Hello! Welcome to the latest Geeky Brummie Games Release Roundup!
This week, cursed islands, cool wuxia action and possibly haunted villages.
Remothered: Red Nun’s Legacy (PC, PS5, Xbox X/S) is the third game in Stormind Games’ Remothered series of horror games. You play as a woman heading to an old convent where a group of children went missing, and wouldn’t you know it, the convent is full of horrors. The Remothered series is a collection of classic style horror games with an Italian twist, and this is no different.
Virtue and a Sledgehammer (PC) is a game about memories, feelings and the nature of humanity, communicated through the medium of smashing things with a sledgehammer. You play a woman returning to her hometown, now taken over by AI clankers masquerading as her old neighbours, and you must tear it all down. Developed by Deconstructeam and Selkie Harbour, and a concept this out there is, of course, published by Devolver Digital.
Village in the Shade (PC, PS5, Switch) got a decent amount of attention back in July when it released for Japanese audiences, and now that excitement has reached the West with the release of its localisation. It’s a farming game set in an old Japanese village, but there are rules that must be followed, such as not going out beyond 11pm, as something sinister lies beneath. There are a lot of indie projects like this one, but since this is coming from Nippon Ichi Software (Disgaea, Rhapsody) there’s a huge amount of polish on display here.
Phantom Blade Zero (PC, PS5) is a rare thing: an Asian action RPG with moody aesthetics that isn’t a Soulslike for once. Instead, this is a wuxia-inspired game about a man named Soul, a powerful assassin for a shadowy organisation called The Order. However, they have now put out a hit on him so now Soul must fight back and uncover why he’s being hunted. This has been getting a lot of attention, not least because it’s a passion project from a fresh studio (S-Game), emerging from director Soulframe Liang’s indie background and love for wuxia cinema and martial arts. It certainly feels a lot less cynical than some other projects I’ve seen coming from China in recent years, and the reviews seem to back this up.
Game of the Week is Curse of Resthaven (PC, PS5), a mystery roguelike about managing a cursed island from Hilltop Studios and Digital Bandidos.
You are in charge of the cursed colony of Resthaven, where your niece has disappeared under mysterious circumstances. Also, an oncoming cataclysm is looming and it’s up to you to figure out how to keep everyone safe. You investigate around the island, interrogate the residents and lead expeditions out into the wilderness as you uncover the mystery.
In my mission to ensure every Game of the Week this month is vaguely spooky (although only one has been an actual horror game), Curse of Resthaven really stood out. It’s got Eldritch horror which made it eligible for my loose definition of spooky, but I’m also just a big fan of supernatural mysteries and this is a big one. I like how it pushes you to repeat the same six days to uncover new information, using your increased knowledge to find out things you couldn’t otherwise. A perfect cap to this spooky month. Happy Halloween, everyone!
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