Dead Cells
I buy a lot of games. Most of them I play for 10 minutes just to scope out the competition.
For most games 10 minutes is more than enough.
I bought Dead Cells to other day for just this reason. I heard interesting things about it and thought it warranted a 10 minute "checking out".
I'm not a platform person. I grew up playing PC games and largely skipped the early Nintendo phase including games like Mario and never fully embraced console gaming. I never got good at platforming and hate it to this very day. There is a lot to like about Spelunky, but the platforming has always gotten in the way and I plough my way though to marvel at the design. The same is true of Celeste.
I expected Dead Cells to be more of the same. But I was wrong. I'm having a great time.
I think the key difference is the platforming in Dead Cells is easy. It doesn't seem to be a skill they want you to grow in any meaningful way. The "game" isn't about getting good at complex platformobatics (I just made that word up); it's more about quick combat skills and building your character. That's stuff I like and am good at.
For a pixel game its also very polished and has set a new bar for my game. Well done Dead Cells.
The fluidity of movement is a joy, to the extent where I think I'd happily play a parkour focused variant of that game without any other mechanics.
The demo is more than enough for this.
http://konjak.org/iconoclasts2012alpha2.zip
Alternatively, if it's too hard, there's always YouTube.
It's interesting what kind of drama you can achieve with just pixel art.
I despise Platformer games. Anything that side-scrolls and requires you to jump. Ugh.
Okay, I made my one exception for "The Cave". That's it! You don't get any more. Get back to point and click.
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/313026/Art_Design_Deep_Dive_Using_a_3D_pipeline_for_2D_animation_in_Dead_Cells.php
My favorite platformer is Ori and the blind forest. Love the exploration and the sense of achievement. It is really hard, and you do need to learn a lot of buttons, but the award is fantastic.