April 10 – April 16

Section: 

IMAGE(https://www.gamerswithjobs.com/files/pictures/pictures/picture-5877.jpg)   Greg "Doubtingthomas396" Decker

Not much out this week, and I can’t say as I blame the developers from being skittish. Yooka Laylee, Team 17's successor to the Banjo Kazooie franchise, is clearly fixing to dominate the sales charts this week, and who wants to go up against a powerhouse like that?

I never played the original Banjo Kazooie. The N64 hit its stride while I was in college, and I was all about Goldeneye and Body Harvest (It’s not what it sounds like!) so I skipped most of the big Mario 64 clones out there (not that I played Mario 64 either, but that’s another story). Banjo Kazooie, though, seems to hold a special place in the hearts of the people who have played it, and after looking at some of the footage from the developers of Yooka Laylee, I can certainly see why.

So I pick Yooka Laylee as my game of the week, secure in the knowledge that I’ll get the full Banjo Kazooie experience, since it’s made by the developers of Banjo Kazooie, and has gameplay mechanics, art style, and a name that is just skirting the edge of inviting legal action.

Best pick it up on disc before the Cease and Desist order hits!

What else we got, gang?

IMAGE(https://www.gamerswithjobs.com/files/pictures/picture-111373-1483294321.jpg)   Chris "C" Cesarano

You wanna talk Cease and Desist, Greg, just check out the official "rap" song for Yooka Laylee. Personally, I went PlayStation that generation, for Final Fantasy VII. Squaresoft was the only company that could pull me away from Nintendo, and thus my nostalgia for that era is strictly populated by JRPGs, and absent of 3D platformers.

A lot of indies – some new and some old – hitting the PlayStation this week. We seem to have finally hit the triple-A drought where the little guy or gal finally gets to shine ... or, at least, they would, if they weren't surrounded by so many other little folks. StarBlood Arena looks to be the bully of the playground, and makes a good case for dusting off your PlayStation VR. Not only does it come with competitive game modes, there's also a single-player and co-op horde mode for those less interested in testing their skills against other – often younger – players. Speaking of the stars, Zeboyd Games releases their latest nostalgia wormhole back to the 16-bit era of JRPGs with Cosmic Star Heroine. It certainly looks to be an improvement over their prior offerings, but I'll need more info on whether those dungeons are as dreadfully tedious as those found in Penny Arcade: On the Rain Slick Precipice of Darkness: Episode 3.

I'm going to go all in on Crawl, however. A four-player dungeon crawl where the other three players control the monsters and traps of the dungeon, it seems like an excellent party game for enthusiast gamers. Or, perhaps, it's a perfect game for our Extra Life team members to come together and stream for a good time. Yes, my pick definitely goes to Crawl.

IMAGE(https://www.gamerswithjobs.com/files/pictures/pictures/picture-13445.jpg)   Felix “borne back ceaselessly into the past” Threepaper

When the list is this long, you can afford to be choosy. I’m rejecting Yooka Laylee on general principles – that spelling just irks me at a subconscious level. Besides, my kids have enough games to get on with.

The Game King posed a question around the 1-hour mark of GWJCC ep 546: Would you ever go back and play an earlier game in a franchise? This week, you get an opportunity to answer that for yourself, because there’s a remaster of 90s classic Planescape Torment coming out, hot on the heels of spiritual successor Torment: Tides of Numenera. Graphical and UI tweaks plus debugging go a long way to making the old faves hold up.

Another question people often ask me is: “What would it be like if Hotline Miami had higher-res graphics and a teleporting power?” Now I can finally answer: Mr. Shifty.

Groundhog Day was, among other things, a metaphor for video games. The Sexy Brutale brings it full circle by making you relive the same day over and over. It’s a murder mystery set inside a mansion-cum-casino, where guests are bumped off every few hours like it’s an Agatha Christie novel. I like the Jazz Age aesthetic, but even though the developer is called Cavalier Game Studios I can’t shake the strong Double Fine vibes, wherein the story may be stronger than the gameplay. Nevertheless, The Sexy Brutale did enough for me to put my monocle to my eye for a closer look, and for that, it gets my nod for the week.

