Quiver

Quiver is a fast, single-screen archery brawl for two to four players on one keyboard, plus gamepads, with CPU fighters to fill empty slots. Hold shoot, aim in any of eight directions and let go to fire. Arrows stick in walls and floors and you have to go and pull them back out, because each fighter only carries a few. Land on a head to stomp it, wall-jump and wall-slide around the arena, and wrap off one edge of the screen to come back on the other. Time a dodge just right and you snatch an arrow out of the air. Arrows fly in a real arc: a full draw shoots fast and flat, a quick tap lobs it, and an aim preview shows where it will land. Last one standing wins the round, and the first to the target number of rounds takes the match.

Every fighter has a special power on a cooldown that kills help recharge. Pip the ranger fires a three-arrow split shot, Moss lobs bomb arrows, Nova the wizard blinks across the arena, Bolt wraps up in a bubble shield, Kiki freezes enemies with frost arrows, Sable the rogue turns invisible, Mort the necromancer raises a skeleton from the fallen, and Bram the knight raises a shield that turns arrows aside. Treasure chests add bomb, laser and drill arrows, wings, shields and invisibility.

Eight hand-made arenas span a dusk castle, a frozen crystal spire, a lava forge, a rain-soaked neon city and a cosmic crown, lit by torchlight and glowing arrows, with waterfalls, lava falls, crumbling blocks, spikes, moving platforms and falling icicles. The fighting is gory in a pixel-cartoon way: blood spatters run down the walls for the rest of the round, bodies get pinned by arrows, bombs burst fighters into gibs and skulls, and the last kill of every round plays out in slow motion.

The tower climb that started it all is still here too. Run to build speed, jump higher the faster you go, chain multi-floor combos and keep ahead of a spire that climbs faster and faster, solo, as a two-player race or in co-op. Your bests are saved for every mode. Phones get touch controls, with a one-against-CPU battle.