Mercenary Kings

Mercenary Kings is a run-and-gun action game from the Canadian studio Tribute Games, known for its emphasis on pixel-art graphics reminiscent of classic arcade games from the nineties, such as the Metal Slug series. The player heads to an island controlled by a private army called CLAW and, as a mercenary, completes missions focused on shooting, gathering resources, and fighting bosses, returning to base between missions to assemble and upgrade their own weapons from collected parts. Missions can be replayed with different objectives and rising difficulty, giving the game a structure close to action games built around a mission checklist.

The weapon-crafting system is one of the most distinctive things setting the game apart from classic run-and-gun titles - the player combines barrels, magazines, stocks, and other parts to build weapons tailored to a given task, from silent sniper rifles to explosive shotguns. The Wii U version supported co-op play and made use of the GamePad, while the game kept the same graphical stylization and smooth animation as on the other platforms it had already released on, including finely detailed environments and characters.

Mercenary Kings was praised for its carefully animated pixel art, strong music, and the depth of its crafting system, though some players saw the repetitive mission structure as a weakness. On Wii U it arrived somewhat delayed compared to the PC and PlayStation versions, yet it found its audience among genre fans who appreciated the combination of action with gradual arsenal building, which set the game apart from simpler shooters of the same type, and it's still appreciated by today's players looking for honest two-dimensional action with an emphasis on the craftsmanship of weapons and combat, as well as the hand-drawn, detailed animation of every character, weapon, and enemy, which sets the game apart from more simply stylized competitors.

Why play it: Thanks to its carefully animated pixel art and the depth of its crafting system, it's worth the attention of two-dimensional action fans, even if the repetitive mission structure can wear thin over time.