Pray for Death

With a title like Pray for Death, you know you’re not signing up for a cheerful platformer. This is a fighting game with a gothic, heavy-metal aesthetic that screams 1996. It’s less polished than Mortal Kombat and less technical than Street Fighter, but it oozes attitude. Each character feels like they crawled out of a comic book designed by someone who really, really liked skulls. The controls can be stiff, but pulling off a special move feels rewarding, if only because it’s proof the game finally listened to your frantic button mashing. A flawed but memorable brawler with plenty of edge.