platformer with hints of Super Meat Boy

Wizard Wizard is a short, but sweet, 2D platform game that apes the masochistic twitch-jumping antics of games like Super Meat Boy. The princess has been kidnapped (surprise, surprise) and it's up to you, the titular Wizard, to rescue her. Each of the single screen stages presents a locked exit door and a key, located somewhere hard to reach. Between you and said key are the usual assortment of saw blades and rotating spikey death things one would expect. Using only the power of jumping and double jumping, you must perform pixel perfect movements in order to nab the key and reach the exit. It's simplistic and very short, yet Wizard Wizard is still worth a playthrough thanks to the not-too-taxing difficulty level, basic yet charming pixel art and music, and the fact that it doesn't take itself at all seriously - owls will make comments such as "Give me $10" or the more stating-the-obvious, "I'm an owl".

Review - Excavatorrr 2 : CWOUN (PC)

Dig your way to a thousand deaths

It would appear that videogames have a long term obsession with underground digging. From the early days of Dig Dug, The Pit and Boulderdash, to more recent offerings like Mr Driller, Spelunky, SteamWorld Dig and Minecraft, it's clear that gamers have a penchant for dirt shifting shenanigans. Now lone indie developer Hempuli is adding to the (dirt) pile, with a sequel to his 2009 mine-em-up, Excavatorrr. That title may have possessed crude visuals that aped the style of the Atari 2600, but it was more addictive than nicotine and sex combined. It slipped under the radar of many gamers - which is a shame as it was (is) absolutely excellent - but hopefully this new sequel will get the attention it deserves.