OUTBUDDIES DX (v2020.07.26)

Thirty-six thousand feet below the Atlantic, a wounded maritime archaeologist wakes amid the drowned ruins of Bahlam with no clear route back to the surface. OUTBUDDIES DX is a dark, pixel-art Metroidvania built around ancient gods, hostile underwater machinery, and the uneasy alliance between Nikolay Bernstein and a supernatural Buddy-unit fused to his body. Its atmosphere balances lonely ruin-crawling with strange flashes of warmth from the Wozan, a race of mining creatures struggling to escape their long history of enslavement. The result feels mysterious and oppressive without losing the adventurous momentum of a classic 2D exploration game.

Nikolay handles the immediate danger with firearms, melee strikes, evasive movement, and an expanding set of upgrades that gradually opens sealed paths through Bahlam’s interlinked regions. His floating Buddy is more than a gimmick: it can scout ahead, activate remote switches, interact with machinery, and help solve environmental puzzles while Nikolay holds off monsters or navigates hazards elsewhere. Combat asks for careful positioning and resource awareness, especially against aggressive enemies and large boss encounters that test newly acquired abilities. The full campaign supports solo play, but local cooperative play lets a second person control the Buddy directly, turning its parallel tasks into active teamwork rather than quick command inputs.

What separates OUTBUDDIES DX from many retro-styled Metroidvanias is its emphasis on two-character problem solving and a dense, lore-driven undersea setting rather than a simple castle or alien planet. The chunky pixel visuals, moody lighting, and ominous soundscape sell Bahlam as a decaying place with secrets tucked behind every locked door, breakable wall, and suspicious machine. Exploration rewards methodical players who enjoy mapping routes, revisiting earlier areas with new tools, and piecing together a larger mystery through the people trapped below. Fans of Axiom Verge, Metroid, and Blasphemous-style atmospheric exploration should feel at home, while its co-op Buddy system gives veterans a genuinely different way to tackle the genre.