UFO 50 is a video game collection developed and published by Mossmouth. It was released for Windows in September 2024 and for Nintendo Switch in August 2025. This collection features 50 single and multiplayer games from the creators of Spelunky, Downwell, and Catacomb Kids.
After approximately eight years of development and numerous delays, a team of veteran game developers achieved something remarkable: they created fifty high-quality retro games. The goal was to combine a familiar 8-bit aesthetic with new ideas and modern game design.
The collection was critically acclaimed, becoming the highest-rated PC-exclusive of 2024 on Metacritic. Reviewers lauded the variety, experimentation, and consistent quality of the collection. However, some wished that specific entries had been expanded into standalone releases.
UFO 50 is presented as a compilation of games developed by the fictional company UFO Soft for the fictional LX-I, LX-II, and LX-III series of video game consoles between 1982 and 1989. Half of the games feature a two-player mode, either versus or co-op. The main 50 games are playable from the start, with a hidden 51st game, Miasma Tower, accessible via inputting commands in the in-game terminal.
Each game belongs to various genres, including shoot 'em ups, platformers, and role-playing games, each with a unique twist. When a game is completed for the first time, its border on the game selection screen changes from blue to gold. A more challenging win condition is also revealed, which grants a red border upon completion.
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Within the game are references to the metagame and a secret storyline about the fictional game development studio UFOSoft. Miasma Tower itself is a game secretly developed by fictional developer Gregory Milk, which details the state of UFO Soft circa July 1989.
Every game in the collection imposes restrictions that could be found in games released during the era. These include using only a 32-color palette across each game, having a limited number of colors per sprite, and having a set number of sound channels. Slowdown and sprite flickering, however, were not included.
A number of games across the collection reuse sound, assets, and code. For instance, some of the Campanella games are stated to have been made in the same engine. Suhrke intentionally chose not to use NES-inspired sounds typically featured in other retro-inspired indie games, instead opting to use wavetable synthesis more similar to the TurboGrafx-16.
Here's a detailed look at some of the games you'll find in UFO 50:
Mini-Reviews of Select UFO 50 Games
Here are mini-reviews of a selection of games from UFO 50. These reviews offer a quick overview to help you decide which games to prioritize.
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Barbuta
- What it is: An old-school, slow-paced sidescrolling platformer.
- How it plays: Players walk around a dreary castle in search of coins and secrets, while avoiding traps and monsters.
- Review: Commits to being an ultra-retro game. Your movement speed is very slow, platforming is awkward since you don't have any control in the air, combat has zero feedback, and you're given NO guidance whatsoever. You don't get any direction for where to go or what you're supposed to be doing. There's no music and barely any sound effects save for some beeps and boops.
Bug Hunter
- What it is: A turn-based grid-set strategy game.
- How it plays: You need to defeat alien bugs as fast as possible before they evolve and take over the planet!
- Review: The game starts by giving you a few abilities to move and shoot. Each move can only be used once per turn, but collecting enough energy allows you to buy a new move to replace another one and make it immediately ready to use. If bugs are alive at the end of the turn, they will evolve and become more difficult to deal with.
Ninpek
- What it is: An autoscrolling 2D platformer.
- How it plays: Hurl shurikens at enemies while dodging various obstacles in order to survive.
- Review: Your character moves with the camera, meaning that you're always being pushed to the right and need to be careful not to run into enemies and projectiles. On the other hand, dying lets you respawn as an invulnerable ghost that can shoot projectiles for a few seconds.
Paint Chase
- What it is: Arcade game; control a blue race car that travels along a grid-based map coloring tiles it passes.
- How it plays: Drive your race car around a track, painting the ground under you as the opposing team does the same.
- Review: Great fun against AI, and also a bonafide party hit with friends. What’s not to love?
Magic Garden
- What it is: Arcade game set on a large checkerboard grid that blends elements of Snake and Pac-Man.
- How it plays: Collect cute critters (“oppies), then drop them off on starred squares for points. Avoid the blue enemies, unless you get a magic potion, which lets you clear them for instant points.
- Review: A fun, if simple, take on a classic. There’s a surprising amount of detail, from the ways enemies’ eyeballs telegraph their movements, to the clever use of a cat within the UI.
Mortol
- What it is: Puzzle platformer; control units that deploy to the stage with only one life each.
- How it plays: Use these lives to perform sacrificial rituals that attack enemies and create new paths.
