# UFO 50

UFO 50 is a video game collection developed and published by Mossmouth for Windows on September 18, 2024. It features 50 unique games of varying genres and length. The games are a collaborative effort by six developers over the course of several years, similar to a long-form game jam.
UFO 50 was critically acclaimed, and is the highest rated PC-exclusive of 2024 on Metacritic. Critics applauded the amount of variety, experimentation, and consistent quality that the collection provided, although some wished specific entries were expanded as their own separate releases. It won Best Indie Game at the New York Game Awards and received several nominations for the category at various award ceremonies.

## Gameplay

UFO 50 is presented as a compilation of games similar to Action 52, developed by the fictional company UFO Soft for the LX-I, LX-II, and LX-III series of video game consoles between 1982 and 1989. Half of the games feature a two-player mode, either versus or co-op. The main 50 games are playable from the start, with the hidden 51st game, Miasma Tower, accessible via inputting commands in the ingame terminal. Within the game are references to the metagame and a secret storyline about the fictional game development studio UFOSoft. Miasma Tower itself is a game secretly developed by fictional developer Gregory Milk, which details the state of UFO Soft circa July 1989. In-universe, the UFO 50 collection is stated to be developed by Milk and never released officially, with the files found in an abandoned warehouse by the Mossmouth developers, as shown in the faux-cracktro of the game.
The order in which the games are presented is intended to show the history of UFO Soft's development slate, with some games having sequels, and others featuring cameos from previously released games. Each game also features short development notes informing their fictional creation.
The games belong to genres including shoot 'em up, platformer, and role-playing, each with a twist. The games vary in length and scope, with some being described as "shorter, arcade-style experiences", while others "have narratives and expansive worlds to explore", with one (Grimstone) estimated to take upwards of 60 hours to complete fully.
When a game is completed for the first time, its border on the game selection screen will change from blue to gold. A more challenging win condition is also revealed, which grants a cherry border upon completion. Each game additionally includes a unique gift that will appear on the garden screen when certain requirements are met.

