Hello! Welcome to the latest Geeky Brummie Gaming Roundup!

This week, Layers of Fear, Bandai Namco theme parks and Scrubs, now in bird form.

Last week was Summer Game Fest and boy am I tired from covering big chunks of it on The Other Site I Write For. Also it is very hot in the UK right now and my office has poor ventilation. So mercifully, this week is a low-key one because I am running on fumes.

Thankfully, only two surprise launches from Summer Game Fest, both of which came from the Wholesome Direct. Everything else was a normal release I knew about ahead of time. Most of these are humble indie titles, so please allow them their time in the limelight before the avalanche of big games destroys their discoverability for the next six months. It’s also a pretty wholesome week all round. Well. Mostly (Layers of Fear definitely does not fit this description).

Anyway, as always, the Game of the Week is a recommendation, but in addition, I also think Smushi Come Home, Park Beyond and Daydream: Forgotten Sorrow look neat.

New Releases

In Early Access on Steam, Dubium appears to be a mix of Among Us and Dead By Daylight. You and your friends play one of five workers for a space corporation trying to prevent the destruction of a space station. Except OH NO one of you is an impostor, working against the group.

Daydream: Forgotten Sorrow (PC) is an adventure platformer starring a boy in a strange land and his magical teddy bear friend. Gives me heavy Little Nightmares vibes, and that’s absolutely a compliment.

One of two Wholesome Direct stealth drops over the weekend, Frogsong (PC) is a cute little adventure game where you play as a frog with a backpack who wants to make the world a better place.

And then the other Wholesome Direct stealth drop was Smushi Come Home (PC, Switch), which is all about a little mushroom man trying to find his way back home.

Dordogne (PC, PlayStation, Switch, Xbox) is a sweet little game about memories and long summer holidays as a child, presented with a lovely watercolour visual style.

Do you think that games like Planet Coaster are trash because they’re too bound by the rules of reality? Well, good news! Park Beyond (PC, PS5, Xbox X/S) is a theme park management game that lets you build the theme park abominations you’ve always wanted. Want a multi-level Ferris wheel? A rollercoaster with jumps? Pac-Man running around your park? It’s all here!

Layers of Fear (PC, PS5, Xbox X/S) is a mixture of remake and new game. It’s a remake of the first two Layers of Fear games, where artists in various mediums are plagued by horrors. However, it’s also a new game, as it comes bundled with a whole new episode.

Game of the Week

Game of the Week this week is Fall of Porcupine (PC, PlayStation, Switch, Xbox). It’s what happens when you cross animal-based narrative adventure Night in the Woods with the mid-2000s medical sitcom Scrubs.

You play as Finley, a pigeon who’s embarking on his career as a junior doctor and discovering the trials and tribulations of his new job. In terms of gameplay, it’s a side-scroller where you can explore Finley’s hometown and indulge in some light platforming. If you played Night in the Woods, you’ll have an idea what to expect, but now with added minigames for diagnosing patients.

I really love the concept behind this one, partly because I enjoyed what I played of Night in the Woods and because Scrubs was a really good TV show (until it eventually wasn’t) so the combo has me interested.

Also, I have to respect a developer who made the decision to gift the game to 1,000 lucky healthcare workers in Europe and North America, entirely free of charge, as a thank you for everything they do. Cannot regret giving Game of the Week to a dev who does that.