Hello! Welcome to the latest Geeky Brummie Gaming Roundup!

This week, some quick news, plus all the latest releases!

Rapid Roundup

It’s been a slow week for news, with limited noteworthy news outside of the ongoing Activision Blizzard situation, which has seen Blizzard president J Allen Brack step down and corporate affairs VP and torture enthusiast Frances Townsend deleting her Twitter account after a disparaging (and vaguely threatening) tweet about whistleblowers.

We’ve also seen an indie developer thrown into the mix with terrible working conditions. Steve Gaynor stepped down from his role at the head of Fullbright, developers of Gone Home, Tacoma and the upcoming Open Roads. Thankfully, no sexual harassment has been reported, but instead the story appears to be a man with an ego bullying staff on a day-to-day basis.

But other than this, the news cycle is pretty quiet right now. Xbox Game Pass and PlayStation Now have both announced their upcoming games, which are generally good selections, and this month’s PS Plus game have been made available, which are generally bad selections. Also A Plague Tale: Innocence is free on the Epic Games Store which is the perfect opportunity to plug this video I made recently on it.

And that’s about it. So here are this week’s releases.

New Releases

Flight action game The Falconeer arrives on PlayStation and Switch this week. You may remember my disappointed review of this late last year, however, so I would issue caution if you’re considering this one.

Initial releases this week kick off with Rocket Rumble (PC, Early Access), a multiplayer game about animals in mech suits where the racetracks have procedurally generated obstacles. Haven Park (PC, Switch) is a chill game about managing a campsite for those looking for a new Animal Crossing style experience. Toodee and Topdee (PC) is a unique blend of 2D platformer and top-down Zelda style title, as you switch between the two perspectives to solve a series of challenges. Here Comes Niko (PC) describes itself as “the cozy 3D platformer for tired people” which crosses Animal Crossing with Mario 64 where the collectathon elements are NPCs you have to befriend.

For people who like puzzles and retro games, Picross S Mega Drive & Master System (Switch) is a Sega picross game where all the solved puzzles reveal sprites from, you guessed it, Mega Drive and Master System games. It’s Sega Picross, I don’t know what else to tell you.

Death Trash (PC, Early Access) is a cross between cyberpunk and cosmic horror, where punks live in a post-apocalyptic world infested with Eldritch beings. It’s an old school style RPG featuring a range of combat options, dialogue choices and unique skills ranging from pickpocketing to vomiting. Yes, really. It looks like a neat concept and the art style is meticulous pixel art on top of that.

Starmancer (PC, Early Access) sees you managing a space station for humans heading out to colonise the stars. You act as the ship’s AI, managing the lives of everyone on board, and allowing you the choice to be a benevolent overseer or go rogue and experiment on the poor captives on board. So if you’ve wanted to manage a colony mission into space, now’s your chance!

Game of the Week

Game of the Week this week is Dodgeball Academia (PC, PlayStation, Switch, Xbox), a sports RPG with all the anime trappings you could possibly want.

That’s just in story style, at least, since the game is about a boy who joins the most prestigious dodgeball school in the world in the aim to become the very best. Like no one ever was. But visually, the game is much more Cartoon Network than anime, with bold cartoony character designs and a goofy sense of humour.

Gameplay is a typical top-down JRPG style, where dialogue choices and party management are a major part, except battles are dodgeball games, where special moves and status effects are rolled into the sports action. The game is bold, brash and looks a lot of fun, and for that I have to make it Game of the Week.

And that’s it for this week. I can’t guarantee that I’ll be back next week as I may be dealing with vaccine side effects, but if it’s not too bad, then I will see you then!