October 23 – October 29

Section: 

IMAGE(https://www.gamerswithjobs.com/files/pictures/pictures/picture-5877.jpg)   Greg “DoubtingThomas396” Decker

It’s crowded in here, with all these elephants in the room. I might even pick one of them as my game of the week, but first you have to suffer through a couple of bad jokes and information dumps about smaller games that I’m interested in.

First off, Analemma is not what it sounds like. It’s basically another company trying to be the next Talos Principle by combining environmental puzzles with concepts from PHI-201 textbooks.

Ultimate Spinner Simulator: Unstress Yourself is a mouthful of a game without much substance to it. I’d say even calling it a game is a stretch, but it looks like a fun stress-relieving toy where you can pick your spinner and then use it to blow things up in slow-motion. Stress-relieving explosions? Yes please!

Finally, in keeping with the season, Nightmare Boy looks to be an exquisitely animated metroidvania game in which you try to rescue sleeping children from a world of nightmares. Any other week, and this one would have been my pick, if only because of dat art.

My pick for Game of the Week, however, shouldn’t surprise anyone. (Well, maybe it will surprise Chris). I’m going with Super Mario Odyssey. If Nintendo did half as good a job as they did with Breath of the Wild, I’m very excited. If they at least managed to make it better than Super Mario 3D World, I’ll count it as a win.

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

As Halloween comes to a close and Thanksgiving begins to loom like a harvest moon, the games industry prepares to release everything it can in anticipation of those December holiday sales. Ubisoft is releasing Assassin's Creed: Origins this week. After a year off from new releases, they've decided what the series was really missing was a chance to find a +5 Golden Bow of Loosing Arrows. I'm sure that will get some folks salivating for dopamine hits, but it only satisfies my decision to forever abandon the franchise once the very act of assassination became a tertiary priority.

The real shock is the typically-cynical-tie-in The Mummy Demastered. Universal hired studio WayForward to handle the movie tie-in. Rather than play as Tom Cruise, however, the game takes a similar stab to Metroidvania as their Nintendo DS release Aliens: Infestation. In that handheld game, the player was able to find and recruit a variety of soldiers, all of whom could permanently die. It was an interesting twist that was suitable to the franchise, and in The Mummy Demastered it is being changed around by allowing an unlimited number of playable soldiers. The twist is any soldier who died will now be a servant of the evil titular mummy, and they'll possess all the gear and skills you did upon death. It releases on all platforms currently considered relevant except the Nintendo 3DS.

I don't know why Greg thinks I'd be surprised he's choosing Super Mario Odyssey as his Game of the Week. Perhaps we debated the merits of 3D Mario games in the past, but I'd have truly been surprised if Nintendo were releasing Splatoon 3 and he excitedly chose that for his pick. I'd normally choose Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus, but as it won't be releasing on the Nintendo Switch until early 2018 I'll be snagging the plumber's latest adventure as well. Rejoice, Switch owners, for Super Mario Odyssey finally arrives this Friday!

IMAGE(https://www.gamerswithjobs.com/files/pictures/pictures/picture-13445.jpg)   Felix “Don’t Ptolemy Assassin’s Creed is good again” Threepaper

I’m old enough to remember when capping Nazis in games was so uncontroversial as to be clichéd. Suddenly, it’s a bold political statement. I wonder if in 10 years or so we will get earnest treatises on whether it’s moral to punch zombies. By then I’ll probably be drooling in a corner somewhere with VR gear on.

Anyhoo, Wolfenstein II sure looks good this week. It’s set in a 1961 America that’s been overrun by Nazis. The terrifically fun dual-wielding is back, there’s cool new weapons like the dieselkraftwerk, and it adds what shooters have been missing for years: stilts. This could be more politically relevant than maybe it was intended to be, back when it started development in 2016.

