What are the best 2D platformers for the PC?

User can upgrade their armor and weapon through earning loot drops from enemies or digging. The earned cash allows one to purchase upgrades that help the player advance in the increasingly difficult game. See More

Top Pro

Competent loot system that allows for purchasing upgrades

Top Con

Enemy design is not always great

Some of the more recurring enemies often have just a pallet swap in order to differentiate them, which comes off as a bit lazy and uninspired. See More

Top Pro

Risk reward system

Players can risk destroying checkpoints for loot, which means if one does die after destroying their checkpoints they will have to start from the beginning of the stage. Basically this is a gambling system that can pay off or cause a crushing blow. See More

Top Pro

Retains an original feel despite clear influences

The art design, music and writing maintain a very original feel to the game despite its obvious influences, which is what helps the game stand out, which makes it enjoyable in its own right. See More

Top Pro

Feels great to play

Shovel Knight has very colorful pixelated graphics, a decent chiptune soundtrack, excellent 8-bit sound effects, and the controls feel really fluid and responsive. So whether you’re just running through a castle, shoveling away at gems in a tunnel, or even jumping on a dragon’s head, Shovel Knight is a blast to play. See More

SpeedRunners is an intense race around a 2d course. The camera follows the player in the lead, so if you get too far behind you will go off the screen and instantly die. To stay in the lead you will need to dodge obstacles, use a grappling hook to move faster and intelligently use power-ups. See More

29 Other Games Considered

SpeedRunners

Top Pro

Fun and intense races

Top Con

Difficult to play without a controller

Using a keyboard to play can be difficult as it is mainly designed around using a controller, so for those without a controller they may be handicapped playing against others that do. See More

Specs

Matches are quick and only take a few minutes to play, so it's a great game to play on your lunch break, or when you just have a few minutes of free time. This also makes for a good game to play with friends that have limited time to play online. See More

Top Pro

Short matches

Top Con

Buggy

Like most Early Access games, bugs are to be expected. The game may crash to desktop and players may fall through the level, hopefully these get fixed before the full release. See More

Top Pro

Fun power-ups

The game includes powerups like homing rockets, freeze rays and magma balls that can quickly change the game and add a level of randomness to each match making for a unique experience every time. See More

Top Pro

Interesting movement mechanics

The game has a freeing walljump mechanic as well as a grappling hook that can be used to swing across obstacles, pull towards ledges, etc. This makes for movements that are intuitive and fun as well as well controlled. See More

Top Pro

Gives everyone a chance to win

The game is balances up in a way where it's naturally harder for the player in front to see upcoming obstacles, giving players behind great opportunities to get back ahead. This makes the game fun to keep playing in a group as you're unlikely to keep losing to the one over-competitive friend that tries too hard. See More

Top Pro

Easy to pick up and play but doesn't get boring

You can get up to speed in just a few minutes as the controls are very simple to learn, but the game still has plenty of depth, as mastering when to use different skills on different levels keeps it fresh. See More

Top Pro

Level designer for extended gameplay

There is an included level designer so users can design their own levels making for endless playtime through inventing and playing ones own levels. See More

Top Pro

4 Player simultaneous, combined local and online

There are 4 slots per game, and each slot can be filled with a local player, a bot, a friend over the internet, or a random internet stranger. See More

While Hollow Knight doesn't necessarily do anything incredibly new, its implementation of the tropes is so pristine and crisp that it blows competitors out of the water. See More

Hollow Knight

Top Pro

Incredibly smooth gameplay

Top Con

Slow first 2 hours

Game feels slow until you acquire an important upgrade. See More

Specs

Genre:Metroidvania, Action

Has a very dedicated Aesthetic that works beautifully. See More

Top Pro

Amazing art and sountrack

Top Con

Choppy on certain hardware

A small percentage of users have issues with choppiness. See More

Top Pro

Has character

The visuals, music and sound effects are both quirky and charming. You may stay for the gameplay, but you come in for the lovable world. See More

