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

This week, scared orphans, questionable genetic experiments and baby Kratos.

We have a pretty busy week this week, as February decides to unnecessarily ramp up the sheer number of games coming our way. Just this week, we have some fun Switch 2 exclusives, some State of Play shadow drops, a bunch of cool indies and new games from both Edmund McMillen and Suda51. Good times all round!

Also, please enjoy the new look we’re sporting going forward. It’s a natural evolution, born mostly out of me wanting but not having banners for every section of this roundup each week. But now I do! Enjoy! Go thank Keith by reading his comics roundups! (Also go read Sam’s film roundups too, even though he had nothing to do with the banners, they’re just a fun read)

BlazBlue: Entropy Effect X (PS5, Switch 1, Xbox X/S) is a console port of a Metroidvania spinoff of the BlazBlue fighting game series released for PC in 2024. While it’s predominantly a pure port, there is a whole bunch of new story content too. Fortunately for PC players, that new content has been added as a free update to the original release too.

Rayman: 30th Anniversary Edition (PC, PS5, Switch 1, Xbox X/S) is another excellent retro compilation from Digital Eclipse, surprise dropped this week after Sony’s State of Play presentation. Not only does this collection provide every version of the original Rayman (PS1, Jaguar, DOS, Game Boy Color, GBA), it also features a prototype for the SNES, 120 bonus levels and, in true Digital Eclipse fashion, a full exclusive documentary about the development of the original game. Possibly the most love Ubisoft has shown for the character in a while, and they outsourced it, which I think says it all.

Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties (PC, PlayStation, Switch 2, Xbox X/S) is a remake of Yakuza 3, built in the series’ modern engine. While it largely follows the original faithfully, there have been some changes to some plot points that are proving unpopular with the fans. Also comes with an additional expansion known as Dark Ties, focused on the main game’s antagonist as a playable character.

The first of this week’s Early Access releases is Goblin Sushi, a fantasy restaurant sim where, you’ll never guess, you play a goblin running a sushi place. You serve an increasingly picky band of goblins with traditional sushi suited to their tastes. You know, toads and slugs, that kind of thing. Very silly, very cute. Developed by Old Cake Factory and published by Metaroot.

Starsand Island is a cosy life sim with all the stuff you’d expect from that description. Tend a farm, fish, hang with animal friends, the usual. But there’s also skateboarding and dungeon crawling, allowing you to uncover the secrets of your new island home. Developed by Seed Sparkle Lab.

Killer Inn is a murder mystery game from Square Enix and Tactics Studios, where you and 23 other players investigate a murder in the titular hotel. However, some of the investigators are murderers themselves and must hide within the group, picking off more victims without getting caught. It’s Among Us but more violent. And more jank too, based on the trailer.

As Markiplier’s adaptation of short horror game Iron Lung is screening at cinemas, another short undersea horror game emerges. The Oily Depths (PC) puts you as the sole crewmember on a grim submarine on a vague mission guided by a mysterious voice. Developed by Ryan R Burns.

Another release from the revived Acclaim, now acting as an indie publisher, The Prisoning: Fletcher’s Quest (PC, Switch 1) is a Metroidvania set in the twisted mind of a game developer (oh no!) underground extreme crunch-based anxiety. Developer Elden Pixels claims it’s based on a true story.

Disciples: Domination (PC, PS5, Xbox X/S) is a dark fantasy strategy RPG where you play as a new queen torn between helping her people and becoming addicted to her own power. From Artefacts Studio, the developers of, uh, Garfield Kart, and published by Kalypso Media.

Ride 6 (PC, PS5, Xbox X/S) is a motorbike racing sim where you start a career at a biking festival and rise the ranks to challenge legends such as Casey Stoner (MotoGP World Champion 2007 and 2011). Developed by Milestone.

