Hello! Welcome to the latest Geeky Brummie Games Release Roundup!
This week, several trains, heroic mice and AI-driven happiness.
This is a bit of an obscure one, but 70s-style Robot Anime Geppy-X (PC, PlayStation, Xbox) is a re-release of a Japan-only shmup on the PS1, getting not just a remaster but its first international release. Unsurprisingly it’s heavily inspired by early Gundam. You fly around in a mech and shoot the many enemies flying at your face in standard shmup action, complete with anime cutscenes.
It’s a busy week, so let’s get some rapid-fire smaller releases out of the way. Let’s start with horror, represented by Happy’s Humble Burger Cult (PC / Scythe Dev Team, TinyBuild) which has you (and possibly your friends) working in a burger shop under siege by monsters and Desktop Explorer (PC / Recurring Dream, Outersloth), a mysterious fake OS game where terrifying secrets lurk within someone’s computer.
If that’s too much, we have some cosy options. Go-Go Town! (PC, Switch / Prideful Sloth) leaves Early Access and lets you act as mayor to a happy little town, while Puppergeist (PC / Serenity Forge) is a cute little visual novel with playable sections similar to the Rhythm Heaven series.
For puzzle fans, there is What Surrounds Us (PC / Florent Martinais), an abstract environment-shaping puzzler, while Looking for Fael (PC / Swing Swing Submarine, Arte France) is a surreal puzzle game where you’re trapped in a non-Euclidean apartment.
Finally, because it’s impossible to go a week without some kind of roguelike, KAZ (PC / Kalinarm, Hakuro) is a fast-paced reflex-based arcade experience, Ascend to Zero (PC, Xbox X/S / Flyway Games) is Hades with sci-fi anime girls and a time-stopping mechanic, and Solnox: Grimoire of Seasons (PC / ByteRockers Games) is a turn-based deckbuilding roguelike in a dark fantasy world. Really stretching the imagination with that one, huh?
Do you like trains?! Well this is the week for you! There are no less than THREE train-based games releasing this week, all by complete coincidence. First, there’s Rail Estate (PC) from Holonautic, a game about auctioning train routes and beating your rivals to train empire supremacy. Second, there’s Fogpiercer (PC) from Mad Cookies Studio and publisher Hooded Horse, a game that dares to ask what if the movie Snowpiercer had more action sequences where the train blows up cars and also deckbuilder mechanics? And third…well you’ll have to read on to find out the third…
Teeto (PC, PS5, Switch) is a 3D platformer about an experimental blob man named Teeto and his bunny scientist creator Nory who rides around on his back, a la Kazooie. It’s a fairly standard collectathon platformer where you must run around saving little creatures known as Michaels. It’s cute! Developed by Eat Pant Games and published by Super Rare Originals.
Dead Weight (PC) is a tactical RPG about sky pirates where every battle takes place on tiny patches of land where the wrong move sends you plummeting. In amongst your pirate shenanigans though, the ancient gods are awakening whose presence will change the world forever. Developed by Klukva Games.
Cozy Grove: Camp Spirit (PC, Mobile) is the sequel to Cozy Grove, a simple life sim on an island devoid of life, which you gradually solve by crafting, cooking and generally helping out the bears that quietly populate the island over time. The sequel is more of the same as the first game, but it looks like the scope has expanded a little. Hopefully the pacing is a little better than the first. Developed by Spry Fox.
Culdcept Begins (Switch) is a new entry in the niche Culdcept series which originated on the Saturn but had some notable entries on the 3DS. Admittedly, I mainly know about this series because some of its music ended up in Smash Bros, but I do know that it’s an RPG by way of Mario Party and a deckbuilder. Developed by Neos Corporation.
The Mound: Omen of Cthulhu (PC, PS5, Xbox X/S) is a co-op horror game about exploring a cursed jungle. You’re out to find The Mound, underneath which you can presumably find a crevice filled with great treasures. But as the second part of the game’s title suggests, cosmic forces beyond human comprehension threaten your journey deep into the humid valleys. Of course. Developed by ACE Team and published by Nacon.
