Hello! Welcome to the latest Geeky Brummie Games Release Roundup!

This week, spooky mansions, samurai, dragons and princesses!

A surprisingly busy week this week. Two major platforms swap exclusives for funsies, while four relatively large games release at once. It seems like a lot of the indie teams out there anticipated this and simply moved their games elsewhere, as there’s not much beyond the four big titles.

But it’s an interesting week, with Sony, Nintendo, Capcom and THQ Nordic all releasing major titles, but only one of them can be Game of the Week. Which one made it?

New Releases

As part of Microsoft’s push to release their games on everything, Hi-Fi Rush comes to PS5 this week. All you need to know about this one is that it was one of my big three 2023 Games of the Year. It’s an absolute blast, with its bold art style and rhythm-based character action gameplay. As I stated when I made it Game of the Week on its original release, it is exactly My Vibe, and I stand by this. If you’re exclusively a PS5 player and missed out on this the first time around, get it now. (I certainly will once Limited Run sort out the physical version!) Developed by Tango Gameworks (The Evil Within, Ghostwire Tokyo) and published by Bethesda (The Elder Scrolls, Dishonored, Doom).

If Microsoft are handing over an exclusive to Sony, then it’s only fair a former console exclusive for Sony comes to Xbox. Final Fantasy XIV, Square Enix’s monster MMORPG, finally comes to the Series X/S this week, with a starter version even available through Game Pass. Good luck getting through all those expansions at this point though. Dear lord. It’s Final Fantasy, so obviously it’s a Square Enix game.

Two Early Access survival games for you this week, both of which involve alien worlds and machines to shape them to your will. Lightyear Frontier takes the farming approach to survival, as you use your mech to create a homestead on this far-off world. From new Swedish studio Frame Break. Meanwhile, Terratech Worlds is a pure survival game, as you try and battle the hardships of a harsh alien planet. Developed by British studio Payload Studios, who also developed the original Terratech.

After so long being a damsel in distress, it’s nice for Princess Peach to finally get another starring role. Princess Peach: Showtime! (Switch) sees the titular princess of the Mario games travel to a mysterious theatre, where new foes are threatening the shows. Using costume changes to become the central character of each play, Peach fights back as a swordfighter, a ninja, a baker and more! Developed by Japanese studio Good-Feel (Kirby’s Epic Yarn, Yoshi’s Crafted World) and, since it’s Mario-adjacent, published by Nintendo.

Set during a seismic period of political change in Japan’s history, Rise of the Ronin (PS5) sees you playing as a nameless warrior whose journey will have huge implications for the future of the nation. This action RPG sees you travelling across a massive open world version of Japan with a complex fighting system. Developed by Japanese studio Team Ninja (Nioh, Dead or Alive, Ninja Gaiden) and published by Sony (God of War, Horizon, Ghost of Tsushima).

Dragon’s Dogma II (PC, PS5, Xbox X/S) is an action RPG set in a land of dragons, where a chosen Arisen must seek out and destroy the dragon that took their heart. Expect grand adventure, co-op gameplay and a lot of powerful foes. Ian McShane can explain it better than I can. Developed and published by Capcom (Monster Hunter, Street Fighter, Resident Evil).

Game of the Week

This week’s Game of the Week is Alone in the Dark (PC, PS5, Xbox X/S), the reboot/remake of the 1992 survival horror classic.

Alone in the Dark has not had a great time since the early 2000s, and hasn’t been since the disastrous Illumination, a game where you were neither alone nor in the dark. Now it’s back and to correct course, it’s a remake of the original game. And just like its contemporary Resident Evil, it’s switch from a fixed camera exploration game to a more action-focused over-the-shoulder experience.

Emily Hartwood is concerned about her uncle Jeremy, who has gone missing. She travels to his mansion, Derceto Manor, along with private detective Edward Carnby. You play as either Emily or Edward as they traverse the manor, trying to survive its many horrors. It’s effectively the same premise as the 1992 PC game but expanded and reworked into something new.

This has admittedly been getting some mixed reviews, but I am intrigued by this mid-range horror game that is getting some decent user reviews at least. My hopes are for a solid AA game which maybe doesn’t always stick the landing but at least has some charm. Plus with Killing Eve’s Jodie Comer and Stranger Things’ David Harbour as the two lead characters, you can guarantee the performances are good, at least.

Developed by Pieces Interactive (Magicka series) and published by THQ Nordic (Remnant series, Darksiders series)