Hello! Welcome to the latest Geeky Brummie Games Release Roundup!
This week, happy little trucks, Master Chief and too many dark fantasy worlds.
The Gothic remake came out earlier this year, but for those looking for the original experience, Gothic Classic comes to PlayStation and Xbox this week. This open world RPG was a genre pioneer in 2001, with its story built around a fantasy prison that you are desperately trying to escape. For PC and Switch players wondering if they’ll get to play this, the game has been on Steam and the eShop for a while now.
In the only re-release this week that doesn’t originate from the turn of the millennium, Xenoblade Chronicles 2 comes to Switch 2 this week. This update to Monolithsoft’s sprawling RPG series’ Switch 1 debut adds 4K resolution plus new modes and outfits. You play as Rex, a scavenger in a world set atop the backs of giant beasts in an endless cloud sea. After one mission results in him becoming linked to a being known as a Blade, he sets off on a huge quest. Also features Welsh cat people, which I feel is important to point out.
World of Warcraft and RuneScape have already done it, so now it’s time for another classic MMO to revert to its early days. EverQuest Legends turns the clock back to 1999 and one of the earliest MMOs to take over the market. However, it retains one thing from the modern era: microtransactions. So beware.
In our rapid-fire roundup, our obligatory cosy game of the week is Leafy Corner (PC, PS5, Switch 1, Xbox X/S / Fireline Games) where you run a little plant shop. We also have two exploration-based games in surreal worlds but very different vibes. Broken Reality 2000 (PC, Xbox / Dynamic Media Triad, Digital Tribe) imagines what the Metaverse would look like at the turn of the millennium, while Plum Road Tea Dream (PC / Samuel Baidoo, Reveal Game Studio) is an autobiographical exploration of worlds representing healing and reflection through the eyes of its queer creator.
For puzzle fans, there are a couple of games out this week. Go North (PC, Xbox X/S / gazuntype) sees a young girl figuring her way through a maze to reach a god that will grant her greatest wish while Rita (PC / SporkTank) stars a bird who advances through the world by solving crosswords.
Two action roguelikes this week. MineGeon: Renegades (PC / Kickstone Studio) is a sci-fi roguelike bullet hell twin stick shooter where you delve deep into a mysterious planet while Kusan: City of Wolves (PC, PS5, Switch 1, Xbox X/S / CirclefromDot, PQube) asks the bold question, what if Hotline Miami starred a bunch of canines?
Okay, I am going to politely ask game developers everywhere to please stop making brutally hard RPGs set in dark, dying worlds. There are six of them this week, and they’re getting increasingly difficult to write about. Both Skills & Raids (PC / Eddie H. Hinestroza) (link) and Shards of Order (PC / Fardust, Awaken Realms) (link) take obvious influence from Darkest Dungeon while Forsaken Realms: Vahrin’s Call (PC / Titan Roc) (link) and The Relic: First Guardian (PC, PS5, Xbox / Project Cloud Games, Perp Games) (link) are very much in the Soulslike realm. Lunarium (PC / Lunarium Studio) is a more top-down Tunic-like affair and has the benefit of at least having an interesting art style with some colour in it, so this one does stand out from the crowd.
Turnip Mountain (PC, PlayStation, Switch 1, Xbox) is a 2D physics-based climbing game where you control a turnip with two thumbsticks or two mice (yes, really), one for each arm. What do you mean, turnips don’t have arms? They do now. And you have to control one of them across an increasingly tricky obstacle course. Developed by Luke Sanderson and published by JanduSoft.
Signy and Mino: Against All Gods (PC) is a cartoony RPG about a girl tasked with taking down a god. And the way she does this is through a combo-based combat system, where her dog is a tag team partner. Also, genuinely love the subtitle. That’s what Phil Collins should have been singing about the whole time. Developed by AN Productions and published by Armor Games Studio.
Machine Party (PC) is a multiplayer game where you and your friends are forced into a deadly game. You must complete minigames to survive, where failure results in a horrible death. It’s Squid Game but without the shiny artifice, as this is grimy and horrible and unashamed of its serial killer aesthetic. Comes from Mike Klubnika, who also made the equally grimy Buckshot Roulette.
It’s been a while, but the third game in the Truxton series has arrived. Truxton Extreme (PC, PS5, Switch 2, Xbox X/S) is a sequel to both Truxton from 1988 and Truxton II from 1992, and adds a manga style story mode and bullet hell boss fights. Developed by Tatsujin and published by Clear River Games.
Corsair Cove (PC) is a city builder but instead of managing plumbing in a modern-day city, you are in charge of a growing colony in the age of piracy. You set up shop on a deserted island, using the local resources and the spoils from your piratical exploits to grow the colony into a paradise of thieves. Arr! Developed by Limbic Entertainment and published by Hooded Horse.
The sixth of our dying world RPGs this week has unfortunately got quite a bit of hype behind it, so I have to dedicate a paragraph to it. Mistfall Hunter (PC, PS5, Xbox X/S) is set in your standard corrupted world where the Gods have abandoned humanity, etc. The twist here is that as well as a Soulslike, this is also an extraction…slasher(???) where you gather loot to bolster your abilities until you can obtain the Soul of Return to leave this accursed land. While I have made it clear I find little of interest here myself, I do respect that there are a lot of Souls-heads who seem to be into this one. Good for them! Developed by Bellring Games and published by Skystone Games.
While you absolutely shouldn’t be buying Xbox games right now due to their persistent fumbling of, well, everything at present (the BDS boycott is also a solid reason too), Halo: Campaign Evolved (PC, PS5, Xbox X/S) is yet another reworking of the original Halo (following Halo Anniversary and The Master Chief Collection). This time, however, it’s just the main campaign, so no multiplayer for you, and a few tweaked mechanics inspired by the sequels. Don’t worry, regardless of how well this does, I’m sure Microsoft will almost certainly fire the entire team by Christmas.
Game of the Week is Truck-kun is Supporting Me From Another World?! (PC, Xbox X/S) Yes, I’m serious.
I suppose this needs some explanation. You see, in anime and manga circles, “Truck-kun” is the affectionate nickname given to the vehicle that runs over your standard issue isekai protagonist, sending their soul into a fantasy realm where suddenly they are the brave hero and every woman wants to have sex with them. Usually in series with titles like Didn’t I Say to Make My Abilities Average in the Next Life?! (a real title, by the way).
Well, indie madman Xalavier Nelson Jr and his team at Strange Scaffold have taken that concept and taken it to its absurd logical conclusion. You drive Truck-kun, a happy little k-truck with magical powers, acting in service to an elf girl in an isekai fantasy realm. As she fights, you drive and smash into everything in your way to strengthen her abilities.
Perhaps I didn’t make myself clear two weeks ago when my Game of the Week was about trains doing kickflips, but I live for this kind of weird nonsense in games. It’s Crazy Taxi meets Katamari Damacy with anime tropes and it looks completely bonkers. Plus it gets Game of the Week for that title on its own.
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