GIBZ

I have a soft spot for small games that know exactly what they are, and GIBZ is absolutely one of them. Solo developer Torrunt built a cartoony 2D side-scrolling zombie-basher set in an Edwardian London gone very wrong, where an evil wizard has flooded the streets with the undead, werewolves, crushers, spitters, and a roster of seven bosses that each require actual thought to crack. The pixel art carries an affectionate scrappiness, chunky, expressive, never trying to look like something it isn't. What surprised me was how much structure sits underneath the surface chaos. The loop goes like this: you start from a church safehouse, push outward across an overworld map styled loosely after a classic JRPG field, grind coins off random zombie encounters, spend those coins on perks that boost weapon damage, movement speed, and killstreak bonuses, then take on the boss fights and mini-games scattered across the map. The mini-games are a genuine highlight, Zombie Surfing has you riding undead across the screen, the Gatling Gun Defence mode puts you behind a Maxim-style weapon you have to actively cool down, the Big Horde event throws endless waves at you for hat unlocks, and the Treasure Digging mode hides loot under the ground for you to shovel out. None of these overstay their welcome, and that restraint is quietly admirable in a game this small. Post-launch, a whole Base Defence activity was added: you build fortifications using walls, AI survivors, TNT crates, and mud floors around your camp, ring a bell to invite the horde, then hold on through 100 pre-set waves before things go fully random. That addition alone meaningfully extends the endgame. The co-op side is where GIBZ finds its best self. Up to four players can run the whole game together via local or online co-op, and the community consensus is consistent: play it with someone. The bosses have individual mechanics, the Machete Slinger spawns bats and forces ranged evasion, while a late-game Goliath-class encounter is chaotic enough that coordination genuinely matters. Character customisation, unlockable hats found on zombie heads or earned through challenges, and Supa Weapons discovered in crates or triggered by killstreaks all add small dopamine loops that keep a session ticking. There are 75 achievements and a leaderboard for the Base Defence waves, which gives completionists a proper target. Honestly, the caveats are real. The solo run clocks in around four to five hours based on what players report, and if you charge through with friends that shrinks further. Some players have found the difficulty curve uneven, lower difficulties gate your gold income, which feels like the wrong kind of punishment for less experienced players grinding through boss retry loops. The zombie-surfing sections in particular split opinions sharply; some find them clever, others find the execution tedious enough to walk away. And while early buggy-launch era issues seem largely ironed out through steady updates from the developer, the game is never going to feel polished in the AAA sense. It is a one-person project, and the seams are visible. But that is also part of what makes it worth recommending in the right context. If you have a friend, an hour to spare, and an appetite for cartoony co-op chaos that asks very little of your back pocket, GIBZ delivers something genuinely cheerful and occasionally surprising. It knows when to end, it knows what it is, and Torrunt kept updating it well after launch out of obvious care for the thing. That counts for something.

Kai · Scout Team

Indie & narrative

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