Hello! Welcome to the latest Geeky Brummie Games Release Roundup!
This week, mysteries, space marines and plastic dolls.
Barbie Rewind (PC, PlayStation, Switch, Xbox) brings together seventeen games from the 90s and 2000s starring everyone’s favourite doll: Barbie. These games include Barbie for the NES, four Game Boy games, Barbie Super Model for Mega Drive and SNES, four PlayStation games, six GBA games and one previously unreleased game, Barbie Vacation Adventure (originally intended for SMD/SNES). The collection is also built around a Dream House that you can fully customise using items obtained by playing the games. Perhaps unsurprisingly, I have absolutely no nostalgia for any of this, but I’ve definitely seen plenty of women losing their minds over this, and good for them.
Dreadmoor is a first-person fishing game where you build your little boat and head out into the seas to catch your latest haul. Also the waters are full of horrors so you’ll also need to figure out how to survive not being eaten or mauled. Have a nice time! Developed by Dream Dock and published by Digital Vortex Entertainment.
After the Wane (PC) is an artsy game about a dancer who wants her place in the limelight. Through a lovingly hand-drawn narrative, the game asks you to make choices about Lena’s future as she navigates the cutthroat world of the stage. Developed by Nova-box.
Castlebound (PC, Switch) is an action platformer roguelike where you have to defend a moving castle. Features a cardboard cutout aesthetic similar to the Paper Mario series. Developed by Ogre Pixel.
Monomoon (PC) is a Metroidvania about a lil guy exploring the world using a tiny moon as his guide. This is a game about discovery, uncovering secrets through exploration and puzzle-solving. Developed by Gentle Giant.
Wall World Strategy (PC) is a colony builder set on a vast wall. Expand the colony outwards and upwards, utilising and accommodating for the vertical angle as much as you can. Developed by Alawar.
Hillthorn (PC, Switch 1) is a deduction game based around using cards to find a missing child. You’re tasked with investigating an isolated mountain town where the residents aren’t quick to volunteer information, so dialogue is limited and you have to rely on whatever other clues you can. Developed by Fool Moon & Finnegan Motors and published by Raw Fury.
Hope in the City (PC, Xbox X/S) is a mystery game set in Shenyang, China, as 17-year-old student Hope Song comes home to find her apartment ransacked and her parents missing. Now using her drawing skills, you must find clues that will lead you to uncover the truth. Developed by Lofty Sky Entertainment.
John Gleep (PC) is an utterly weird game about an alien who owes debts to the space mob. And the only way to clear those debts is to manage his casino, abducting humans to bring in the cash. Developed by Monthbug and published by Offbrand Games.
Springs Eternal (PC) is the latest game from the remnants of Fullbright (Gone Home, Tacoma), and it follows in the tradition of their games. You wander around Stillwater Springs, a cosy hot spring up in the mountains where you meet a cast of interesting characters. As you progress you learn why this place seems to attract so many lost souls, including you.
Moomin: Midsummer Madness (PC, Switch 1) is a game based directly on Tove Jansson’s novel Moominsummer Madness from 1954, retelling the story while adding new scenes and puzzles to solve. It’s the second Moomin game this year, although it does bother me that this midsummer themed one is releasing in November while Winter’s Warmth released in April. That feels like the wrong way round. Developed by Crossbridge Game Studios and published by Shochiku.
Tanuki: Pon’s Summer (PC, PS5, Switch, Xbox X/S) is an adorable game about a tanuki postal worker on a mission to restore the town shrine before the end of summer. You bike around town delivering packages and doing sweet BMX tricks while occasionally getting distracted by mini-games. Developed by Denkiworks and published by…horror publisher Critical Reflex? Huh.
Pico Park was a co-op indie puzzle game where you and your friends attempted to collect keys while dealing with an ever-changing assortment of gimmicks. And someone at Sega clearly liked it, because Sonic Pico Park (PC, PS5, Switch, Xbox) asks the bold question: what if Pico Park featured a certain famous blue hedgehog and his friends? From what I can tell this is just a new Pico Park game but now you can use Miles “Tails” Prower as a stepladder. A weird release, but a fun one.
Speaking of grafting a license onto a pre-existing indie game, Warhammer Survivors (PC, PS5, Switch 2, Xbox X/S) is, unsurprisingly, Vampire Survivors in the Warhammer universe. Specifically the 40k and Age of Sigmar settings. You know how this works. Roguelike. Auto-attacking. Powercreep. Hordes of enemies. Usual stuff, but now there are orks and space marines. Developed by Auroch Digital with consultation by original Vampire Survivors dev Poncle.
Game of the Week is Funeral for the Sun (PC), a deduction game set in an abandoned Latin American town.
You are a historian investigating the town of Cerro Milagroso. Official word is that it was destroyed in a fire, killing all 700 of its residents, but you are here to prove that narrative false. Using flowers that let you peer into memories of the past, you must piece together who the residents are, what their relationship was to one another and ultimately figure out exactly what happened that fateful night.
I love my detective games, and this one really stood out to me when I was looking into this week’s releases. The sketchy hand-drawn art style adds a dream-like quality to it, like you truly are looking into hazy memories of the past, and the premise of a town population that disappeared overnight is an intriguing one. I’ve played a bit of it and it’s absolutely scratching the Obra Dinn/Roottrees itch, which I always welcome.
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