Celestial Return (PC) is another game in the recent run of RPGs inspired by Disco Elysium, and one that’s getting a lot of positive attention. A surreal cyberpunk mystery where dice rule every decision and cynicism rules. Genuinely intriguing. Developed by Metaphor Games and published by Shoreline Games.
The Mermaid Mask (PC, Switch 2) is a murder mystery point and click from Crow Country and Snipperclips developers SFB Games. A direct sequel to Tangle Tower, this is the third mystery outing for Detective Grimoire along with his assistant Sally as they find themselves on a submarine whose captain has been murdered by someone on board. Use a variety of deduction techniques and diagrams to solve the mystery. This was a serious contender for Game of the Week.
After Evil Trout remade itch.io mystery The Roottrees Are Dead, it’s time for them to repeat that with another one. Type Help was a text-based mystery about identifying people from limited scenes, and now The Incident at Galley House (PC) is the same game, with more visual elements, but the same mystery at its core. You piece together scenes using time stamps and location initials, tracking the cast through every scene as best as you can. I played the original and it’s a solid mystery with a brilliant twist, so I expect great things from this remake. Almost made it Game of the Week, in fact. Second time I’ve said that this week.
Heave Ho 2 (PC, Switch) is a sequel to chaotic multiplayer game Heave Ho, where the goal was to work with your friends to swing and grab your way through a series of levels. This is more of the same, only now you can play with friends online (although couch co-op is still an option) and there are even more weird and wonderful worlds to stumble your way through. Developed by Le Cartel Studio and published by Devolver Digital.
D-Topia (PC, PS5, Switch, Xbox X/S) is a puzzle-driven adventure game set in a world where AI governs the people’s happiness. You travel around the community of D-Topia solving people’s problems and increasing overall happiness. It’s a game that subtly asks if happiness can truly be maintained in this way and raises questions about the role of AI in our emotions. Developed by Marumittu Games and published by Annapurna Interactive.
I can’t do VR. Every time I’ve tried it out I’ve found uncomfortable and not something I’d like to involve myself with for gaming. But one game I’ve always felt sad about missing out on is Moss, an adorable little mousey adventure that seemed right up my alley. Well, now I no longer have to miss out, as Moss: The Forgotten Relic (PC, PS5, Switch, Xbox X/S) is a complete overhaul of both Moss games, stripped out of their VR prison and redesigned with flat screens in mind. A great decision by developers Polyarc, and now I have no excuse not to check it out. And yes, this was a third Game of the Week contender, however…
Game of the Week this week is Denshattack! (PC, PS5, Switch 2, Xbox X/S), the third (and best) of the week’s trio of train games, and the game that blew all the other GotW contenders out of the water for me.
In the far-flung future of Japan, a new sport has emerged in the ravaged wilderness outside high-tech dome cities: Denshattack. This sport involves taking trains across the rails and acting like they’re Sonic the Hedgehog on Tony Hawk’s skateboard. You’ll slam on the accelerator, hop between lines, do kickflips onto single rails, ride a Ferris wheel, wallrun and generally be rad as heck.
I have made it no secret that I adore big goofy action games that embrace 2000s gameplay mechanics and big bold art styles that’ll have your eye out with their thick outlines. I will subject you to the Jet Set Radio soundtrack at some point, Hi-Fi Rush was a Game of the Year runner-up for me a couple of years back and now, Denshattack is bold enough to ask, what if a train could kickflip, and my answer is simply, hell yeah let’s go. It’s a game with an absurd premise that leans into its own silliness at every turn.
Also, the soundtrack is glorious. Not only is it led by Tee Lopes, the man behind Sonic Mania and Shredder’s Revenge’s excellent OSTs, but it somehow has guest compositions from Ryo Nagamatsu (Splatoon), Richard Jacques (Jet Set Radio, Sonic Racing), Takenobu Mitsuyoshi (Daytona USA, Sega Rally), Kohta Takahashi (Ridge Racer, Ace Combat), Harumi Fujita (Mega Man, Final Fight) and Shoji Meguro (Persona). A real all-star lineup, and it shows.
And yes, I already bought it and played like two hours before writing this because I was that excited about it and the reviews are excellent and it’s only 15 of your English pounds. FIFTEEN QUID. Buy it now and start doing flips with a train like me immediately. Developed by Undercoders and published by Fireshine Games.
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