- Review: Your lives carry on for the rest of the game. If you finish level 1 with only 12 lives, you'll continue on level 2 with only those lives! That means you have to really play smart and try to use each sacrifice as efficiently as possible to make later levels easier. Luckily, you can return to an older level to try and optimize it at any time.
Velgress
- What it is: Action platformer.
- How it plays: Fight your way up a randomly-generated vertical pit fighting off enemies, shooting blocks, and collecting coins to buy power-ups.
- Review: What makes Velgress great is how quick and painless death is. You could die in only a few seconds into your run, and the game lets you instantly restart. It helps with the addictive "just one more try" nature of the game.
Planet Zoldath
- What it is: Shortform adventure game with randomly-generated elements.
- How it plays: Navigate an alien overworld in search of the three map pieces needed to get your ship home. As you explore, you’ll find tools needed to solve puzzles, do battle with hostile lifeforms, and even barter with locals.
- Review: Everything, from the scarcity of certain resources to the hostility of different alien races, is randomized between rounds, meaning every quest to return home is wholly unique.
Attactics
- What it is: 1v1 strategy game.
- How it plays: Move troops laterally (or backward) across your side of a battlefield. Every few seconds, troops on both sides of the battlefield advance. First player to break the enemy’s fortress wins.
- Review: An awesome riff on old-school tactics games. The countdown nature of the turns keep the action breezy, while the constant introduction of new troops adds plenty of strategic layers, ensuring the campaign never gets stale.
Devilition
- What it is: Grid-based puzzle-strategy game.
- How it plays: You need to lay down units all over the board and ignite only one unit to cause a chain reaction and blow up all the demons.
- Review: Trades the sheer efficiency of falling block puzzlers for a variety of mechanics to explore, and keeps a healthy amount of depth in the process.
Kick Club
- What it is: Platforming arcade game.
- How it plays: Kick a soccer ball around an enclosed arena, eliminating enemies from other spots (tennis, track, etc.) before the...
- Review: There's nothing particularly wrong with Kick Club, but it just doesn't stand out. The concept is simple and never really evolves.
Campanella
- What it is: A cute-looking game about an UFO that’s anything but cute to play.
- How it plays: Gingerly move your spaceship around obstacles as you aim to complete 50 levels.
- Review: Gameplay wise, however, it’s an exercise in patience. The game expects pinpoint precision, which tends to frustrate more than it thrills.
Waldorf’s Journey
- What it is: Platforming game set in Waldorf the walrus's dream.
- How it plays: Fling Waldorf the walrus across a Mario-esque level filled with floating platforms, pits, and power-ups. Eat fish to give your flippers the power to fly-briefly. The goal is to make it to the end of the level without falling (and waking up from your slumber).
- Review: After about 25 minutes, I’d cracked it-and discovered quite a memorable ending. Much like Waldorf’s dream, this one is enjoyable, if fleeting.
Onion Delivery
- What it is: Top-down, city-set arcade driving game where the player navigates a delivery car around a sprawling, looped map to reach target locations.
- How it plays: Drive your car around, delivering onions to the denizens of your alien planet.
- Review: A “been there, done that” concept made worse by terrible controls.
Rock On! Island
- What it is: Tower defense game.
- How it plays: Place stationary cavemen armed with various weapons (bows, rocks, etc.) along a winding path. Defend your village against waves of dinos, and slowly upgrade your troops between rounds.
- Review: Isn’t the most innovative of games, but the gameplay is crunchy and satisfying. To keep things interesting, you can walk around and fight dinos too.
Star Waspir
- What it is: Vertically-scrolling shmup.
- How it plays: Choose one of three pilots, then frantically blast alien ships and stack power-ups to survive increasingly difficult waves of enemies.
- Review: Fun! Also, hard! You only get two ships to start, and enemy bullets litter the screen.
Grimstone
- What it is: Large-scale classic RPG adventure.
- How it plays: Rescue your party from the flames of a saloon fire, then embark on an epic quest to save yourselves from hell.
- Review: Though it doesn’t reinvent the wheel as far as RPGs go, it’s still incredible to me that we can see a game of such breadth and depth be included in an already massive collection.
Mini & Max
- What it is: Large-scale platforming adventure game with the main mechanic of changing size to access different areas.
