Hello to you and how you be? Dan Ryan here, you… there. Thank you so much for checking in and if you like what you see please comment and share. Friends, I am not the type of gamer who picks up a new game and sinks hours into it from jump. I’m an adult, eww, with a job and responsibilities and kids and chores and all of that bother that comes with yearly rotations around the sun. I’m also not the type of gamer that finishes a ton of, new to me anyway, games each year. I’ve got a massive backlog of titles I’ve started and swore I’d get back to. (sound familiar?) This is the situation many of us find ourselves in and it’s why I was so damn blown away by Minishoot Adventures. I keep a running list each year of the media I consume. Movies, TV shows, games, etc. and on this list I track how long things take me to get through. There’s some deeper reason behind this, tracking what actually brings me joy or humble bragging how about how quickly I can read a book, and I’ve been doing it for years. I bring this up because I was surprised that I started Minishoot Adventures on 04/02/26 and finished it on 04/04/26! According to Steam I played for just about 9 hours and got 28/34 achievements. I cannot stress enough how uncommon that is for me. It was just that good. And it is my sincere hope that anyone reading this that has not picked up this absolute gem does so immediately if not sooner. 

Minishoot Adventures was developed and published by SoulGame Studios, a team of 2! French cousins. According to their Steam page they’ve made 3 games, Minishoot Adventures, Swords and Souls: Neverseen, and Sword and Souls: Legacy Collection. The mission statement from the team, ARGL and KUHL, is to “craft all sorts of games using a method based on sheer passion and the drive to create profoundly honest and joyful experiences, packed with fun, emotions and a hint of nostalgia.” If Minishoot Adventures is anything to go on, they’ve absolutely lived up to that goal. One of my favorite games of all time is Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, a bold statement I know. What’s so brilliant about LTTP is the sense of pace and progression mixed with a great story and rock solid gameplay. What’s so brilliant about Minishoot Adventures is the sense of pace and progression mixed with a great story and rock solid gameplay. Oh, and it’s a twin stick shooter/dungeon crawler/metroivania to boot. (a twisstisducravania? that’ll never catch on) Now, I am not saying that this game is on the same level as LTTP, but I’m not not saying that either. There is a similarity that is undeniable in both titles. I was blown away by how much fun I had while playing, even in the difficult bits. There are a few difficulty levels to choose from, which can be swapped at any time which I love, and the hardest levels put forth quite the challenge. That said, there is a simple joy here that is missing from so many games. But enough with the palaver, on with the review. As with all reviews here on the blog I will be using the wholly original, not copied at all from any defunct gaming magazine, SAG Pod ranking system, which is explained below.

Graphics: 4 This is one of the areas where I was a bit disappointed. It’s not that the graphics are bad, not by a long shot. For me personally though, they just didn’t hit the nostalgic spot I wanted them to. If SoulGame had decided to go with a 16-bit graphic style, this would be an easy 5. As it stands, there is a certain modern educational computer game feel to them that I can’t quite explain but if you know, you know. My kids, who have played a ton of those games instead of doing their actual schoolwork, pointed it out to me and I just couldn’t unsee it. Everything looks nice, animates incredibly well, and the environments never got confusing. There was something different I wanted though.

Sound: 4 The soundtrack for Minishoot Adventures is very well done, if a bit short. I found a YouTube channel with an OST of 43 tracks which seems like a lot at first glance. The only problem is that most of the music, while very good, consists of short loops. You are going to hear the same tracks a lot during your time with this game. They’ve got a retro, synthwave sound that works nicely with the story and world they’ve built. I simply wanted a bit more than what’s here.

Control: 5 As I mentioned above, this is a twin stick shooter for better or worse. I happen to love twin stick shooters so I was right at home as soon as I started playing. There is a smoothness to the overall controls that is really impressive. It feels great to play with every movement feeling intentional. Navigating the world map, especially after a few upgrades, is an absolute joy. Where the controls really shine though is in the combat. Fighting hordes of enemies never gets boring since gliding around and firing in all directions is so satisfying. Even better, there’s an auto-aim feature in the settings that will target the closest enemy so all you have to worry about is staying out of the way of the, on higher difficulties anyway, bullet hell level of projectiles on screen. Speed boosts also feel really good in game, whether through the power up of the adjustable skill tree, and really come in handy during the small races found in some of the dungeons.

Fun Factor: 5 There is so much to do in Minishoot Adventures and never once did I think, “man… this isn’t fun.” Exploring the large and varied overworld, navigating the dungeons and solving puzzles, fighting some very cool bosses, racing other ships, all of it great. I spent 9 hours over 2 days and do not regret a minute. I can easily see this game becoming one of the regular rotation games; those games I play when nothing else seems like a good choice. I can think of no higher praise.

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Minishoot Adventures is available on PC, Mac, console, and as of 05/21/26, mobile. It sells for about $15 and is more than worth that in my opinion. And hey would you look at that, a fabulous controller is right there above this paragraph... weird... Depending on when you read this, a physical release will be available for pre-order through Super Rare Games or will have released and cost a prohibitive amount, probably. If you’re looking for something to hit that sweet spot of nostalgia and adventure, I cannot recommend this enough. But I want to know what you think. Join the Stone Age Gamer discord, or you can find me on Bluesky to let me know your thoughts. In the immortal words of Billy Joel, “Life is a series of hellos and goodbyes; I'm afraid it's time for goodbye again.” See you soon.