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

This week, demons, spacefarers and raiders.

Re-Releases and Ports

Tales of Xillia Remastered (PC, PS5, Switch 1, Xbox X/S) is a remaster of the thirteenth game in Bandai Namco’s Tales series, originally released for PS3. It tells the tale of Jude, a medical student, and Milla, a spirit medium, as they journey through the world of Rieze Maxia, investigating the source of a device draining the world of its mana. Now with added quality of life improvements, and all non-licensed DLC included.

Mortal Kombat Legacy Kollection (PC, PlayStation, Switch, Xbox) is another one of Digital Eclipse’s excellent retro collection documentary packages. This time, it’s the Mortal Kombat franchise getting a retrospective, covering the first 10 years of the series. This means Mortal Kombat 1-4 (plus 3’s re-releases and the GBA editions) and Deadly Alliance, plus the spin-off games Mythologies: Sub-Zero and Special Forces, despite them both being terrible. All of this plus interviews with Ed Boon, John Tobias and other key members of the original team.

Following on from the Dragon Quest III remake, Square Enix have now brought us Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake (PC, PS5, Switch, Xbox X/S). The takes the first two Dragon Quest games and reworks them into the HD-2D style popularised by Octopath Traveler.

New Releases

Beneath (PC, PS5, Xbox X/S) is an old school horror FPS set in an ocean research facility where horrors from the deep threaten humanity. Developed by Camel 101 (Those Who Remain) and published by Wired Productions (Martha is Dead, The Town of Light, Karma: The Dark World).

MotionRec (PC) is a puzzle platformer where you need to use recordings of your movement to progress. For example, climbing a set of platforms in one part of the level can allow you to travel up through a passage elsewhere. Plus you get to play as a cute lil robot. Developed by Handsum and published by Playism.

Escape Simulator 2 (PC) is a virtual escape room, the sequel to the 2021 original, now with a new set of themes to puzzle your way through. These themes include a spaceship, a pirate expedition and Dracula’s Castle, with more themes promised post-launch. Developed by Pine Studio.

Death by Scrolling (PC) is the latest game from the legendary Ron Gilbert’s Terrible Toybox. However, unlike past works like Thimbleweed Park and Return to Monkey Island, this isn’t a point and click adventure. Instead, it’s a roguelike bullet hell set in a vertically scrolling Purgatory. Published by MicroProse.

What is a point and click adventure with connections to games from the 90s, however, is Simon the Sorcerer Origins (PC, PlayStation, Switch 1, Xbox). Developed by Smallthing Studios and published by ININ, this is a prequel to the 1993 Amiga adventure Simon the Sorcerer, bringing us an even earlier adventure in the young mage’s sorcery career. Red Dwarf’s Chris Barrie returns in the title role too.

Wreckreation (PC, PS5, Xbox X/S) is an arcade racer where cool stunts are the major draw. Plus you can build your own courses and challenge other players to drive through your maze of jumps and Hot Wheels loops. Developed by Three Fields and published by THQ Nordic.

he Séance of Blake Manor (PC) is a supernatural mystery game. You play as private investigator Declan Ward, who enters the mysterious Blake Manor during October in 1897 Ireland. Here he finds a group of mystics gearing up to speak to the dead, while he seeks to find a missing woman. Time is of the essence though, and every action ticks the clock down to your deadline. Perfect for the last day of spooky season then. Developed by Spooky Doorway (Darkside Detective) and published by Raw Fury.

Stray Children (PC, Switch 1) is the newest game from quirky Japanese indie dev Onion Games (Moon Remix RPG Adventure, Dandy Dungeon, Million Onion Hotel). It’s an RPG set in a world where adults have become horrific beasts while the children are holed up in a stronghold. You’re a small boy who ventures out with the goal of cleansing the souls of the Olders, to turn the adults back to normal.

ARC Raiders (PC, PS5, Xbox X/S) is a highly anticipated extraction shooter set in a future world devastated by machines, where bands of scavengers emerge from human strongholds underground to gather resources and battle against dangerous robots. Developed by Embark Studios (The Finals).

The Outer Worlds 2 (PC, PS5, Xbox X/S) is a sequel to Obsidian’s 2019 space RPG, now with a Microsoft budget. While it is a sequel to the first game, it’s also a standalone story with a fresh crew of space agents tasked with investigating rifts that threaten the colonies. Side note: it is not a sequel to the 2019 space exploration puzzle mystery The Outer Wilds.

Game of the Week

Game of the Week is Silly Polly Beast (PC, PS5, Xbox X/S), an action horror with punk sensibilities.

You play as Polly, a girl who manages to escape an orphanage only to find herself trapped in Hell. Now she fights to escape, taking on demons with a range of weaponry and her trusty skateboard. A mixture of top-down and side-scrolling fight sequences plus skateboarding obstacle sections.

It’s Halloween, so it feels only right to give Game of the Week to something spooky, and Silly Polly Beast really caught my attention. It’s a brash, punk take on the horror action genre, where the Doomslayer is a teenage girl with a skateboard that says “STFU” on it. Looks incredibly cool.

Developed by Andrei Chernyshov and published by Top Hat Studios (Frogun, Crypt Custodian, Labyrinth of the Demon King).