IMAGE(https://www.gamerswithjobs.com/files/pictures/pictures/picture-1395.jpg)   Colleen “momgamer” Hannon

I’ve got two that stick out to me this week.

A Rose in the Twilight is a fairy tale that calls up the pathos and subtle Gothic horror of the original Grimm’s Fairy tales. It takes you back to a time when witches got shoved into ovens and wicked stepmothers danced in red-hot shoes. In a gray and dismal castle, torn and riddled with thorny briars, you guide Rose and her golem friend to find a way to free themselves and find out what happened. The puzzle mechanics are well done, but even with little dialog, it’s the character and the atmospheric story that grip you and drive you through the often brutally dark glimpses of the events that drained the color out of that world and what it will take to put it back.

On the other side of the coin, one of the Goodgers recently gifted me the PC version of Stardew Valley to brighten my day. And I can say that it has done that. I do a lot of tending in whatever game I am playing, and this is a quiet but surprisingly deep farming simulation with enough adventuring elements to make it captivating. It’s nearly as bad as bad as Civ for “one more day and then I’ll go to bed” negotiating with myself, and the accompanying leaden eyes the next day when the negotiations break down. The PS4 and XboxOne versions come out this week, with a collector’s edition including the town map, guidebook, and a code for the soundtrack. If you think Carrots and Chill would be a good way to spend an evening, you might want to take a look at it. Even though I already have the game I’m tempted just for the feelies; it’s been awhile since we’ve seen any good ones, and maybe I’ll stop getting lost in Pelican Town with a proper map.

This week:

PC

  • A Rose in the Twilight
  • Asura
  • Battle for Enlor
  • Cat Meat
  • Cluckles' Adventure
  • Cosmic Star Heroine
  • Creekside Creep Invasion
  • Cryptocracy
  • Cyborg Tower Defense
  • Endless Horde
  • Fibrillation HD
  • Getaway Island
  • Hide vs. Seek
  • Japanese Women - Animated Jigsaws
  • Kingdom of Loot
  • Mr. Shifty
  • Need For Drink
  • Planescape: Torment - Enhanced Edition
  • Ready for Take off - A320 Simulator
  • Shock Tactics
  • Snow Moto Racing Freedom
  • Soma Spirits: Rebalance
  • Star Story: The Horizon Escape
  • Station 21 - Space Station Simulator
  • Storm Raiders
  • The Safeguard Garrison 2
  • The Sexy Brutale
  • The Wild Eternal
  • Yooka-Laylee

PS4

  • A Rose in the Twilight
  • Aaero
  • Cosmic Star Heroine
  • Crawl
  • Euro Fishing
  • Fairune
  • Kero Blaster
  • Lichtspeer
  • Rolling Bob
  • Snow Moto Racing Freedom
  • Starblood Arena
  • Stardew Valley Collector's Edition
  • Symphony of the Machine
  • The Sexy Brutale
  • Yooka-Laylee

Xbox One

  • Aaero
  • Crawl
  • Stardew Valley Collector's Edition
  • The Sexy Brutale
  • Yooka-Laylee

Switch

  • The Jackbox Party Pack 3

3DS

  • Scoop'n Birds

Vita

  • A Rose in the Twilight
  • Lichtspeer

Vive

  • Solaright

Comments

IMAGE(http://cdn.edgecast.steamstatic.com/steam/apps/552590/header.jpg?t=1491399830)

Sexy Brutale looks amazing.

I've been hearing nothing but bad stuff about Yooka-Laylee's performance issues, though a patch is supposedly dropping. I have a feeling it's gonna end up being a bust.

I'm likely to buy Stardew Valley again simply to support the dev. I own it on PC but have yet to fire it up as I have so many time sinks already! Ah, life.

