CrocoMars

CrocoMars, is a bizarre, retro-style top-down arcade shooter that pairs simple gameplay mechanics with an unapologetically arthouse narrative premise. Step into the scales of a reptilian space pioneer on a mission to conquer Mars, navigating through low-poly, pixelated battlefields populated by flying octopuses, talking stones, and hallucinatory mushrooms. The game’s primary draw is its eccentric tone and raw, old-school challenge. Operating on a permadeath structure with no mid-run save system, the gameplay forces you to rely purely on movement mechanics, aim precision, and quick positioning to survive relentless enemy swarms. Combined with colorful retro pixel art and an absurd storyline driven by themes of alien betrayal and cosmic absurdity, it offers a distinct visual and thematic personality that sets it apart from standard indie shooters. However, the experience is hindered by its deliberate design rigidity and bare-bones progression. The difficulty curve relies heavily on trial-and-error frustation, where a single mistake resets your entire run back to the beginning. Furthermore, the shooting mechanics lack mechanical depth or build variety, making repeated playthroughs f…

CrocoMars is a compact and deliberately eccentric top-down shooter that embraces absurdity almost immediately. Instead of presenting Mars as a serious frontier filled with scientific discoveries and realistic colonization challenges, the game transforms the planet into the setting for an unusual adventure involving reptilians, bizarre creatures, betrayal, mushrooms, and plenty of intentionally nonsensical humor. Developed and published by Anatoliy Loginovskikh, it is clearly a small-scale independent project, but its unusual personality helps it stand apart from many similarly modest arcade games. The premise puts the player in control of a Reptiloid sent to participate in the capture and colonization of Mars. That sounds like the foundation for a straightforward science-fiction action game, but CrocoMars quickly abandons conventional expectations. Captain Deer, a Flying Octopus, mysterious mushrooms, talking stones, and other strange ideas become part of an adventure that frequently feels more like a surreal comedy than a traditional story. Betrayal also plays a role in the protagonist's journey, although the narrative is intentionally more interested in absurd situations than de…

Short cute (roguelike I think) game hard to beat heads up this game holds no punches! Couple powerups that I have no clue what all of them do because each run gives you a different one. Heads up English mode is not activated at first it's on the main menu once you first die and it will be bottom corner.

The game looks soooo fun but... I'm french, I use ZQSD, not WASD so it's very difficult for me to play. Any hope to add a setting to be able to switch to WASD please ?

CrocoMars is a very strange little top down shooter, and I think the weirdness is probably the main reason I remember it. I am playing as a reptilian trying to colonise Mars, while dealing with enemies, betrayal and a completely ridiculous collection of things that apparently exist on the planet. The game does not try to make its setting realistic at all. There are flying octopuses, talking stones, mushrooms and Captain Deer, and the whole thing feels more like a bizarre piece of pixel art than a serious science fiction story. The actual shooting is simple, but it works for what the game is trying to do. I move around the environments from a top down view and fight my way through the Martian areas while trying to survive. The game describes itself as hardcore, and there is an important catch that I have to accept from the beginning. There is no normal saving system, so if I die, I have to start again. I actually like that idea for a short arcade style game because it gives the combat some tension, although it can also make mistakes feel much more annoying than they would in a normal shooter. The presentation is probably the strongest part for me. The pixel graphics are very simpl…

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