Pixel Commando

Pixel Commando is a 2D run-and-gun shooter built in the mould of the arcade games that defined the format. You move right, you shoot what is in front of you, and you learn a level well enough to get through it without losing the run. The settings rotate properly — jungles, snow lands, lava zones and futuristic cities — so the visual language changes as you progress rather than recolouring the same corridor. Coins collected along the way go into upgrading your skills, which is what keeps later levels manageable. Boss battles sit at the end of each stage and unlock the next, so progress is gated on beating something specific rather than on accumulating enough points.