However, Wolfenstein II was robbed. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but Assassin’s Creed: Origins is my pick this week. I haven’t played a Creed game since Black Flag, and I didn’t finish the 2 before that one, fatigued as I was with the feature bloat. Therefore, Ubisoft throwing out so much trademark Creed bathwater is precisely what appeals to me about Origins: Climbing towers to unlock map? Gone. Proto-Batman move/counter combat? Gone. Eagle vision? Gone. The remaining baby is an odd mix of Dark Souls, Far Cry Primal and a touch of naval combat – it may be funny-looking, but dang if it isn’t enough to get me interested in this series again.

IMAGE(https://www.gamerswithjobs.com/files/pictures/picture-103324-1484747184.jpg)   Erik "Wordsmythe" Hanson

Shoot, I'll pick Nazi-shooting for Game of my Week, and I'll admit that two years ago I probably would have rolled my eyes and skipped it, like I have with all Wolfensteins since the Barney mod, and largely have for all shooters featuring Nazis for about a decade now.

Yes, a couple years ago it would have been uncontroversial to shoot Nazis, even if we're literally talking about uniformed military of an occupying force from an invading foreign nation under the command of ol' Flophair McToothbrush Mustache himself. Still, who knows what'll be beyond the pale by the time any planned DLC calendar has run? (I'm curious/horrified to find out!) If it makes folks feel better, I'll see what options there are for a pacifist run as I play.

This week:

PC

  • Achievement Hunter: Thief
  • AER: Memories of Old
  • Analemma
  • Assassin's Creed Origins
  • AZURA
  • Ballistic Mini Golf
  • Battlevoid: Sector Siege
  • Beyond the Wall
  • Blackberry Honey
  • Bouncy Bob
  • Chapter I: First steps
  • Cross Set Infinity
  • Cube Monster
  • Deer Hunter: Reloaded
  • Destiny 2
  • Don't Make Love
  • Dragon Perception
  • Dream Hills: Captured Magic
  • Element Hime
  • Elyse the Devil
  • Engare
  • Fantasia of the Wind
  • Flightless
  • Forgotten Light
  • Ghostory
  • Glo
  • Grace of Zordan
  • Greedy Trolley
  • High Hell
  • Hot Pool
  • House of Velez part 1
  • I Am Overburdened
  • Icycle: On Thin Ice
  • Indygo
  • Inflatality
  • JellyNoid
  • Kaet Must Die!
  • Kaniman vs Mega Monkey
  • Last Toon Standing
  • Light of Mine
  • LOGistICAL: USA - New York
  • Love all you have left
  • Mad Age And This Guy
  • Mahjong Magic Islands
  • Make Border Great Again!
  • Maze Up!
  • Meltys Quest
  • Micro Miners
  • Misao: Definitive Edition
  • My Loved Heart
  • Nightingale Downs
  • Nightmare Boy
  • Nights of Azure 2: Bride of the New Moon
  • Nullysun
  • Numantia
  • Occultus: Mediterranean Cabal
  • Ocean's Crabellum
  • OneScreen Wagons
  • PAWARUMI
  • Pill Cosbi
  • Power of The Void
  • Princess of Tavern
  • Prologue
  • Quantum Pilot
  • Radar Warfare
  • Road Rage
  • Robin of Loxley the Legend of Sherwood
  • Rogue Quest: The Vault of the Lost Tyrant
  • Rugby 18
  • Santa's Workshop
  • Scream Collector
  • Secrets of Magic 2: Witches and Wizards
  • Shiver
  • SIMULACRA
  • Soldier of Failure
  • SQR 3
  • Swarm Queen
  • The Girl on the Train
  • The Mummy Demastered
  • The Occupant
  • The Succubi Trap
  • The Ultimate Trivia Challenge
  • This Grand Life
  • Trapped Within
  • Ultimate Spinner Simulator: Unstress Yourself
  • Violent Vectors
  • Wanderlust
  • Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus
  • Xenomarine
  • Yomawari: Midnight Shadows
  • Z-End

