Headlander

Headlander is a comedic metroidvania like no other. You’re a floating head in a retro-futuristic robot dystopia. You can pop off enemy robot's heads so that you can plop yourself and drive the robot. This game is made by Tim Schafer's DoubleFine Productions so it has a lot of great writing in it (the game was pitched for Amnesia Fortnight 2014 by Art Director Lee Petty, so you can see the original pitch).

The design is totally unique. You can fly around freely as a head, but all bodies are totally grounded (if not immobile). So it's sort of a platformer, but there's flying, walking, and no jumping?

The controls are kind of insane because there's a lot of mouse aiming and for a side-scroller that leads to a pretty janky feel for combat. You're often better off going in guns blazing than using cover and such. It only gets more absurdly chaotic as the game goes. You can pop off your head and fight that way, but it's generally dangerous if there's too many enemies as you have no body-health to protect you.

The metroidvania elements are lots of fun. The game gets considerably more complicated as you go along, requiring more roundabout navigation and understanding of what you're doing. There's a good deal of powerups that help you out in various capacities, but the puzzles and locks are usually solved by getting different bodies.

They manage to do a lot with the body mechanics, but I do feel like they never let you stray offtrack. I feel like they could have pushed the envelope considerably more on the different bodies, or make them more fun to control.

The art style is this 70s retro-futuristic silliness with laser light shows and goofy robots. It's great to look at. The story and dialogue are filled with sophomoric humor all over the place. It's akin to Conker's Bad Fur Day. Truly there's nothing like having a door saying "You are red so I will spread." Or swapping your haircut to change your gender. Or putting your head on a robot dog. You never know what's next.

Headlander is an utter delight. The combat is truly weird, but the exploration and bizarre style more than makes up for it. The humor isn't for everyone, but you rarely see a game lean this heavily into it. If you liked Conker's Bad Fur Day and also liked Ori and the Blind Forest, you should check out Headlander.