Relooted (PC, Xbox X/S) is a heist game about stealing ancient artefacts. However, you are not a Lara Croft or Indiana Jones going grave robbing, you’re Nomali, part of a team of African repatriators, whose job is to break into Western museums and steal back their heritage. It’s a solid stealth adventure that examines the ethics of the British Museum holding the Benin Bronzes, sorry, I mean unnamed Western museums claiming ownership of the work of Africans. Developed by Nyamakop.

Blumhouse continue to help indie horror games to the finish line, this week bringing a game from Spanish studio Vermila Studios. Crisol: Theater of Idols (PC, PS5, Xbox X/S) is a tale of religious dogma and creepy dolls, where all your weapons use your blood as ammunition. Between this and Blasphemous, I feel I need to ask the Spanish if everything is okay over there.

High on Life 2 (PC, PS5, Xbox X/S) is the sequel to Squanch Games’ comedy shooter full of talking guns. This time there’s a greater emphasis on movement mechanics, with a skateboard joining your arsenal as you blast your way through a rogues’ gallery of alien creatures. Of course, your ability to enjoy this game’s prominent humour is entirely dependent on how much you like Rick & Morty.

Revealed at last week’s Nintendo Partner Showcase, Tokyo Scramble is a Switch 2 exclusive from Binary Haze Interactive about dinosaurs in the subway. You play as Anne, a high school girl who falls through a crack in the subway into a place full of Zinos, creatures evolved from dinosaurs and living underneath Tokyo. Use stealth and tech to escape their jaws. Features probably the most half-hearted attempt to incorporate Nintendo’s GameShare functionality, as you can team up with friends so one person can look at the map and another could move the camera. Riveting. But the game itself looks fun in a mid-tier late 2000s kind of way, especially with that trailer music choice.

If you thought dinosaur ballads were all we’re getting for Nintendo exclusives this week, there’s also Mario Tennis Fever (Switch 2). Once again, Nintendo have contracted Camelot to take Mario and friends out for some exercise, with this latest tennis game offering an arsenal of special rackets designed to screw over your opponent and, more importantly, the inclusion of Baby Waluigi.

Uh oh. Suda51 and Grasshopper Manufacture are back and as deranged as ever. Romeo is a Dead Man (PC, PS5, Xbox X/S) is an action game starring a man who died and got brought back to life with a special mechanical head that looks like elaborate Daft Punk cosplay. Now recruited by the Space-Time Police division of the FBI, he travels the cosmos battling enemies to prevent disaster. It’s over the top, it’s chaotic and it’s, well, it’s a Suda51 game. One for the No More Heroes gang, obviously.

Shadow dropped during Sony’s State of Play presentation, God of War: Sons of Sparta (PS5) takes their flagship god murdering simulator and turns it into a Metroidvania with pixel art and everything, co-developed by Mega Cat Studios. A surprise, certainly, but this takes Kratos back to his roots as a trainee Spartan on a quest to find a missing cadet. Definitely a game to tide people over while they remake the entire original trilogy.

Mewgenics (PC) is the latest game from Edmund McMillen, the creator of Super Meat Boy and The Binding of Isaac (with the assistance of Tyler Glaiel). This is a tactical RPG where you must breed a terrifying cat army through questionable science and then throw them into turn-based battles. If you’ve encountered any of McMillen’s previous projects, you should have an idea of what vibe this one has. It’s already the highest rated game of the year so far on Metacritic, so it has that going for it too.

Game of the Week is ReAnimal (PC, PS5, Switch 2, Xbox X/S), the latest game from Little Nightmares devs Tarsier Studios.

Following the formula of their previous games, you play as two orphans making their way through a dark, disturbing world where everything is trying to kill them and they have extremely limited ways to fight back. As you could probably tell from there being two characters, this is a co-op game where you and a friend can face the horrors together.

Little Nightmares holds a special (horrible) place in my heart for its grotesque imagery and oppressive atmosphere, coupled with its excellent stop motion style presentation. Seeing Tarsier get to play around with the formula without being tied too closely to the games that came before is exciting, and I look forward to seeing what horrors they intend to inflict on us this time around.