’80’s and 90’s kids will fondly remember Acclaim for publishing copious amounts of video games from 1990 till 2004 when it filed for bankruptcy. Now in 2025, Acclaim has made a bold return with its inaugural “Play Acclaim” video showcase, unveiling a vibrant lineup of nine new titles that fuse inventive gameplay with nostalgic charm.
“We’re ecstatic to relaunch Acclaim with a lineup that captures our legacy of bold creativity and delivers fresh, unforgettable experiences. These games are just the beginning of our mission to redefine fun for players everywhere,” said Alex Josef, CEO of Acclaim.
Highlights from the lineup include:
- TossDown – Run, jump, and dash through chaos, dodging hazards and enemies as you deliver packages. Fight back with wacky power-ups and chaos from a variety of perks to improve your chances of survival. It’s Crazy Taxi meets Jet Set Radio!
- Ground Zero Hero – Ground Zero Hero is an action-roguelite with light survival elements set in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. Battle mutated freaks, absorb their radioactive guts, mutate yourself to gain new powers… and eat a lot of candy.
- Basketball Classics – A 5 on 5 Pro Basketball game born from the golden era of sports games. This spiritual successor to the 8-bit ballers bridges the gap between retro and today’s simulation games. Side-scrolling, sweaty arcade action with simplified 3-button gameplay and retro vibes galore.
- Pixel Washer – Step into the hooves of Pigxel, a plucky pig armed with a powerful power washer, tasked with cleaning up a messy town. Wielding your trusty washer, you’ll spray your way through a variety of exciting challenges, from hosing down stunning pixel art masterpieces in a filthy museum to transforming a muddy pigsty into a shimmering pixelated paradise and more.
- The Prisoning: Fletcher’s Quest – Step into the mind of Fletcher Howie Jr, a game developer on the brink of physical and emotional burnout during the final stages of an intense project. After a visit to the psychologist that goes horribly wrong, you must escape your perilous mental prison in a Metroidvania drenched in anxiety based on a very true story.
- GRIDBeat! – Step behind the keyboard of a shadowy hacker and move to the beat as you infiltrate virtual dungeons teeming with traps to evade and systems to hack. Featuring more than 50 neon-saturated stages to explore and endless additional content in the form of user-generated stages, GRIDBeat! will put your skills and your rhythm to the test.
- Talaka – A fast-paced, combat-driven roguelite that brings Afro-Brazilian mythology to life in a vivid, hand-painted world unlike anything you’ve seen.
- Hyper Yuki – A high-speed, trick-fueled snowboarding bonanza wrapped in a slick, retro-futurist Y2K aesthetic. Inspired by 90s legends like Cool Boarders and SSX, you’ll shred through eight over-the-top courses packed with chances to pull off jaw-dropping tricks—all set to an electrifying soundtrack featuring YMCK, Trasto NueveVidas, and more.
- Katanaut – An action-roguelite set aboard a massive space station falling into cosmic chaos. With the station slowly spiraling out of control, and its once-human inhabitants twisted into terrors, you’re the unlucky one tasked with uncovering what is going on… assuming you’re able to survive the station’s violent halls with souls-like combat.
Of the nine games announced, Katanaut was the only one that received a surprise release and is available now on Steam. The rest of the titles have yet to announce any release dates.
Yonk is a geek who is fortunate enough to have an equally geeky Star Wars fan for a wife, who owns a LEGO Millennium Falcon encased in a glass coffee table as their home’s centre-piece.
Destro
Kevin Low
Si Jia