Top Con

Map system

To get a map, you must find an NPC first for each area you visit. Map updates whenever you find a bench. You also get sent to your last-visited bench when you die. It does not update in real-time, but the map will update with wherever you have been when you find a bench. This is all assuming you have bought the base map from the NPC in that particular area. See More

Top Pro

Rewarding exploration

The game world is enormous, with a massive amount of secret areas that really reward you for sniffing them out. See More

Top Pro

Tight and fluid movement

Every movement in the game makes you feel like you are in control. See More

Top Pro

Fun, challenging boss fights

With a couple exceptions, the boss fights are challenging in a way that does not feel cheap. If you die, it is because you screwed up and not because the game didn't feel like keeping you alive anymore. See More

Top Pro

Large amount of content

Over 30 hours of gameplay. See More

Top Pro

Difficult

Top Pro

Amazing story and lore

Top Pro

Great combat system

Simple mechanics, challenging and fun. See More

Top Pro

Has free DLC

Two DLCs have been released, adding additional quests for free. See More

Most incredible cinematic sound effects and music. Gameplay is awesome as well. See More

Ori and the Blind Forest: Definitive Edition

Top Pro

Amazing art and atmosphere

FlexibleAnahit's Experience

Top Pro

Dynamic sound effects and music

Search for behind the scenes footage on making this game. See More

Top Pro

Controls are convenient

The keyboard controls are intuitive and just feel right. It can be a little difficult at times but it's a fair kind of difficulty, not the game screwing you over. This is part of the reason why the boss sections are so fun. The upgrade system is nice and there are many secrets to be found. See More

Top Pro

Enjoyable gameplay

The controls are intuitive, the difficulty feels just right, the boss encounters are fun, there's a really nice upgrade system, and there are tons of secrets to be found. As a result, Ori and the Blind Forest is an enjoyable experience. See More

Top Pro

Great soundtrack

Very nicely made music. See More

Top Pro

Great Metroidvania gameplay

The game is short, but it's so difficult that you'll spend hours trying to beat it See More

Cuphead

Top Pro

Challenging

Top Con

Hard as nails

Cuphead mostly consists of multi-phase boss battles that may take you a lot of tries to beat. These involve a fair amount of trial and error, requiring you to gradually and perfectly memorize each boss' patterns, abilities, and timings. This becomes harder because you die in several hits, so even the tiniest mistakes are costly in the long run. It can be really frustrating if you die right before beating a boss since you have to get through the entire fight again. If you're expecting to simply enjoy the old timey visuals and music, you might get severely disappointed. See More

Specs

Cuphead is a very unique visual spectacle in the gaming world, looking exactly like a cartoon from the 1930s. The environments, characters, and even special effects are very detailed, colorful, and drawn entirely by hand on animation paper, complete with a grainy film effect. The end result is pure eye candy that puts most modern cartoons to shame. See More

Top Pro

Really beautiful old-school art style

Top Con

The platforming sections are not as good as the boss battles

As confirmed by the developers, the platforming sections before some boss battles were added late into the development cycle. As a result, they lack the same amount of polish and detail you get to see in the boss battles. See More

Top Pro

Excellent co-op

While it can be overly frustrating when you're playing alone, Cuphead also has local co-op for two players, making your adventure easier but a lot more enjoyable. The boss fights become shorter because together you deal more damage, you don't take needless hits because you can cover more blind spots, and you can even resurrect the other player by touching their ghost if you die. This way you still get the satisfaction of a challenging fight, but it won't be as disappointing if you fail. Even if you're not into challenging games, co-op can be a way to enjoy Cuphead. See More

Navigation isn't quick, and each missed jump can make ascending an area feel like a laborious chore. See More

FEZ

Top Con

Slow gameplay

Top Pro

Mysterious world with lots of depth

FEZ goes beyond just being a great puzzle platformer. It also has a very clever storyline and game world with a mysterious bygone civilization that fits perfectly with the mysterious puzzles of the game. See More

Specs

Phil Fish has had a long rap sheet of being incredibly arrogant and toxic in his behavior, purchasing this game is an implicit endorsement of this kind of behavior. See More

