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

This week, desert time loops, rave chameleons and Wuxia.

Re-Releases and Ports

Anime 3D fighter Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero arrived on Switch this week, finally bringing last year’s Super Saiyan action to Nintendo’s system.

Atelier Ryza DX Trilogy (PC, PlayStation, Switch) is a single collection of all three Atelier Ryza games, which are some of the more recent games in the anime crafting RPG series.

Yakuza Kiwami 1&2 have arrived on Switch 2, meaning you now have another place to get to grips with the original adventures of Kazuma Kiryu. These are, of course, the remakes rather than the PS2 originals.

New Releases

Bittersweet Birthday (PC) is an incredibly strange action RPG where you play a child with memory loss waking up in a facility. Combat is boss-focused and features bullet hell elements. I played the demo of this, and its vague story makes it hard to explain. Feels like something to let wash over you and wait for the answers to reveal themselves over time. Developed by World Eater Games and published by Dangen Entertainment.

Gigasword (PC, PlayStation, Switch 1, Xbox) is a Metroidvania about an adventurer with a massive sword. Uniquely, this is a game that doesn’t shy away from the practicalities of carrying a hunk of metal around, and puzzles revolve around finding ways to navigate platforming sections while leaving your sword in places you can retrieve later. Developed by Studio Hybrid and published by Akupara Games.

Ambrosia Sky: Act One (PC) is a cross between Prey (2016) and Powerwash Simulator. No, wait, come back, I’m entirely serious. You play as Dalia, a cleanup agent sent to a doomed space station where she discovers a massive fungal outbreak that’s killed all the crew. Your job is to clean it all up, recover crew DNA and figure out what caused the mess in the first place. Developed by Soft Rains.

Windswept (PC, PlayStation, Switch 1, Xbox) is a 2D platformer starring a duck and a turtle who are friends. The game owes more than a little debt to Donkey Kong Country, as it features a slightly more complex buddy system and barrel mechanics stripped straight out of the Rare classic. The demo of this was a fun time, although perhaps a little busy with mechanics. Developed by WeatherFall and published by Top Hat Studios.

Winter Burrow (PC, Switch 1, Xbox) is a cute little survival game where you play a mouse repairing and maintaining your home inside a tree trunk. You must keep your burrow as cosy as possible to survive the harsh winter, with only your nearby aunt to help. Developed by Pine Creek Games and published by Noodlecake.

Verho: Curse of Faces (PC) is an action RPG set in a bleak world that reeks of death. While this is a common style of game these days, developer Kasur Games have sidestepped the usual Dark Souls influence by aping a different FromSoft franchise: King’s Field. So what we have is more of a traditional dungeon crawler, rendered in mind-boggling low poly visuals, as you navigate a land that unleashed a curse where seeing another person’s face causes instant death.

Goodnight Universe (PC, PS5, Switch, Xbox X/S) is a game where you play as a psychic baby trying to stop being torn away from their family to be experimented on by a tech corporation. Utilises head-tracking technology as a controller, building on the work pioneered on Skybound’s earlier game Before Your Eyes.

Possessor(s) (PC, PS5) is a sidescroller from Hyper Light Drifter developer Heart Machine. Set in the ruins of a megacity, you battle your way through the world using moves inspired by games such as Smash Bros. Also features beautifully animated story sequences. Published by Devolver Digital.

Level-5’s anime football RPG returns in Inazuma Eleven: Victory Road (PC, PlayStation, Switch, Xbox X/S), where you play as two kids with sports dreams as their stories cross paths. As well as the new story, this new game also allows you to relive matches from across the series.

Anno 117: Pax Romana (PC, PS5, Xbox X/S) is the latest in Ubisoft’s city-building strategy series. It’s also the oldest historical setting the series has ever made use of, set during the Roman Empire with a Celtic civilization as an alternate option.

Where Winds Meet (PC, PS5) is a free-to-play Wuxia open world where you play as a sword master on a search for their history. Boasts a complex combat system, along with co-op experiences, countless side activities and a huge rendering of the Ten Kingdoms of China. Previously released in China and reaches the West this week. Developed by Everstone Studio and published by NetEase.

Tetsuya Mizuguchi continues his never-ending mission to bring synaesthesia into video games with Lumines Arise (PC, PS5). It takes the 2005 PSP puzzle game Lumines and gives it the Tetris Effect treatment. And if any puzzle game suits that treatment, it’s Lumines, as it was already heavily built around music and rhythm. The demo of this featured rave chameleons, and I feel like I don’t need to say any more. Developed by Enhance (Rez Infinite, Humanity) and Monstars (Tetris Effect).

Oh, and Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 (PC, PS5, Xbox X/S) is also out this week, if you’re into that sort of thing.

Game of the Week

Game of the Week is Rue Valley (PC, PlayStation, Xbox), where the spirit of Disco Elysium is applied to a time loop.

You play as Eugene Harrow, a man suffering from severe mental health issues, unable to motivate himself to do anything. He’s been sent to a motel out in the desert as part of a psychiatric retreat, only to find himself trapped in a time loop. At some point, the desert sets alight in a blaze of flame, and only by piecing his memories together from each loop can Eugene figure out what’s happening and put a stop to it.

As I said, the spirit of Disco Elysium is alive and well in this game, with the narrative delivered via a large scrolling text box at the side of the screen, dice-rolling mechanics to determine success in certain interactions, and a pervading sense of ennui at the state of the world. However, it replaces the painterly look of ZA/UM’s masterpiece with a more stylish comic book look, which is equally effective. The demo definitely made this feel intriguing so hopefully the full game delivers. Developed by Emotion Spark and published by Owlcat Games.