Indie Darling Bundle Vol. 2

Genre: Compilation / Puzzle / Metroidvania / 2-Stick Shooter / Action-Platformer

Players: 1-2 Co-Op (Local)

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Review:

Indie Darling Bundle Vol. 2 is a collection of three games from publisher Digerati. I have reviewed these games separately.

I should note that Bleed 2 is also available in the Bleed Complete Bundle along with Bleed. It is also in The Pew Pew Bundle Vol. 1 along with Black Paradox and XenoRaptor. Slayaway Camp: Butcher’s Cut is also included in the Indie Puzzle Bundle Vol. 1, along with Glass Masquerade, Letter Quest Remastered, and Pipe Push Paradise. It is also in the Blood and Guts Bundle along with Slain: Back From Hell and Super Blood Hockey.

Here were my thoughts on each of the games in this collection:

Game	Genre	# of Players	Grade
Bleed 2	Action-Platformer / 2-Stick Shooter	1-2 Co-Op (Local)	B+
tl;dr Bleed 2 is an Action-Platformer and 2-Stick Shooter with a simple, cartoony presentation and a silly story about a girl fending off an invasion. This game improves on the first one in almost every way, with even better action, better visuals, a great soundtrack, and the same wonderful variety, great level design, and excellent co-op. However, where it doesn’t improve on the first game is value – the main campaign can still be finished in an hour or so, and the extra game modes don’t stretch things out much more than that. For $20, I simply cannot recommend this game, but definitely get it if you see it on sale.
Slayaway Camp: Butcher’s Cut	Puzzle	1	C
tl;dr Slayaway Camp: Butcher’s Cut is a sliding block puzzle game disguised as a slasher film tribute, and although it gets repetitive before long, it’s still likely to make fans of slasher films crack a smile.
The Aquatic Adventure of the Last Human	Metroidvania / 2-Stick Shooter	1	C+
tl;dr The Aquatic Adventure of the Last Human is a Metroidvania with 2-Stick Shooter gameplay where players command a submarine searching the ruins of humanity to see what went wrong. This game absolutely nails the atmosphere, but the challenge level on the bosses is so steep that most players will probably lost interest after dying a dozen times or so.

With this bundle, you’re saving about $8 over the cost of getting each of these games separately if you’re getting them at their normal price. That’d be a pretty good savings, except that, as I pointed out in my review of Bleed 2, that game is horribly overpriced given how short it is.

What has me even more conflicted is that Bleed 2 is the best game in this bundle. During its brief play time, it is an absolute blast. The other two games here are decent, but Bleed 2 is definitely the star here.

That’s also problematic because Bleed 2 is already in another bundle, the Bleed Complete Bundle. On the same note, Slayaway Camp is also in another bundle, the Indie Puzzle Bundle Vol. 1, leaving The Aquatic Adventure of the Last Human the odd one out.

As such, despite the savings over getting these games separately, it’s hard for me to really say that this bundle is a good value, and when it comes to the quality of the games themselves, I think Bleed 2 is really the only stand-out game in this grouping.

Because of this, despite that none of the games in Indie Darling Bundle 2 is bad, it’s hard for me to really recommend it. I suppose if you’re specifically interested in these specific games, it may be worth your while, especially if you can find the bundle on sale. However, for most I’d say to just get the Bleed Complete Bundle when it goes on sale to get the best game in the pack, and skip the others.

tl;dr – Indie Darling Bundle Vol. 2 is a collection of three games by publisher Digerati, ranging from average to pretty good. However, two of the three games can already be found in other bundles, and only one game here, Bleed 2, is truly stand-out. Unless you’re looking to complete a collection or specifically interested in these games, you’re probably better off skipping this collection.

Grade: C

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