Hello! Welcome to the latest Geeky Brummie Gaming Roundup!

This week, The Super Mario Bros Movie, Tears of the Kingdom, Final Fantasy and Dreams.

Mario Movie Breaks Records

The Super Mario Bros Movie released last week. It’s perfectly adequate, and for better or worse it’s a spot-on adaptation of the games. In other words, light on plot and heavy on fun. I found it enjoyable, but I can also see why critics hated it. That’s not even a slam on critics either, I legitimately understand their point of view. Except maybe that one Guardian critic who quoted Dostoevsky and sneered at the entire medium of games, because that was a mess.

Anyway! I am getting distracted from the real point here.

Regardless of what you think of its quality, The Super Mario Bros Movie is a hit. An indisputable success. It was almost guaranteed to do well, but I don’t think anyone expected it would do as well as it has done. It’s wild.

It now holds the record of best opening weekend for both animated movies and for video game movies. In animated movies, it beat Frozen 2’s global record. In video game movies it not only managed the highest opening weekend but has also the highest grossing video game movie overall, beating out Warcraft. Yes, Warcraft was highest. I know, I was surprised too.

With those numbers, we are almost certainly getting a sequel.

New Tears of the Kingdom and Final Fantasy XVI Trailers

Two of the most inevitable candidates for Game of the Year for many people saw big new trailers this week. In fact, both of them were on the same day. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom got its final pre-release trailer, while Final Fantasy XVI saw twenty minutes of new gameplay.

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom showed off a lot in its short trailer. There was a huge story focus, but how important this is in general gameplay remains to be seen. There were sections that looked almost like large-scale dungeons might be back. I was never into Breath of the Wild, but the Fuse crafting system looks so in-depth that I may give this one a look.

And the new version of Ganondorf was shown off to the world for the first time. In addition, Critical Role DM and beloved voice actor Matthew Mercer later confirmed via Twitter that he was the voice, after much speculation online.

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom launches on 12th May 2023 for Switch.

And then there was Final Fantasy XVI. We got a good look at the hack-and-slash style combat which is flashy and cool and absolutely a major draw for me personally. This is backed up by massive summon-based battles that look rad as heck. I’ve not been particularly excited for a Final Fantasy game in a while but this one may have won me over.

Also, this game’s version of Cid is very obviously voiced by Ralph Ineson, which means I half expect him to question why Clive thinks Fray Bentos is the Cuban leader.

Final Fantasy XVI launches on 22nd June for PS5.

Dreams is Ending Support

Dreams, Media Molecule’s game creation tool for PlayStation, will be seeing the end of official support by September 2023.

Media Molecule confirmed this in a blog post on their website that after a handful of content updates releasing soon, that will be the end of new updates. Community events will also be shutting down.

It’s a real shame, as the tools have been used to create a ton of cool and interesting stuff. I never did because I couldn’t get to grips with them but that just makes all the stuff other people have made even cooler to me. Because I could barely make a sphere while they’re out there making a whole P.T. clone? Madness.

Dreams will continue to exist as a creation tool. It will still be available from the PlayStation Store and its online functionality will still exist for players to share their creations.

Meanwhile, Media Molecule will be moving onto their next project, which is currently unknown. But they are one of my favourite developers, so I will be watching them closely to see what it is.

New Releases

Let’s start this week’s new releases with a compilation. Mega Man Battle Network Legacy Collection (PC, PS4, Switch) brings together every single Mega Man Battle Network game ever. It follows previous Mega Man Legacy collections focused on the main series and the X games.

In what’s going to be a bit of theme this week, Murderous Muses (PC, PlayStation, Xbox) is a murder mystery game. Specifically, it a game about exploring a gallery full of painting by a murdered artist. Each painting contains FMV-based clues about his killer, and it’s up to you to discover the culprit.

Trinity Fusion (PC) is an action platformer roguelite set across the multiverse. You play as multiple versions of the same character as you hack and slash your way through several different biomes.

Tray Racers (PC, Switch) is a multiplayer racing game from the developers of Phogs. As the name suggests, you’re all riding trays down slopes. However, the name also suggests ray tracing, but don’t expect it here.

Shardpunk: Verminfall (PC) is a pixel art strategy game set in a world of crumbling tech and angry mutant rat men.

Boundary (PC) has been in development for absolutely ages, and it’s not hard to see why. It’s a team-based multiplayer shooter set in Earth’s orbit. So basically, everyone’s an astronaut and gravity is non-existent.

Hunt the Night (PC, Switch) is a top-down pixel art action game that has decided to swipe the vibes of Castlevania for itself. Looks like a lot of fun.

Wildfrost (PC, Switch) is a deck builder and…no wait come back! This one’s a bit different I promise. Set in a world of endless winter, you and your companions are trying to reach the Sun Temple to end the frost for good. It’s got an adorably goofy art style and a fun sense of humour that makes it stand out significantly from other games in its genre.

Oh hey, Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened (PC, PlayStation, Switch, Xbox) is continuing this week’s apparent theme of murder mysteries. The latest game in the seemingly never-ending Frogwares Sherlock Holmes series follows on from Chapter One, and this one looks back on Holmes and Watson first joining forces to take on Lovecraftian horrors.

Tron: Identity (PC, Switch) is a visual novel set in the world of Disney’s Tron. Developed by Mike Bithell of Thomas Was Alone fame, you play as a detective program trying to unravel a mystery that threatens the Grid. This one’s all about tough choices and puzzles, so anyone expecting light cycle races might be a little disappointed.

Game of the Week

Game of the Week this week is Process of Elimination (PS4, Switch), an anime mystery game that blends visual novels with turn-based strategy, and is the third game in this week’s accidental theme.

The premise is that fourteen detectives have been trapped on an island as part of an investigation into a serial killer known as the Quartering Duke. The twist? One of the detectives may be the Duke himself, hiding among them and sabotaging their plans. It is up to you, the unfortunately named Incompetent Detective, to guide the other detectives to the truth.

I played Process of Elimination. It’s neat. It does overdo the non-interactive visual novels portion a little, but there’s solid mystery narrative here. The grid-based investigation adds an interesting dimension to the investigations, especially when you also have to dodge traps and dangerous foes. Might not necessarily be for everyone, but if you enjoy mystery games, you’re likely to enjoy this.

Also, while playing this for a review for my day job, I also finally played Danganronpa for the first time, so on that basis alone it deserves some credit.