Awesomenauts

Awesomenauts is a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) incorporating elements from 2D platformer and fighting games. At the start of a match, a player selects from one of the available characters known as "Awesomenauts". In addition to unique looks and voice-over work, each Awesomenaut has a vastly different set of base attributes such as health, movement speed, and attack strength, and regular and special attack moves.

In the game's primary match mode, two teams of three characters, selected before the match, are pitted against each other, with the goal to destroy the other's team's Solar Collector within the enemy's team base before the others do the same. Both teams have to fight their way through enemy players, automatic drones, and turrets that block the path until destroyed. Some maps contain other obstacles, such as a giant pit monster that consumes anything immediately above it that can be summoned by standing on a button. Upon death, the player may respawn back at their base after a short delay that gets longer as the game progresses.

Awesomenauts was announced for Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network on 19 May 2011 in a press release from publisher DTP Entertainment. The project was supported by the Dutch Game Garden, a studio incubation program. The first playable build of the game was revealed for and played by the attending press at E3 2011. A release date of 2 May 2012 was later announced by developer Ronimo Games on 3 March 2012. The game was ported to Windows and Steam on 1 August 2012, with an OS X version arriving on 7 December 2012, and a Linux version on 29 May 2013.

Ronimo Games announced a PlayStation 4 release, co-developed with Abstraction Games, with improvements and updates from the PC version, as well as DLC, on 14 August 2013, intended for release with the console's launch. The PlayStation 4 version, entitled Awesomenauts Assemble!, was released on 4 March 2014, following a delay to the console's launch window. On 2 June 2014, Ronimo Games announced an Xbox One version of the game, originally slated for Summer 2015 but later delayed to Fall of the same year.

Upon release, Awesomenauts received fairly positive reviews, earning Metacritic scores of 75/100 and 77/100. The PlayStation 4 version of the game, Awesomenauts Assemble!, earned a Metacritic score of 74/100 following its release on 4 March 2014.

Most critics have praised the game's utilization of streamlined elements of the MOBA genre and their accessibility to newcomers, especially those on consoles. GameSpot's Austin Light noted that Awesomenauts "serves as an excellent introduction to the genre for the uninitiated and is a fun spin on familiar tropes for MOBA veterans."