### List of games in UFO 50

Director credits explicitly stated when directly sourced.
| # | Name | Genre (as listed in-game) | Versus | Co-op | Fictional year of release | Developed by |
| 1 | Barbuta | Adventure, Platform | — | — | 1982 | Eirik Suhrke |
| 2 | Bug Hunter | Puzzle, Strategy | | — | 1983 | Jon Perry |
| 3 | Ninpek | Arcade, Platform | — | | 1983 | Eirik Suhrke |
| 4 | Paint Chase | Arcade | | — | 1983 | Jon Perry |
| 5 | Magic Garden | Arcade | — | — | 1984 | Derek Yu, Jon Perry, Tyriq Plummer |
| 6 | Mortol | Platform, Puzzle | — | | 1984 | Director: Jon Perry Additional: Paul Hubans |
| 7 | Velgress | Arcade, Platform | — | — | 1984 | Derek Yu |
| 8 | Planet Zoldath | Adventure | — | — | 1984 | Jon Perry |
| 9 | Attactics | Arcade, Strategy | | — | 1984 | Directors: Derek Yu, Jon Perry |
| 10 | Devilition | Puzzle, Strategy | — | — | 1984 | Directors: Derek Yu, Jon Perry |
| 11 | Kick Club | Arcade, Platform | — | | 1984 | Derek Yu |
| 12 | Avianos | Strategy | | — | 1985 | Director: Jon Perry |
| 13 | Mooncat | Platform | — | | 1985 | Director: Eirik Suhrke Additional: Ojiro Fumoto |
| 14 | Bushido Ball | Sport | | | 1985 | Derek Yu, Tyriq Plummer, Jon Perry, Paul Hubans |
| 15 | Block Koala | Puzzle | — | — | 1985 | Derek Yu, Paul Hubans |
| 16 | Camouflage | Puzzle | — | — | 1985 | Jon Perry |
| 17 | Campanella | Arcade | — | — | 1985 | Director: Eirik Suhrke Additional: Ojiro Fumoto |
| 18 | Golfaria | Adventure | — | — | 1985 | Directors: Derek Yu, Tyriq Plummer Additional: Paul Hubans |
| 19 | The Big Bell Race | Sport | — | | 1985 | Director: Eirik Suhrke |
| 20 | Warptank | Adventure, Puzzle | — | — | 1985 | Director: Eirik Suhrke |
| 21 | Waldorf's Journey | Arcade, Platform | | — | 1986 | Jon Perry |
| 22 | Porgy | Adventure, Shooter | — | — | 1986 | Derek Yu, Tyriq Plummer |
| 23 | Onion Delivery | Arcade | — | — | 1986 | Director: Eirik Suhrke Additional: Paul Hubans, Tyriq Plummer |
| 24 | Caramel Caramel | Arcade, Shooter | — | | 1986 | Eirik Suhrke |
| 25 | Party House | Strategy | | — | 1986 | Director: Jon Perry |
| 26 | Hot Foot | Sport | | | 1986 | Jon Perry |
| 27 | Divers | RPG | — | — | 1986 | Eirik Suhrke |
| 28 | Rail Heist | Platform, Strategy | | — | 1987 | Director: Jon Perry Additional: Paul Hubans |
| 29 | Vainger | Adventure, Platform | — | — | 1987 | Derek Yu, Tyriq Plummer |
| 30 | Rock On! Island | Strategy | — | — | 1987 | Derek Yu, Paul Hubans |
| 31 | Pingolf | Sport | | — | 1987 | Eirik Suhrke |
| 32 | Mortol II | Adventure, Platform | — | | 1987 | Director: Derek Yu |
| 33 | Fist Hell | Arcade | — | | 1987 | Director: Derek Yu |
| 34 | Overbold | Arcade, Shooter | | — | 1987 | Jon Perry |
| 35 | Campanella 2 | Adventure | — | — | 1987 | Director: Eirik Suhrke |
| 36 | Hyper Contender | Platform, Sport | | — | 1988 | Jon Perry |
| 37 | Valbrace | Adventure, RPG | — | — | 1988 | Directors: Tyriq Plummer, Derek Yu Additional: Paul Hubans |
| 38 | Rakshasa | Platform | — | — | 1988 | Director: Eirik Suhrke |
| 39 | Star Waspir | Arcade, Shooter | — | — | 1988 | Derek Yu |
| 40 | Grimstone | RPG | — | — | 1988 | Director: Derek Yu Additional: Paul Hubans |
| 41 | Lords of Diskonia | Strategy | | — | 1988 | Jon Perry |
| 42 | Night Manor | Adventure, Puzzle | — | — | 1988 | Director: Paul Hubans Additional: Derek Yu |
| 43 | Elfazar's Hat | Arcade, Shooter | — | | 1988 | Eirik Suhrke |
| 44 | Pilot Quest | Adventure | — | — | 1988 | Director: Derek Yu, Additional: Jon Perry |
| 45 | Mini & Max | Adventure, Platform | — | — | 1989 | Director: Jon Perry Additional: Paul Hubans |
| 46 | Combatants | Strategy | | — | 1989 | Derek Yu |
| 47 | Quibble Race | Strategy, Simulation | | — | 1989 | Derek Yu, Jon Perry |
| 48 | Seaside Drive | Arcade, Shooter | — | | 1989 | Director: Ojiro Fumoto |
| 49 | Campanella 3 | Arcade, Shooter | — | — | 1989 | Director: Eirik Suhrke |
| 50 | Cyber Owls | Platform, Shooter, Strategy | — | — | 1989 | Derek Yu, Paul Hubans, Tyriq Plummer |
| 51 | Miasma Tower | — | — | — | 1989 | ? |

## Development

Derek Yu and Jon Perry had previously made a number of freeware games together using Klik & Play under the name Blackeye Software, with notable titles being Trigger Happy, Diabolika (remade in UFO 50 as Devilition) and Eternal Daughter, their final game in 2002. In 2016, the two decided to work together again on a project, and warmed up by making small prototypes for ideas. These prototypes eventually spiralled into the concept for UFO 50: a large collection of small games. The idea to create a collection came from Yu's belief that these concepts for games, if expanded, would not do well as standalone releases in the current marketplace.
The first game in the collection to start development was Attactics, which was fully developed by Yu and Perry alone as a re-introduction into working together. Soon after, Eirik Suhrke was invited to join as both composer and designer, and the three started to brainstorm games on a private forum, with a majority of these concepts making their way into the final game. The number of games advertised in the collection (50) was chosen by Yu because "it was the first number I could think of that was completely undeniable... that would advertise itself with its own existence." Three additional developers joined at various parts of development: Ojiro Fumoto, known for Downwell, who spent a half-year on the team and directed Seaside Drive; Paul Hubans, known for Madhouse, who was the lead director for Night Manor; and Tyriq Plummer, known for Catacomb Kids, who ended up co-directing several of the collection's largest games, an example being Valbrace. Every member of the team contributed design, writing, artwork, and programming to UFO 50, and worked on anothers' games, sometimes extensively.
UFO 50 was developed in GameMaker. It was first announced in 2017, with an expected launch date of 2018. However, the team severely underestimated how long it would take to finish 50 games. This meant that development times became inflated, and it became a requirement for the team to recode older parts of the game, with Yu describing some of the code as "prehistoric". The simultaneous development of Spelunky 2 also slowed development of the game to a crawl during 2020, with Suhrke and Yu stepping away from the UFO 50 project entirely until Spelunky 2 was released. Furthermore, at least one game was scrapped entirely during development. Because of these reasons, development took six more years, with the game's final release date being September 18, 2024. UFO 50's eight-year development time coincidentally ended up matching the time frame spanning the games' fictional release dates (1982–1989).
All games in the collection impose restrictions which could be found in games released during the era, such as using only 32 colors across each game. Slowdown and sprite flickering were not included, as Yu believed that it would hinder the experience. Some games across the collection reuse sound, assets and code, the most notable example of this being the Campanella series which all make use of the same engine. Suhrke intentionally did not use NES-inspired sounds as typically seen in other indie games, instead choosing to use wavetable synthesis more similar to the TurboGrafx-16 for his soundtrack and sound design. Suhrke is the sole composer of all 51 games and their sound design/effects.