Props to the devs of Cyborg Tower Defense for putting the words "tower defense" in the title. That seems like a bad move in 2017.

Kingdom of Loot says "loot" in it so I went ahead and checked it out. Looks like Secret of Mana, but with Diablo mixed in. Heck, even the devs describe it that way. Turns out it's also an MMO. I'm not finding any buzz about this, so to the Wishlist it goes!

garion333 wrote:

Kingdom of Loot says "loot" in it so I went ahead and checked it out. Looks like Secret of Mana, but with Diablo mixed in. Heck, even the devs describe it that way. Turns out it's also an MMO. I'm not finding any buzz about this, so to the Wishlist it goes!

As I don't game on PC much I actually haven't been looking over Steam's list of releases (the PS4 is starting to rival it, but often enough it just has delayed releases that have been out on Steam for a while so my picks tend to be late to the party). This sounds like something that could be awesome or terrible, though.

I'm really particular in my preference for how games handle loot, and considering I prefer Destiny's drop rates over Borderlands' I'm going to assume my preference is the less popular one.

Cosmic Star Heroine and Yooka-Laykee... at some point.

Aaron D. wrote:

IMAGE(http://cdn.edgecast.steamstatic.com/steam/apps/552590/header.jpg?t=1491399830)

Sexy Brutale looks amazing.

Agreed. I didn't even know this game was in the works, but it looks and sounds incredible!

brokenclavicle wrote:

Cosmic Star Heroine and Yooka-Laykee... at some point.

I have a feeling that just about everything released in April will suddenly see a spike in sales in June or July when everyone's finally done with the massive time investments of the first three months.

ccesarano wrote:
brokenclavicle wrote:

Cosmic Star Heroine and Yooka-Laykee... at some point.

I have a feeling that just about everything released in April will suddenly see a spike in sales in June or July when everyone's finally done with the massive time investments of the first three months.

That seems about right. Also, I forgot about Crawl adn The Sexy Brutale. Too many darn games, I say. Too many!

I really hope Bayonetta PC can be added to the list after tomorrow

doubtingthomas396 wrote:

They did...ish.

Wow.

Mario_Alba wrote:
Aaron D. wrote:

IMAGE(http://cdn.edgecast.steamstatic.com/steam/apps/552590/header.jpg?t=1491399830)

Sexy Brutale looks amazing.

Agreed. I didn't even know this game was in the works, but it looks and sounds incredible!

FWIW, Jim Sterling posted a very glowing review of it today. Wishlisted!

MeatMan wrote:
Mario_Alba wrote:
Aaron D. wrote:

IMAGE(http://cdn.edgecast.steamstatic.com/steam/apps/552590/header.jpg?t=1491399830)

Sexy Brutale looks amazing.

Agreed. I didn't even know this game was in the works, but it looks and sounds incredible!

FWIW, Jim Sterling posted a very glowing review of it today. Wishlisted!

Wow, he really loved the game! I think the art style is fantastic. I watched a Dev Diary in which the team says Spanish artist Enrique Fernández did the designs. I've always found his style very interesting, and Tequila Works really have turned his 2D drawings into great 3D models without losing any of their flavor. I will definitely be getting this game in the future!

Wow, this is Cosmic Star Heroine week? That's news to me as I haven't seen a Kickstarter update from them since they announced the release date over a month ago. That's... kinda unusual, so hopefully they're just heads down shipping it Most projects usually send out some sort of blast during launch week as a reminder and with details on how to get your keys. Weird.

ccesarano wrote:
doubtingthomas396 wrote:

They did...ish.

Wow.

Well that is how people found the countdown website in the first place. Personally I'm hoping it's more than a PC port, simply because people love that series and that would mean Platinum still has something to work on after Nier: Automata.

BAYONETTA PC! Out today!

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!

http://store.steampowered.com/agecheck/app/460790/

*mind blown*

THAT came out of freakin' nowhere :O

pyxistyx wrote:

*mind blown*

THAT came out of freakin' nowhere :O

Other than the countdown they've had going since April 1, you mean.

