Hello! Welcome to the latest Geeky Brummie Gaming Roundup!
This week, ghosts from the radio, monsters from the dark and dinosaurs from pre-history.
Last week, there was no roundup due to only about two games releasing. But they are here in among this week’s games, so rejoice! However, it’s still a quiet week. We have a PC strategy sequel, a VR game with Solid Snake as the villain, new entries in extensively long-running JRPG franchises, a Stadia exclusive going to real platforms and I-Can’t-Believe-It’s-Not-Dino-Crisis. And my Game of the Week, of course.
That’s basically it! But it’s a solid week. Something for everyone, pretty much. So that’s neat.
New Releases
Invector: Rhythm Galaxy (PC) is a rhythm game from the developers of Avicii Invector. It’s much the same as that game, only the music library is no longer restricted to Avicii, with songs including PinkPantheress, Duran Duran and Charli XCX.
Jagged Alliance 3 (PC) is a tactical RPG set in the fictional nation of Grand Chien, where you play a group of mercenaries trying to rescue the President. It’s a sequel to the 90s PC series of the same name.
Synapse (PS5) is a PSVR2 exclusive shooter about infiltrating the mind of an enemy of the state, voiced by David “Solid Snake” Hayter. Features a lot of telekinetic powers controlled through motion trackers.
The Western localisation of The Legend of Heroes: Trails into Reverie (PC, PlayStation, Switch) released last week. This is the latest entry in the impossibly long Legend of Heroes series (it started in 1989), and the latest in the Trails subseries of science-fantasy games. I honestly don’t know a lot about this series, but it is beloved.
Speaking of long-running Japanese franchises with minimal Western presence, Atelier Marie Remake: The Alchemist of Salburg (PC, PlayStation, Switch) is a remake of the very first Atelier game from 1997. You play as an apprentice alchemist who has five years to pass her exams, or in the new Unlimited Mode, you can just keep doing quests. It definitely feels like a game from 1997, so it’s most likely one for fans of the series.
Gylt (PC, PlayStation, Xbox) was originally relegated to a terrible fate as a Stadia exclusive. However, following the collapse of Google’s ill-fated cloud service, Gylt is now releasing for real platforms. Made by Rime developers Tequila Works, Gylt stars a young girl named Sally who is trapped in a world made from her fears and traumas. The game is a survival horror with stealth elements where you are trying to uncover the mystery behind the disappearance of Sally’s cousin.
Exoprimal (PC, PlayStation, Xbox) is the game that everyone expected to be a new Dino Crisis but instead is a live service team shooter about fighting off hordes of dinosaurs in a futuristic world. I honestly have no idea how well this is going to be received. You’ll probably know by the time this goes up, depending on when reviews are released.
Game of the Week
Game of the Week this week is Oxenfree 2: Lost Signals (PC, PlayStation, Switch), the sequel to 2016’s excellent indie hit Oxenfree.
You play as Riley, a world-weary 30-something working an environmental survey job with Jacob, an old high school acquaintance. On her first night, she places a transmitter which appears to open a portal on the nearby Edwards Island, bringing with it ghostly horrors and time-twisting phenomena. And so there’s a mad dash to close the portal while exploring the coastal town of Camena and having a lot of awkward conversation.
The original Oxenfree was a superb game with some brilliant spooky moments as some teens unleashed radio-based horror on the world. It also had an excellent dialogue choice system where you can choose responses while still moving around. All this is back in Oxenfree 2, although now with more midlife crisis cynicism. I played it for review ahead of its release and loved every minute of it.
If you loved the original Oxenfree, then Oxenfree 2 is a brilliant followup which ties up some loose ends and presents a contrast to the messy teen drama of the original.
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