Reference: Found hereTo properly communicate how well UFO 50 builds that fiction, we decided to take a structural swing of our own crafted from the same historical roots. The below review imagines a fictional Digital Trends Magazine, modeled after historic gaming publications like Zzap!64 . It is both a review of all 50 games in the collection, as well as a fictional play about three critics that unfolds through their writing over an eight-year span. If you're just here for a straight recommendation, UFO 50 will give you more value for your buck than any game released in 2024. But if you're willing to get a little experimental with us, read on.]
This year marks the 10-year anniversary of UFO Soft (originally known as LX Systems). The eccentric developer was a staple of the 8-bit era, reaching cult classic status after releasing a barrage of 50 games between 1982 and 1989 on LX home computers. Its wide-ranging catalog represents what we love about video games. The bulk of these games carry an oddball creative spirit. They are not afraid to experiment with new ideas, or iterate on old ones in ways that make them feel brand new. Even its "duds" are at least interesting failures that reach for innovation rather than playing it safe. And all of those games are lovingly crafted with memorable visual and sound design that showcases how expressive 8-bit tech could be.
To celebrate that achievement, we've put together this issue as a comprehensive retrospective on UFO Soft. In these pages, you'll find every single review we published for the studio's games over the years. These works paint a picture of a changing era as the shape-shifting joys of gaming's Wild West days slowly coalesced into repeatable formulas and franchises of rising scale, sometimes to the detriment of even these games.
Our very own Mark Kemp put it best in his landmark review of Mortol 2 : "Games, like lives, are fragile things. Cradle them carefully in your hands as long as you can before they become fading memories."
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