I've been too busy either with homework or on Origin (mass effect) or the PS4 (Persona), so I've barely even registered anything that's been happening on steam over the last few weeks

So, honest question:

For reasons I won't go into, I skipped Bayonetta when it first came out, and never played the sequel.

I've since come around on those unmentioned reasons, but I want to know if it holds up as a fun game in 2017, or would I be better served getting something else. Thoughts?

I just played Bayonetta for the first time a few months ago (a member of The Pile for years at that point) and I liked it as much as any game in the past couple of years. Certainly more than just about anything I've tried to pull off The Pile.

doubtingthomas396 wrote:

I've since come around on those unmentioned reasons, but I want to know if it holds up as a fun game in 2017,

f*ck. Yes.

There is literally no better character action-brawler out there today (except arguably its sequel).

That said, the "fun" of the story and cut-scenes is highly arguable. If madcap stories that don't make a lick of sense are your thing, you'll be in great shape. If questionable design choices that don't so much skirt around misogyny as entire-bloody-wardrobe-around-it are your thing, you'll also be in good shape.

In 2017 it and its sequel are still basically the best you can get in the action genre.

Have there been any other notable action titles since then? DMC/Ninja Gaiden/etc. all seem to have died off outside of Platinum's other games.

Very interested in Cosmic Star Heroine, which from what I've gathered is a fairly faithful tribute to Chrono Trigger's mechanics and art style. Out now on Steam as of just a couple of hours ago.

So what I hear everyone saying, re Bayonetta, is:

everyone wrote:

Greg should wait for a sale.

It's a game on Steam. I assume that "wait for a sale" is an implicit part of every recommendation. Only idiots and suckers pay much for PC games.

garion333 wrote:

Have there been any other notable action titles since then? DMC/Ninja Gaiden/etc. all seem to have died off outside of Platinum's other games.

Honestly Dark Souls has kind of come in and stole the thunder of what was already a niche genre. I feel like other titles exist, but they're mostly lower budget (there's a series on Steam and slowly releasing on PS4 that I think begins with M that I can't for the life of me remember the name of). And this is also disregarding everyone's efforts to imitate the supremely slow in comparison God of War.

So, yeah, part of the reason that Bayonetta is the best of the best is that there's not a lot of competition right now except from Platinum themselves. However, DmC: Devil May Cry was released since then and Capcom has since rereleased DMC4 and neither are as good.

I did my damndest to not mention Dark Souls and you went and did it!

But in this instance I didn't mention it in the "Man, I wish every game were Dark Souls" admiration. It's a fact that you just can't avoid. Actually, it makes me think of Shamus Young's observation on the difference in A.I. in Halo compared to prior shooters. Quake and Doom were very twitchy and required quick mouse movements and circle strafing, and while you can certainly circle strafe in Halo, the game is much more about sticking with cover. Enemy A.I. tends to only advance under certain situations and also uses cover, meaning it is possible to take your time.

Dark Souls is tough, but it's also slower. It is probably counter-intuitive to say, but this makes it more accessible than what action games have been in Japan up to this point. Compare Dark Souls to Ninja Gaiden 2, where you have to keep moving and where removing limbs from enemies just makes them deadlier. It's fast-paced and you can't just stop and say "Wait, but what if there's an enemy hiding in that shadow?"

Halo was more accessible because it slowed down the battlefield and changed how you think about your weapons. Dark Souls is brutal like DMC and Ninja Gaiden, but at a slower rate that more or less blends action and RPG. As such, a Western audience that's been absorbing slower-paced Western RPG's for years is going to find it more accessible, and by appealing to a Western audience the bigger Japanese developers are going to start abandoning the slicker, fast-paced genre that, again, was already niche.

This is all theoretically, by the way. Obviously "citation needed" and all that sh*t.

That's pretty dang insightful.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

Only idiots and suckers pay much for PC games.

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/hC2hEYh.png)

/s