- How it plays: Shrink down to the size of an ant, and explore your storage closet. While miniature, you’ll encounter bug NPCs, collect currency, buy tools, and navigate treacherous obstacles. Revert to normal size to travel faster and access difficult-to-reach heights.
- Review: An interesting concept, bogged down by finicky platforming and poor hit detection.
Night Manor
- What it is: Point-and-click horror game.
- How it plays: Navigate the rooms of a dreary mansion in search of tools to aid your escape. Just make sure you don’t fall prey to a terrifying monster…
- Review: A short but savory point-and-click. Not a big fan of the controls (UFO 50 is exclusively a keyboard affair, meaning no mouse!), and escaping the monster became a chore after a while. Still, there’s plenty of charm to be found here.
Attactics
- What it is: 1v1 strategy game.
- How it plays: Two armies face each other on a grid-board, with units that automatically advance forward.
- Review: An awesome riff on old-school tactics games. The countdown nature of the turns keep the action breezy, while the constant introduction of new troops adds plenty of strategic layers, ensuring the campaign never gets stale. Add in multiplayer, and this is a no-brainer recommendation.
Bushido Ball
- What it is: One on one sports game similar to air hockey, but with samurai and a ball.
- How it plays: Run around your side of the field to drive a ball past your opponent.
- Review: A simple concept with tons of hidden depth. Each character has its own power, speed, and special abilities. Great candidate for some friendly brackets.
Here is a list of all 50 games included in UFO 50:
| # | Game Title | Genre |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Barbuta | Old-school platformer |
| 2 | Bug Hunter | Turn-based strategy |
| 3 | Ninpek | Autoscrolling platformer |
| 4 | Paint Chase | Arcade |
| 5 | Magic Garden | Arcade |
| 6 | Mortol | Puzzle platformer |
| 7 | Velgress | Action platformer |
| 8 | Planet Zoldath | Adventure game |
| 9 | Attactics | Strategy game |
| 10 | Devilition | Puzzle-strategy |
| 11 | Kick Club | Platforming arcade |
| 12 | Avianos | Turn-based strategy |
| 13 | Mooncat | Platformer |
| 14 | Bushido Ball | Sports game |
| 15 | Block Koala | Block-pushing puzzle |
| 16 | Camouflage | Puzzle game |
| 17 | Campanella | Arcade game |
| 18 | Golfaria | Adventure game |
| 19 | The Big Bell Race | Racing game |
| 20 | Warptank | Action-puzzle game |
| 21 | Waldorf’s Journey | Platforming game |
| 22 | Porgy | Underwater exploration |
| 23 | Onion Delivery | Arcade driving |
| 24 | Caramel Caramel | Horizontal-scrolling shmup |
| 25 | Party House | Deckbuilding strategy |
| 26 | Hot Foot | Sports game |
| 27 | Divers | Exploration RPG |
| 28 | Rail Heist | Strategy/puzzle platformer |
| 29 | Vainger | Metroidvania |
| 30 | Rock On! Island | Tower defense |
| 31 | Pingolf | Sidescrolling golf |
| 32 | Mortol II | Action-adventure |
| 33 | Fist Hell | Side-scrolling beat 'em up |
| 34 | Overbold | Top-down arena shooting |
| 35 | Campanella 2 | Roguelike exploration |
| 36 | Hyper Contender | 1-on-1 platform fighting |
| 37 | Valbrace | Dungeon-crawling RPG |
| 38 | Rakshasa | Platformer |
| 39 | Star Waspir | Vertically-scrolling shmup |
| 40 | Grimstone | RPG adventure |
| 41 | Lords of Diskonia | Turn-based strategy |
| 42 | Night Manor | Point-and-click horror |
| 43 | Elfazar’s Hat | Arcade shooter |
| 44 | Pilot Quest | Idle game/exploration |
| 45 | Mini & Max | Platforming adventure |
| 46 | Combatants | Strategy game |
| 47 | Quibble Race | Betting simulation |
| 48 | Seaside Drive | Horizontally-scrolling shmup |
| 49 | Campanella 3 | 3D-Scrolling shooter |
| 50 | Cyber Owls | Multi-genre |
UFO 50 offers a vast and varied collection of games, blending retro aesthetics with modern game design. Whether you're a fan of platformers, strategy games, or RPGs, there's something in this collection for everyone. Dive in and explore the many worlds of UFO 50!
UFO 50 Developer Interview – GDC 2025 Game Insights & News #UFO50 #GDC2025
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