## Marketing and release

UFO 50 was revealed in 2017 on the Mossmouth YouTube channel, and was slated to be released the following year. An early version of UFO 50 was showcased during 2017's Pax West game convention, as well as the following year's Pax West. It was one of the games featured at Summer Game Fest's Day of the Devs livestream, where its final release date was announced to be September 18, 2024.

## Reception

Aggregate scores :
| Aggregator | Score |
| Metacritic | 91/100 |
| OpenCritic | 100% |
Review scores :
| Publication | Score |
| The A.V. Club | Recommended |
| Digital Trends | |
| Edge | 9/10 |
| Eurogamer | |
| GameSpot | 9/10 |
| PC Gamer (US) | 83/100 |
| Polygon | Recommended |
| Shacknews | 8/10 |
| The Guardian | |
UFO 50 received "universal acclaim" according to the review aggregator website Metacritic, with an average score of 91 making it the highest-rated PC exclusive of 2024. 100% of critics recommended the game according to OpenCritic. Many reviewers chose not to give traditional scores due to its nature of being a collection of 50 individual games. DigitalTrends alternatively chose to score all 50 individually in their review.
Most reviewers lauded UFO 50's variety, value, and experimentation. Eurogamer's Christian Donlan extensively praised the experimentation and variation of games in the collection, calling it a "dazzling piece of creative audacity". Simon Parkin of The Guardian described the collection as "a preposterously ambitious undertaking". Edge wrote that when one game "holds your undivided attention for an extended span, it must be something special indeed, and of those, UFO 50 has more than its fair share". The New York Times compared UFO 50 to "an ingeniously retro advent calendar" while Metro's GameCentral specifically praised that the games advertised were "not WarioWare or anything like it", being "50 fully formed games". Polygon's Grayson Morley lauded the metafiction linking the games of the collection chronologically, highlighting the evolution of "brutal" mechanics found in Barbuta to the life-based mechanics found later in Mortol and Mortol II, in addition to the "UFO Soft" narrative.
In contrast, PC Gamer's Kerry Brunskill remarked that they would have rather seen some games in the collection "stand on their own merits" as standalone releases, with others being "a little too retro for their own good". Digital Trends' Giovanni Colantonio praised the game for its experimentation, but admitted there were "a handful of duds in the batch". The A. V. Club's William Hughes recommended the collection, remarking that "there are extremely good games in here, some worth more than the asking price" but "many games in the collection feel torn between their desire to stay retro-hard and being genuinely fun".
Games in UFO 50 that were singled out by multiple reviewers as being exceptional include Mortol, Party House, Rail Heist, Night Manor, and Mini & Max.

### Awards and nominations

| Year | Ceremony | Category | Result |
| 2024 | Golden Joystick Awards | Best Indie Game - Self-Published | Nominated |
| 2024 | Golden Joystick Awards | PC Game of the Year | Nominated |
| 2024 | The Game Awards 2024 | Best Independent Game | Nominated |
| 2025 | New York Game Awards | Big Apple Award for Best Game of the Year | Nominated |
| 2025 | New York Game Awards | Off Broadway Award for Best Indie Game | Won |
| 2025 | 28th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards | Outstanding Achievement in Game Design | Nominated |
| 2025 | 25th Game Developers Choice Awards | Game of the Year | Honorable mention |
| 2025 | 25th Game Developers Choice Awards | Best Design | Honorable mention |
| 2025 | 25th Game Developers Choice Awards | Innovation Award | Pending |
| 2025 | Independent Games Festival | Seumas McNally Grand Prize | Pending |
| 2025 | Independent Games Festival | Excellence in Audio | Honorable mention |
| 2025 | Independent Games Festival | Excellence in Design | Honorable mention |
| 2025 | 21st British Academy Games Awards | Debut Game | Longlisted |
| 2025 | 21st British Academy Games Awards | Family | Longlisted |