Hello! Welcome to the latest Geeky Brummie Gaming Roundup!

This week, have a rapid news roundup as it’s been a less than exciting week.

Rapid Roundup

PlayStation held a fairly underwhelming State of Play presentation dedicated to third party titles. The most notable announcements were a release date for Five Nights at Freddy’s: Security Breach, a sequel to the ill-fated Let It Die, a new Star Ocean, and an in-depth look at Little Devil Inside, a quirky little indie game that caught people’s attention during the initial PS5 showcase. Nothing that got a lot of discussion going though, sadly, and makes me wonder what Sony are playing at lately.

Activision have cancelled the next BlizzCon amidst ongoing legal troubles surrounding sexual harassment and abuse within the company. They claim to be “reimagining” the event and no further details have been provided on what this reimagining looks like. Also, CEO Bobby Kotick has announced that he will be reducing his full compensation down to a $62,500 salary with no additional monetary perks until this has been addressed, which sounds generous but we will see how long it lasts.

Details of a Warner Bros fighting game have been leaked – a Super Smash Warner Bros, if you will. The crossover fighter (actually called Mutiversus if sources are to be believed) is set to feature characters from Warner’s vast catalogue including Batman, Gandalf, Rick from Rick & Morty, Bugs Bunny and characters from Steven Universe and Adventure Time, although evidence posted online has since been removed with a copyright claim. It sounds messy, we’ll see how it turns out.

Quirky Japanese devs Grasshopper Manufacture have been purchased by Chinese publisher NetEase. The developers, best known for the No More Heroes series, have assured fans this is a decision that allows them development support and financing and will not affect the weird direction their games normally take.

New Releases

First up in new releases, just in time for Halloween, is a remastered port of Wii U horror title Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water (or Project Zero here in Europe). The most recent entry in the superb Fatal Frame series of ghost-photography horror games is seemingly free of its Nintendo exclusivity deal and will be releasing for all systems this week. The story is focused on three protagonists and their association with a spooky mountain known for driving people to suicide, and the vengeful spirits that haunt its shrines and old tourist traps. Definitely worth a look, not least because the success of this could lead to the older games getting remasters too, which I would thoroughly welcome.

In smaller releases, we have plenty of spookiness for spook week. Hermitage: Strange Case Files (PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox One) is an anime-styled point-and-click mystery adventure centred around a sinister book shop. Happy Game (PC, Switch) is a new game from Czech weirdos Amanita Design about a boy trapped in a disturbing nightmare. And finally, Sunshine Manor (PC) is an 8-bit style horror RPG about a haunted mansion sitting between the material and demon realms.

Darkest Dungeon 2 (PC) releases in Early Access on the Epic store this week. The sequel to 2016’s procedurally-generated dungeon crawler with character behaviour management promises more of the same, with a few tweaks to the formula along the way.

Voice of Cards: The Isle Dragon Roars (PC, PS4, Switch) is the latest game from Nier director Yoko Taro, but this time it’s a card game. The game takes place on a tabletop, with cards making up the terrain to be revealed. No idea how this game intends to dramatically break your heart yet though.

Mario Party Superstars (Switch) is the latest in Nintendo’s friendship-ruining franchise, this time a celebration of past games in the series. The game’s five boards are all remakes of boards seen in the original N64 trilogy, while the minigames are curated from many past games.

Age of Empires 4 (PC) is the latest in Microsoft’s world-conquering strategy series, returning with a new entry after 16 years. Civilizations include the English, Chinese, Mongols, Delhi Sultanate, French, Abbassid Dynasty, Holy Roman Empire and the Rus. Should be a good time for strategy fans!

The big release of this week is Guardians of the Galaxy (PC, PlayStation, Switch, Xbox), Eidos Montreal’s take on the Marvel property that’s hoping to do better than last year’s Avengers title. It still has the stunt double feel of that game in its visuals, but from all accounts it’s not a bad game. If you’re into that sort of thing.

Game of the Week

Game of the Week this week is Moonglow Bay (PC, Xbox), a gentle little fishing game. Perfect for Halloween, right?

Moonglow Bay is a life sim all about a small fishing town. You befriend the locals and go out fishing in the titular bay as you try to prevent the town falling into bankruptcy and the community falling apart.

It looks like a nice relaxing time with some cute little voxel graphics and a soundtrack by Celeste composer Lena Raine, and so I recommend it to anyone looking for something chill and wholesome in a weekend otherwise filled with horror.

And that’s all for now! See you next week with more news and releases from the world of gaming!