Top Con

Phil Fish made it

Top Pro

Clever 2D rotation game mechanic

The core mechanic of FEZ is the ability to spin the world around in 3D, and then traverse and interact with the resulting terrain in 2D. See More

Top Con

Limited button mapping support on keyboard

FEZ has a couple of preset control schemes to choose from, but the buttons can't have functions assigned individually. See More

Top Pro

Brilliant puzzles

Fez has some deviously hard puzzles and mysteries that will require gathering clues from around the world to solve them. See More

Top Con

Frequent crashes on PC

PC version of the game has stability issues. Luckily, FEZ autosaves often so no much progress is lost when the game crashes. See More

Genre:Action / Indie / Platformer

Broforce

Co-Op:4 Player Online / 4 Player Couch

Controller Support:Full

Infinitely replayable due to randomly generated levels See More

Spelunky

Top Pro

Replayability

Top Con

Difficult to the point of frustration

Spelunky is pretty difficult and some could say abusive, but with practice and a desire for masochism the game can be mastered. See More

Specs

Genre:Platformer / Indie / Roguelike

Co-Op:4 Player Couch

Controller Support:Full

Lots of secrets like the 5th world (hell) and the main boss. See More

Top Pro

Secrets

Top Pro

Addictive

Top Pro

Roguelike origins allow for quick sessions

Being that Spelunky is at its heart a roguelike the gameplay sessions can tend to be quick as the player will die quite often. This makes for something that can be played in quick bursts throughout the day. the convenient saving also lends to this as a game that is still ongoing can be quickly saved in order to be picked up at a later time. See More

Top Pro

Skill based gameplay

Spelunky gives the player everything needed to succeed from the start so it is only when the players skills get better will they advance. See More

Top Pro

Up to 4 player local co-op

Spelunky features 4 player local co-op where players share the same screen, which can get a bit hectic. See More

Top Pro

Expanded gameplay through mods

Ranging from Mega Man to Metroid, there are a tone of great mods for Spelunky all of which make for a new experience in the game which vastly expands the replayability. See More

For what is a pretty simplistic looking game, Thomas Was Alone offers a truly great story that actually gets the player to care about what are basically squares and rectangles. See More

Thomas Was Alone

Top Pro

Great story

Top Con

Some puzzles can be difficult

Here an there are a few really tough puzzles in the game which can be frustrating, luckily they are few and far between as the gameplay does not tend to repeat itself too often. See More

Specs

Genre:Puzzle, Platformer

Haunting guitar strums mixed with beautiful piano chords and bits of chiptune creates a very fitting soundtrack that allows for an experience of polish not often found. See More

Top Pro

Polished ethereal soundtrack

Top Con

Short

The gameplay only lasts about 3 or 4 hours. See More

Top Pro

Enjoyable professional narration

What really drives the well crafted story home is the wonderful narration done by British filmmaker, comedian, writer, actor, and presenter of radio and television, Danny Wallace. Not many indie small budget games receive the polish this game has in their voice acting, which really adds to the experience when playing the game. See More

VVVVVV is a tough game, one that will cause frustration quite easily. Luckily there are unlimited lives in the game, so areas can be played over and over again with no consequences. See More

VVVVVV

Top Con

Difficult

Top Pro

Use gravity to solve puzzles

The main mechanic in the game is that the player can switch the gravity in any level allowing the character to flip from the bottom of the screen to the top. This is used in an ingenious way in order to solve puzzles and avoid hazards throughout each level. See More

Specs

Genre:Puzzle, Platformer, Metroidvania, Action

The basic plot is that you are trying to save your crew members, but really it is just a loose story to tie the levels together as there is really not much there to discover. See More

Top Con

Not much of a story

Top Pro

Throwback to Atari/C64 games while playing like a modern game

VVVVVV is very reminiscent of a game one would find for the Atari or Commodore 64 in that the graphics are simple, but the gameplay is anything but as it plays like nothing one would have found back then. It is fast paced and very precise, also extremely tough. See More

