Hello! Welcome to the latest Geeky Brummie Games Release Roundup!

This week, car survival, gentleman survival and cute survival.

Quite a busy week this week, not helped by a couple of surprise hits in the form of Last Epoch and Balatro, which I’d never heard of until suddenly the media was all over them. Plus we had the Nintendo Direct Partner Showcase, which surprise launched two more of these games. Thanks, guys! Really throws my whole system out of whack!

I have spent the past week lovingly doting on a car while dodging lightning, as my Game of the Week will attest. But if you want other recommendations for things I think look great, both CorpoNation and Penny’s Big Breakaway have made my Steam wishlist, so I’d say those.

Also, as of now I will be highlighting who the developers and publishers are, so you have some background on where these games are coming from!

New Releases

In a surprise reveal, Pentiment is heading to Switch and PlayStation this week. This is the first of four Xbox Game Studios releases to be confirmed to be going multiplatform. Pentiment is Obsidian’s small medieval detective game presented like it’s an old tapestry. It got some good reviews on its initial release, and is now available in more places. Developed by Obsidian (Pillars of Eternity, Fallout: New Vegas) and published by Xbox Game Studios (you know, the Xbox).

Releasing in Early Access, The Tribe Must Survive is a colony builder where you have to keep a hapless tribe alive in a harsh environment. This is first game from Walking Tree Games, published by Starbreeze (Payday).

The big Early Access release this week is Nightingale, where you take Victorian ladies and gentlemen into fae realms full of danger. It’s a roguelike survival game full of weird monsters and top hats. The debut title from Inflexion Games, founded by a former BioWare executive.

Quadroids (PC, PlayStation, Switch, Xbox) is a puzzle platformer that tasks you with solving challenges in four screens at once. I have no idea how well this works as a concept, but it’s interesting at the very least! It’s the debut game from Blue Loop, and published by Fabloo Games, Just For Games and Maximum Entertainment.

Promenade (PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox) is a cute 2D platformer inspired by 3D collectathon platformers. Expect a wide range of movement abilities and characters to complete quests for. Looks adorable. This is the debut title from Holy Cap, a three-person indie team from France.

Garden Life: A Cozy Simulator (PC, PlayStation, Xbox) is, unsurprisingly, a cozy game about living in a garden. As you’d expect from games such as these, the objective is to grow and maintain your garden in a low stakes environment. Developed by Stillalive Studios (Bus Simulator series) and published by Nacon.

Slave Zero X (PC, PlayStation, Xbox) is a revival of Slave Zero, a PC-based 3D action title about a killer mech. Unusually, this is a 2D reimagining, drawing heavily from games such as Strider, but still set in the same universe. Developed by Poppy Works (Melon Journey, Devil Engine) and published by Ziggurat Games (Bloodrayne Revamped, A Boy and His Blob).

Solium Infernum (PC) is Civilization from Hell. No, really, that’s where it takes place. You play as an archfiend looking to take control of Hell in a complex strategy game where stabbing each other in the back is encouraged. It’s a remake of the original game which released in 2009. Developed by League of Geeks (Armello).

CorpoNation: The Sorting Process (PC) is a Papers Please style game set in dystopian world ruled by corporations. You play as a mindless drone working at one of the corporations, but opportunities to scupper the entire operation continue to sneak in. Do you obey your masters or sabotage them from within? It’s the debut game from two-person British studio Canteen, and is published by Playtonic Friends, the publishing division from the studio behind Yooka-Laylee.

Last Epoch (PC) is an action RPG leaving Early Access this week, which has already attracted a lot of positive attention. Looks like the game to be getting into if you were disappointed with Diablo 4. It’s the debut game from Eleventh Hour Games, an all-remote indie team.

Balatro (PC, PS5, Switch, Xbox) is a deckbuilder, albeit one built around an existing card game. It bills itself as a poker roguelike, where assorted types of Joker can change the dynamics of your hand. A lot of positive buzz around this one this week. Developed by solo dev LocalThunk and published by Playstack (Mortal Shell, The Case of the Golden Idol)

Penny’s Big Breakaway (PC, PlayStation, Switch, Xbox) got a surprise launch this week during the Nintendo Partner Showcase. This is a fast-paced collectathon 3D platformer, which seemingly throws in every major traversal mechanic from other platformers to make something seemingly designed for speedruns. Looks like a lot of fun. This is the debut game from Evening Star, made up of veterans from the Sonic Mania team, and is published by Take-Two’s Private Division subsidiary.

Bandle Tale: A League of Legends Story (PC, Switch) is the latest and final game to come from the Riot Forge programme, where indie developers run wild with the League of Legends cast. This time, creatures known as yordles get their time in the spotlight, with an original story wrapped around a cosy RPG full of crafting. Developed by Lazy Bear Games (Punch Club, Graveyard Keeper) and published by Riot (League of Legends, unsurprisingly).

Game of the Week

Game of the Week is Pacific Drive (PC, PS5), a spooky survival driving game.

You play as a delivery driver who gets sucked into a quarantine zone in the Pacific Northwest, where science hath wrought something terrible. You are now trapped inside a zone with ever-shifting scenery and hostile anomalies that can and probably will kill you. Your only defence is a beaten-up old car you find in a garage, which you use to navigate this harsh environment in your attempt to escape.

Anyone who follows these roundups regularly will know that I’m always into fiction where scientists tap into something they absolutely should not have done (see: Control). Pacific Drive not only offers that but also straps a driving game onto it where maintenance of your car is an essential task. It’s a fascinating mixture that intrigued me from the moment it was announced.

I was fortunate enough to get pre-release code of this, and I’ve been hooked ever since. There’s something incredibly satisfying about working on this car before heading out on risky journeys where you could be picked up by strange machines or electrocuted by mannequins. It’s impressive that it managed to take a game full of roguelike randomness and survival crafting and make it something I enjoy. Well done.

Pacific Drive is the debut game of Ironwood Studios, founded by a former Sucker Punch developer in 2019. It’s published by Kepler Interactive, best known for Sifu, Scorn and Tchia.