PS4

  • AER: Memories of Old
  • Assassin's Creed Origins
  • Chaos Child
  • Deer Hunter: Reloaded
  • Fishing Master
  • Fort Defense North Menace
  • Hidden Agenda
  • Just Dance 2018
  • Knowledge is Power
  • Little Nightmares Complete Edition
  • Mahjong Royal Towers
  • Nights of Azure 2: Bride of the New Moon
  • Numantia
  • Rapala Fishing Pro Series
  • Rugby 18
  • SingStar Celebration
  • Slayaway Camp: Butcher's Cut
  • Stunt Kite Masters
  • The Inner World: The Last Wind Monk
  • The Mummy Demastered
  • We Sing Pop!
  • Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus
  • Yomawari: Midnight Shadows

Xbox One

  • AER: Memories of Old
  • Assassin's Creed Origins
  • Deer Hunter: Reloaded
  • Just Dance 2018
  • Little Nightmares Complete Edition
  • Numantia
  • Rapala Fishing Pro Series
  • Rugby 18
  • The Inner World: The Last Wind Monk
  • The Mummy Demastered
  • We Sing Pop!
  • Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus

Switch

  • Just Dance 2018
  • Knight Terrors
  • Nights of Azure 2: Bride of the New Moon
  • Nights of Azure 2: Bride of the New Moon
  • Poi: Explorer Edition
  • Redout
  • Splasher
  • Super Mario Odyssey
  • The Mummy Demastered
  • This Is The Police

Wii U

  • Just Dance 2018

3DS

  • Worcle Worlds

Vita

  • Chaos Child
  • Summon Night 6: Lost Borders
  • Yomawari: Midnight Shadows

RIFT

  • Athenian Acropolis
  • Bits n Bullets
  • Bygone Worlds: Jerusalem
  • Crawl Space: The Mansion
  • Cyber Arena
  • Fly Destroyer
  • Gun Club VR
  • Mind Sweeper VR
  • Power Tools VR
  • Roman Sacrifice in Cordoba
  • SojournVR

Vive

  • Athenian Acropolis
  • Bits n Bullets
  • Bygone Worlds: Jerusalem
  • Crawl Space: The Mansion
  • Cyber Arena
  • CYCOM: Cybernet Combat
  • Fly Destroyer
  • Gun Club VR
  • House Dating VR: Cute Korean Girl, Sehyun
  • Power Tools VR
  • Roman Sacrifice in Cordoba
  • SojournVR
  • Tactical AR
  • Voxel Tank VR

Comments

I don't know why Greg thinks I'd be surprised he's choosing Super Mario Odyssey as his Game of the Week.

Because whenever Greg mentions NIntendo it's usually followed by some sort of insult.

The Mummy Demastered is on my short list. It's basically WayForward's sequel to Aliens Infestation, which was basically Contra shoved into a Metroidania game.

I'm passingly interested in Nights of Azure 2 even if I never did pickup the original, even on sale. It's Gust (known for the alechmical Atelier series) doing an action RPG, which is novel enough to be interesting. Not novel enough to buy, apparently.

Pill Cosbi

Ick

Shootin'

Stabbin'

Killin' Nazis for me this week.

It's therapeutic.

This week is nuts.

Zeku in Street Fighter V.

Destiny 2 PC.

Mario Odyssey.

Stranger Things season 2.

Ahhhh!

Is it Friday yet? I'm so ready for Super Mario Odyssey.

Just call me Terror Billy. Going to kill me some Nazis.

Galahad the Chaste wrote:

Look, it's my duty as a knight to sample as much peril as I can.

Regarding the ongoing conversation about the number of Steam releases each week:

wordsmythe wrote:

Regarding the ongoing conversation about the number of Steam releases each week:

That's almost an hour long. Could you provide a time stamp to jump to for the relevance to the quantity of Steam releases?

https://youtu.be/RLzMl7pBLAE?t=21m33s

Doesn't seem to be making it through the BBCode, but it's in there.

Wolfenstein. I'm excited!