Hello! Welcome to the latest Geeky Brummie Games Release Roundup!
This week, France is cursed.
Digital Eclipse are bringing their remastering expertise to every single Toy Story tie-in game, bringing them all to modern systems. Toy Story: Retro Roundup! (PC, PS5, Switch, Xbox X/S) brings together Toy Story for the SNES, Mega Drive and Game Boy, along with the PlayStation and Game Boy versions of Toy Story 2, Buzz Lightyear of Star Command and Toy Story Racer. They also toss in fellow Pixar tie-in game A Bug’s Life from the same systems. As for Toy Story 3’s tie-in game, that’s getting a simultaneous release as Toy Story 3: Complete Edition for the same systems as above, most likely ported from the PS3/360 versions of the game.
Pixel Washer is basically a 2D Powerwash Simulator. You are a tiny pig with a pressure washer, wandering around a town cleaning everything up. Developed by Valadria and published by Acclaim.
Poly Fighter is a roguelike fighting game where your moveset grows with every opponent you defeat. You learn your opponent’s moves as you go, customising your fighter as you progress, which I feel is a fun way to learn how to play a fighting game. Developed by HeartLoop Games.
Starting off the quick releases with some spooky stuff for spooky season. For more point-and-click experiences, you have a few options. Tenebris Somnia (PC, PS5, Switch 1, Xbox X/S / Saibot Studios, New Blood Interactive) is a survival horror game blending pixel art with FMV footage, clearly inspired by the likes of Clock Tower. Allogloom (PC / Galactic Ghosty, Iceberg Interactive) is a spooky fairy tale point-and-click about a girl named Nora seeking out the truth behind a series of disappearances in her hometown. Burn With Me (PC / Nozomu Games, Inner Pocket) is a deck builder built around spooky rituals.
In first-person spooky stuff, Odd Town (PC / The Flying Baguette, Hyperstrange) is a first-person narrative adventure set in a low poly town where everything feels off and dark secrets lie at the heart of it all. Among the Trolls (PC / Avantgarden, 505 Games) is a narrative adventure game set in the forests of Finland, where trolls supposedly lurk but more likely you’ll learn something about yourself. And Dreadline Express (PC / David Konecny, Shoreline Games) is a card-based horror mystery game set on the last train on Earth, where you solve puzzles to reach the front of the train.
Speaking of mysteries, Dupery: A Game of Solo Deduction (PC / Gilded Rune Games, Yogscast Games) is a noir roguelike where you use your deduction skills to determine which of your suspects committed the crimes your investigating. Elsewhere in the puzzle genre, Colorbound (PC, PlayStation, Switch, Xbox / Panpipe Studio, Whitethorn Games) is a puzzle platformer where you shape the environment using the power of magical paint. And Desolus (PC, PS5, Xbox X/S / Mark J Mayers, The Quantum Astrophysicists Guild) is a first-person puzzle game about using black holes to repair structures across time.
In the simulation(ish) space, Beyond These Stars (PC / Balancing Monkey Games, Hooded Horse) is an intergalactic city builder set on back of a gigantic space whale. And Harvest Moon: Echoes of Teradea (PC, PS5, Switch 2, Xbox X/S / Natsume) is the latest in the zombie version of the beloved farming sim series, as Natsume cling desperately to the name at the expense of original devs Marvelous.
And then for the last rundown of our quick selection, Chained Beasts (PC / Featherweight Games) is a co-op roguelike hack and slash where you and your friends are chained to each other as you’re thrown into gladiatorial combat. Deep Dish Dungeon (PC / Behold Studios, Raw Fury) is a survival dungeon crawler where the goal is to find the best ingredients for your recipes. Rhythm Animal Café (PC / Salt Game Studio) is a Rhythm Heaven inspired game featuring a cast of anthropomorphic characters and their shenanigans in and around the titular café.
The Witch’s Bakery (PC, PS5, Switch 1, Xbox X/S) is a cosy RPG clearly inspired by Kiki’s Delivery Service. You are a young witch who has set up a bakery in Paris, and now you spend your days baking, making friends around Paris and improving your magic skills. Through this you can use your magical baking skills to heal people’s troubles. Developed by Sunny Lab and published by Silver Lining Interactive.
Over the Hill (PC, PS5, Switch 2, Xbox X/S) is a driving game all about classic off-road vehicles. Take your legally distinct Jeeps and Land Rovers out into the wilderness, brave the elements and manoeuvre yourself through tough terrain. Developed by Funselektor Labs, who previously made the excellent Art of Rally.
It’s 1939 and the Nazis are descending on the Antarctic to wake a cosmic horror from the ice for their own ends, and you…are a penguin. Penguin Colony (PC) is an exceptionally loose adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft’s At the Mountains of Madness where you take control of a bunch of curious penguins going about their penguin business, observing these strange new humans who are slowly losing their minds. Probably one of the more original premises for a horror game I’ve ever seen. Developed by Origame Digital and published by Fellow Traveller.
Thank You Bus Driver (PC) is Double Fine’s first post-Microsoft game, proving that being free from corporate influence is allowing them to just play around and put out whatever they feel like. You are a bus driver operating on a strict schedule and a strict set of rules that must be followed, even if they do change every day. Slap misbehaving passengers or throw them off the back of the bus, and then do whatever it takes to get to your destination on time.
Planet Zoo 2 (PC, PS5, Xbox X/S) is the second game in Frontier’s zoo spinoff of their Planet Coaster series. Run your own zoo, make sure all your animals are properly looked after and keep your customers happy. The big additions to this sequel are aquatic and avian species, allowing for even greater variety in your zoo, along with a bunch of fan-requested improvements and tweaks.
Valor Mortis (PC, PS5, Xbox X/S) is a first-person Soulslike from Ghostrunner developers One More Level, switching from first-person parkour to first-person melee combat. You are a Napoleonic soldier, risen from the grave and now packing supernatural powers.
Warhammer 40k: Boltgun 2 (PC, PS5, Xbox X/S) is the sequel to beloved Doom clone Boltgun, and in case you think I’ve somehow fallen through a time portal from the 90s, I use that term very deliberately. Heavily sprite-based, gory as hell and 100% in the realm of classic FPS games, all within the world of Warhammer 40k. This time there’s a Sister of Battle as a playable character, along with returning protagonist Malum Caedo. Developed by Auroch Digital and published by Devolver Digital’s Big Fan Games label.
Game of the Week is Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse (PC, PS5, Switch 1, Xbox X/S), the latest in Konami’s vampire-hunting series, with this latest entry coming from Dead Cells co-developer Evil Empire.
23 years after the events of Castlevania III (and Netflix’s animated adaptation), a new Belmont has emerged to take on Dracula. Rose Belmont, daughter of Trevor, ventures through 1499 Paris as the hordes of hell descend. And now it’s up to Rose to take up the Vampire Killer and take on Dracula once more.
The Castlevania series is generally a good time, and just like Konami have been shipping the Silent Hill series out to external developers to put their own spin on it, they’re doing the same here with Castlevania. A collaboration that emerged out of the Dead Cells Castlevania DLC, Belmont’s Curse brings a lot of the Dead Cells flare (without the roguelike elements, thankfully) and also evokes a little of the brilliant Netflix show along the way. From what I’ve played so far, this is a superb Castlevania experience, with plenty of challenge, some fantastic visuals and, of course, plenty of wall chickens to feast on.
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