When you die, you spawn quickly to try again. Many games draw out the death, and have to reload. Super Meat Boy immediately re-spawns you so you waste no time. See More

Super Meat Boy

Top Pro

Play through iteration is fast

Top Con

Cut-scenes lack polish

between the games gameplay are cut-scenes that fill the player in on the evolving story, sadly the artwork and polish for these cut-scenes shows quite a bit that this is an indie game made by two people as they are a bit unrefined. See More

Specs

Genre:Platformer

This is not a game you are going to complete in an afternoon. With 240 levels scattered across 7 worlds there is a lot to play in the game. See More

Top Pro

Large number of levels

Top Pro

Unique visual style

As is typical of Ed McMillen's games, it looks like nothing else out there. The art style is 2D based but heavily unique with a vector graphics cartoony look. See More

Top Pro

Forgivingly tight controls

The addition of a "run" button adds a lot of depth to levels, keeping the run-jump-repeat loop more interesting. The characters have acceleration as well, which demands finesse. See More

Sonic Mania has 12 levels, each with unique themes, enemies, and gimmicks. This includes a giant sandstone temple filled with water, presenting the danger of drowning, and even a giant chemical plant filled with jelly that can be used as a trampoline. There are also a multitude of secrets and the collectibles are positioned in a way to help you find them. All of this combined makes exploring each level really enjoyable. See More

Sonic Mania

Top Pro

Excellent level design

Top Con

Can be somewhat difficult to beginners

If you're new to platform games or gaming in general, Sonic Mania can feel fairly tricky. Both the levels and the boss fights require accurate jumps and/or split second timing to beat them, which may take more more than a few tries. This is especially the case in the bonus levels where you have to chase a UFO. Fortunately, you can get used to this game after a few play sessions. See More

Specs

Genre:Platformer, Action

Sonic Mania is all about running, jumping, and rolling through levels while avoiding obstacles, bumping robots, and collecting rings along the way. What's even better is that you can move at great speeds while doing it, allowing you to perform exciting feats. This can be launching yourself high into the air from a ramp, or rolling upwards around a pillar without losing traction. It simply gives you an exhilarating sense of speed that will keep you wanting more. See More

Top Pro

Enjoyable and fast platforming gameplay

Top Pro

Great replay value

While a single playthrough may take you around 5 hours, Sonic Mania has enough content to keep you going for dozens of hours. This is achieved with a combination of addictive gameplay, tons of collectibles, bonus stages, extra modes, and 3 unique characters that make the levels play differently. Even after beating the game multiple times, it stays as fun as the first time. See More

There is a definite sense of melancholy while playing this game which can make for a depressing experience while playing the game, which may reduce the amount of time played. See More

Braid

Top Con

Story is depressing

Top Pro

Wonderfully challenging

On the outset Braid looks like any other platformer but once any time is spent with the game users soon find that the puzzles are deviously difficult forcing users to think outside of the box and even time itself. See More

Specs

Braid is a story about loss and obsessiveness and how those forces drive the hunt for redemption. See More

Top Pro

An ambiguous, yet impactful retelling of a man's downfall and a warning to others

Cave Story offers a pretty deep storyline, more than one would think by just taking a quick glance at the game. There is a reason this game is still so popular after being around for so many years and it's story is it. See More

Secret Maryo Chronicles

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Cave Story+

Top Pro

Great storyline

Top Con

Getting the best ending is almost impossible without a guide

Getting the best ending requires a few highly counter-intuitive if not nonsensical actions to be taken. See More

Specs

After the initial release in 2004, the game has been ported to other platforms and updated along the way by various fans and indie devs. See More

Top Pro

Multiple versions available

Top Pro

Incredibly challenging, with hard mode for veterans

Cave Story is hard and the hard mode even harder, which makes this game great for players looking for a new challenge. See More

Top Pro

Tons of fun and unique weapons

In cave story you have access to tons of upgradable weapons with unique properties for different situations. See More

Top Pro

Great soundtrack

Great soundtrack, superb. See More