Hello! Welcome to this week’s Geeky Brummie Games Release Roundup!
This week, cyberpunk life, bombastic dogfighting and blocky adventuring.
Dynasty Warriors 3 Complete Edition Remastered brings the classic PS2 hack-and-slash to PC, PS5, Switch 2 and Xbox Series X/S. Combining the original release and the expanded content from Dynasty Warriors 3: Xtreme Legends, this also adds enhanced visual fidelity and gameplay improvements. The classic terrible voice acting is intact though, so don’t fret.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered brings an enhanced version of CD Projekt’s beloved RPG to PC, PS5, Switch 2 and Xbox Series X/S. Now, you may be thinking, but I already own the game for one of those systems, well, good news, you can get this as a free download which is incredibly generous.
A few low poly games on show this week. HR: Human Remains (PC / DennisCorner, Black Lantern Collective) is a first-person horror game about an office worker in a world where your boss is a literal monster. Unshine Arcade (PC / Mardt) is a game about a mysterious arcade where you must win tickets on a roguelike twin shooter cabinet to free a sentient virtual pet. Bloodspill (PC / ThatFain) is a retro-style FPS featuring classic modes such as Deathmatch, Capture the Flag and Conquest, all set in a low-poly medieval world.
As for the rest of our smaller releases, The Merlies (PC, Switch 1 / Darjeeling, Blue Ramen, Arte France) is a Metroidvania about a community of lost birds trying to survive in a harsh world, venturing out into the world to find scraps to build their new village. Songs of Glimmerwick (PC / Eastshade Studios) is a cosy little game about attending a witch academy in the woods, where whimsy and nature surround you at all times. And Dog in the Machine (PC / Studio Chahut, Goblinz) is a roguelike tactics game all about building dog robots and sending them to fight evil machines.
RetroSpace (PC, PS5, Xbox X/S) is an immersive sim where you play a janitor on a spaceship in a retro-tinged future. Something has gone terribly wrong and you’ve found yourself surrounded by bizarre alien creatures along with time and space anomalies. It’s your job to figure out what’s happening and put it right, whether you play it stealthily or as a full-on action hero. I love how much this one leans into its old school aesthetics, looking like it stumbled out of the fever dreams of a sci-fi author in the 1960s. Developed by The Wild Gentlemen and published by Kwalee.
Transport Fever 3 (PC, PS5, Xbox X/S) is a management sim from Paradox Interactive and developer Urban Games. You’re in charge of transport networks, hopping from city to city managing planes, trains, roads and public transport, expanding your network over time.
Toem 2 (PC, PS5, Switch) is the sequel to cosy photography game Toem, offering more scenes to explore and find interesting and unusual things to take photos of. You’ll also be able to help a bunch of quirky side characters along the way, all using the power of your camera. It’s a cute little game about the joy of photography, and it’s getting some highly positive reviews. Developed by Something We Made.
End of Abyss (PC (Epic), PS5, Xbox X/S) is a spooky twin-stick shooter from new studio Section 9. The studio was founded by brothers Mattias and Marcus Ottval, plus fellow dev Gustaff Heinerwall, all of whom are former Tarsier Studios developers who worked on Little Nightmares. And while that influence is obvious, especially in the art style, this is a very different experience. You are Cel, a technician who has been sent into a mysterious abandoned facility. It looks creepy but at least, unlike Little Nightmares, this time you have a gun.
Minecraft Dungeons II (PC, PS5, Switch 2, Xbox X/S) is the second game in the Dungeons spinoff series from Minecraft, which shifts the game from survival crafting game to top-down action RPG. A portal to a realm known as the Sift has opened up, and deadly threats are pouring out, and it’s up to you (and possibly some friends) to put a stop to this. However, considering the state that Microsoft is in right now, I’m not sure I’d recommend buying this one.
Who’s up for some anime jet fighting!? Good news! Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve (PC, PS5, Xbox X/S) brings Bandai Namco’s beloved arcade flight sim back after seven years away. Set once again in the world of Strangereal, you play a fighter pilot looking to live up to the legendary name you’ve been given (the one in the game’s title). Expect big bombastic anime drama and a soundtrack that goes ridiculously hard, which are the two main things I know about this franchise as it’s all I ever hear the fans rave about. And based on that trailer song, I’d say they’re right.
Game of the Week is Nivalis Nights (PC), a life sim set in the world of Cloudpunk developed by Ion Lands and published by 505 Games.
Nivalis is a cyberpunk city floating in the clouds, where neon lights and sprawling verticality dominate all the eye can see. You run a humble noodle stand with the goal of growing a noodle-based empire. However, in addition to running your noodle stand, you can cultivate relationships with people around you, head out to explore the city and maybe indulge in a little friendly sabotage.
Cloudpunk was an interesting game where you played a taxi driver in the same city, and that set the stage for what this game is. Nivalis is an interesting place that you only really saw through the windows of taxi in the previous game, so getting into the daily grind is an interesting thing to explore. It’s unclear how much of the city you get to explore while trying to manage your business, but I respect a project this ambitious.
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