Wycheweald is a rare thing on the ZX Spectrum – an actual Role-Playing Game, with a first-person viewpoint and turn-based combat. It was created by Red Zebra and first released in 2023. And, while it is a little slow to play, it is well presented and quite absorbing. That is: if you like these kinds of esoteric RPGs. Which I do! 🙂
Category Archives: Modern Retro
Pac-Man Arcade, ZX Spectrum
Written by Marco Leal and first released in 2023, Pac-Man Arcade on the ZX Spectrum is about as close as you could possibly get to the original Pac-Man, without using voodoo.
Ghosts ‘N Demons, PC
Written by BonusJZ and first released in 2016, Ghosts ‘N Demons is an amazing homebrew tribute to Capcom‘s Ghouls ‘N Ghosts arcade game. It’s actually an unofficial remake of the original “Makaimura” for the WonderSwan handheld gaming console, which goes some way to explaining the game’s weirdly small screen size.
Sam’s Journey, Commodore 64
Developed by Knights of Bytes and published by Protovision, Sam’s Journey is a super-polished platform game released for the C64 in 2025. It has numerous similarities to Super Mario World on the Super Nintendo, which is no bad thing, and features 27 levels, each with multiple sections.
Homebrew Special
Here’s a celebration of homebrew gaming grabs for you! The word “homebrew” has come to mean “making games at home“, and – in modern times – this has become a hobby/pursuit for many budding coders, game-designers, artists and musicians.
Arcane Dimensions, PC
This groundbreaking Quake mod was first released in 2015 and it has gradually increased in stature since. It’s an amazing achievement, and still incredible to play now. If you like First-Person Shooters and have never tried Arcane Dimensions before then I urge you to give it a try.
Carrion, PC
Carrion is a ‘reverse’ horror game, meaning that it puts you in the position of creating the horror, as a ‘monster’, killing humans. The humans, though, don’t seem like they’re up to much good, so MUST DIE AT YOUR HANDS… Or: your tentacles…
Carrion was developed by Phobia Game Studio and published by Devolver Digital, first releasing in July of 2020.
Castlevania ReVamped, PC
Castlevania ReVamped is a homebrew remake of the original Castlevania, for Windows and Linux, by Lv.4 Games. It was initially released in March of 2024 and was inspired by the developer’s love of the Castlevania series (“it’s something I have wanted to do for many years,” he says, and “it took about four/five months to create“).
The game was made in Game Maker Studio 2 and is based on the first NES Castlevania, and Akumajō Dracula on the X68000 (and the remake in Castlevania Chronicles), and in it you play as the iconic Simon Belmont, with his trusty “Vampire Killer” whip.
Bruce Lee: Return of Fury, Commodore 64
Released in 2019 by Megastyle, Bruce Lee: Return of Fury is another great homebrew fan tribute sequel to Ron J. Fortier and Kelly Day‘s classic action platformer, Bruce Lee.
Bruce Lee II, Commodore 64
I’ve already covered the PC version of Bruno R. Marcos‘ marvellous homebrew sequel, Bruce Lee II, on this site, but unfortunately the game download has been unavailable for some time. I was surprised and delighted, therefore, to discover that Bruce Lee II had been ported to the Commodore 64 by Jonas Hulten, and remains available to download and play to this day (at the time of writing, at least).
