Hello! Welcome to the latest Geeky Brummie Games Release Roundup!
This week, a sci-fi double bill, animal detectives and deranged Mii conversations.
After huge success on PC and Switch last year, everyone’s favourite horny Greek myth roguelike is on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. Hades 2, if you need a reminder, is a hack-and-slash roguelike about the princess of the underworld heading out to take down Chronos, who has taken her family prisoner.
Remember when Ubisoft released their grand pirate game and then no one played it because you actually played a ship, not a pirate? Good times. Anyway, Windrose looks more like what any self-respecting pirate fan might like, launching into Steam Early Access this week. It’s a survival crafting game but it also features both on-foot and ship combat, including the ability to board enemy ships. Developed by Kraken Express and published by Pocketpair.
Under Par: Golf Architect (PC) is a game about building golf courses. We’ve had more than enough games where you play golf, now it’s time to manage the course. Design each hole to provide the ultimate challenge to golfers and keep them happy with refreshments and club facilities. Developed by Broken Arms Games.
Speaking of unique management games, Sintopia (PC) lets you manage Hell. Literal souls of the damned underworld. Find the most efficient ways to funnel sinners through the system with maximum profit, all while keeping your imp staff happy. Developed by Piraknights Games and published by Team17.
A Storied Life: Tabitha (PC, Switch 1) is a game about sorting through the possessions of a dead woman. Choose what to keep, what to sell and what to throw away, ultimately deciding how you wish her life story to be remembered. Developed by Lab42 and published by Secret Mode.
Gecko Gods (PC, PS5, Switch 1) is a game where you play as a gecko (standard issue, no tedious quips in Danny John-Jules’ voice) as it climbs its way around the ancient ruins of a lost civilisation. You’re free to explore as you wish, climbing around and island hopping to your heart’s content. Developed by Inresin and published by Super Rare Originals.
Opus: Prism Peak (PC, Switch) is the fourth game in the lesser-known Opus series of visual novels, which are basically semi-interactive Makoto Shinkai movies. The latest game sees you playing as a photographer who helps a girl who’s lost her memories, detailing the journey they go on together. Developed by Sigono and published by Shueisha Games.
So after last week’s Game of the Week was a goofy turn-based RPG about music, Dosa Divas (PC, PS5, Switch, Xbox X/S) is a goofy turn-based RPG about food. With mechs! And the devs clearly noticed because you can buy the two as a bundle on Steam. From Thirsty Suitors devs Outerloop Games and funded with Among Us money (Outersloth), Dosa Divas sees you playing as two chef sisters riding a mech through a land of cooking to bring down a fast-food empire.
In a twist from the usual early 20th century settings of these kinds of stories, Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss (PC, PS5, Xbox X/S) takes us into the future. More specifically, it’s the year 2053 and an undersea laboratory has gone dark, and it’s up to you, an investigator named Noah, to head down there and seek out what went wrong. The title might give you a clue that cosmic horrors might be involved. Developed by Big Bad Wolf and published by Nacon.
Mouse: P.I. For Hire (PC, PS5, Switch 1, Xbox X/S) is an FPS set in a world based on the movies of the 1930s, both the film noir variety and the animated shorts. Playing as a rubberhose style mouse detective voiced by Troy Baker, you must investigate a missing persons case that spirals into something much larger. And naturally there are a lot of big silly guns to arm yourself with. Developed by Fumi Games and published by PlaySide.
Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream (Switch 1) is the latest in Nintendo’s bonkers series about overseeing the lives of Mii characters you create. Build your friends, family and/or assorted pop culture characters and pop them on a island where they hang out. Generally pretty silly.
This is an incredibly busy week, so picking a single Game of the Week was hard. So I won’t, and instead you’re getting two: one an indie, one a big release.
The indie Game of the Week is Replaced (PC, Xbox X/S), a cyberpunk cinematic platformer.
You are an artificial intelligence that has found itself trapped in the body of its creator, Warren Marsh. You travel through an alternate sci-fi version of 80s America, one wrecked by nuclear disaster and run entirely by corporations, searching for answers about your own creation.
This has been in development forever, partly due to logistical issues emerging due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. But it’s also a huge complex story with visuals built from highly detailed pixel art, and those also clearly took a long time to perfect. The team at Sad Cat Studios have thrown a lot into Replaced and it shows.
Meanwhile, the big Game of the Week is Pragmata (PC, PS5, Switch 2, Xbox X/S), a space shooter set on a lunar station overrun by AI.
Set on a research station on the moon, you play as an astronaut named Hugh Williams who has been sent to investigate why it’s gone dark. He gets separated by his team and meets an android child named Diana. When both of them are targeted by the station’s rogue AI, they team up to seek answers and shut down the whole operation. The game sees you playing as both characters, with Hugh fighting and shooting while Diana hacks systems to assist.
Capcom are on a real winning streak right now. This is the third highly acclaimed game they’ve released this year (along with Resident Evil Requiem, which I ALSO made Game of the Week, and Monster Hunter Stories 3) and it’s one that I’ve had my eye on for a while. Mostly because it’s been in development for a while (it was revealed alongside the PS5, six years ago!) but also because it’s a cool sci-fi game that rips into AI. The fact they hand crafted a bunch of terrible “AI” assets is enough to sell me on the vision.
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