October 14 - 20

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IMAGE(https://www.gamerswithjobs.com/files/pictures/pictures/picture-13445.jpg)   Felix “Obra-Di Obra-Da” Threepaper

Welcome folks, and happy “953rd anniversary of the Battle of Hastings” week! You may all celebrate by playing a boss fight where you do well as long as you keep your defence up. But once you think you’re winning, you get too eager and drop your guard while going in for the kill. Then you get walloped.

The high volume of Fall 2019 releases continues apace. A bunch of decent games are coming to other platforms this week, including Six Ages: Ride Like the Wind, the enhanced editions of Baldur’s Gate, Planescape, and Icewind Dale, Return of the Obra Dinn and Children of Morta. Many of these got shoutouts on their original release, so it’s good to see a bit of cross-platform-pollination. Also, there’s an obscure, Polish-made, open-world RPG coming out on Switch. You probably haven’t heard of it, though. As a plucky underdog, hopefully The Witcher 3 will find the audience it deserves.

Felix the Reaper stole my Halloween name by sneakily coming up with it years before it even occurred to me. It’s a romantic comedy where you play as Felix, a cubicle jockey in the Ministry of Death. He has a crush on someone from the Ministry of Life and decides the best way to get noticed is to become a Reaper and harvest souls. The Grim Fandango-ish story plays out as a puzzle game: Felix has to navigate through grid-based environments, but can only move in shadows. You will have to manipulate things (including the sun itself) to create shadows. Plus, there’s a dancing mechanic, which may be related to the killing part. This could be either charming or infuriating.

Wands is a PSVR game that uses the PS4 motion controllers as the thing they resemble most. It’s an online wand battle that offers a wide variety of dueling spells and effects. It looks pretty, and the controllers are well-suited to the mechanics. The unfortunate reality is that you can never tell from watching VR promotional footage how fun it actually would be with the headset on.

Viking Chess: Hnefatafl is digital chess, but not as you know it. Viking Chess has different rules, which have been unearthed after painstaking research and historical study. It’s asymmetrical: white has half as many pieces and starts huddled in the middle of the board, while black sets up around all 4 edges. It’s probably the oldest original IP coming out this week.

Journey to the West is one of those epic tales that has everything you’d need to adapt into a big action-adventure videogame, but has never been adapted well. Sadly, that tradition continues this week with Monkey King: Hero is Back.

Stranded Sails: Explorers of the Cursed Islands is a cross-platform release that has all the right buzzwords: open-world adventure, quests, and crafting. There’s also farming. Lots of farming. You are shipwrecked on an island and have to survive, explore, and eventually escape. By all accounts the farming and cooking take up a significant chunk of your daily routine, so it feels like Stardew Valley with a bit of adventuring and combat sprinkled over the top. Which is basically Stardew Valley. I can’t shake the feeling that it looks like a port of a mobile game.

Ninja Warriors was not the first arcade game with crouching, but it was the first I remember where you could move while crouching. Thus was born my lifelong devotion to games that let you get down low. Anyhoo, The Ninja Saviors: Return of the Warriors is a remastered remake of the original side-scrollin’ beat-em-up, and it looks solid.The combat has been upgraded to add depth and the 5 playable characters offer significant variety in their movesets and playstyles. I can’t judge these arcade re-releases objectively. One look at their screenshots, and I stare wistfully up and to the left for a few minutes while I have an 80s flashback montage.

There’s something for everyone this week, save perhaps annualised sports game fans. Personally, I’m keen to check out the steampunk detective-work in Return of the Obra Dinn after hearing folks rave about it.

Here's the list, now in release-date order!

PC

  • 10-14

  • Stars End
  • Himno - The Silent Melody
  • YORG.io 3
  • Code Tracer
  • Gun Blaze
  • Counter Terrorism - Minesweeper
  • Rainbow Robin
  • >Connect
  • Super Club Soccer
  • Detective Solitaire. Butler Story
  • MAD Maze
  • Blood Runner
  • The Quarry
  • Victoriana - Steampunk Text Adventure
  • The Empire's Crisis
  • Vugluskr: Zombie Rampage
  • Morok
  • Hexterio
  • Golf98
  • Tank Impact
  • Our Homeland
  • Crystal core
  • Zombie valley
  • 10-15

  • Disco Elysium
  • Grandia HD Remaster
  • Spectro
  • Gear City Against Chaos
  • Jey's Empire
  • OUTBUDDIES
  • The Stars Between Us
  • Zombieland: Double Tap - Road Trip
  • Cryptofall: Investor simulator
  • The Magician's Research
  • Supesu 2
  • Morels: The Hunt
  • Wer weiss denn sowas? - Das 2. Spiel
  • Smile To Fly
  • GALAXIUM
  • Stalker Online
  • The White Butcher
  • Beetle Hunter
  • Active Neurons - Puzzle game
  • Ballade: with Memories
  • Epic Fun
  • Samurai Shodown: Basara
  • Earth Defense Force: Iron Rain
  • 10-16

  • Sole
  • Chernobylite
  • ShockRods
  • PING REDUX
  • Viking Chess: Hnefatafl
  • Musasabi
  • CARRUMBLE
  • Dark Fairy Fantasy
  • Screensavers VR
  • Little Red Riding Hood
  • FlyCatcher
  • The Legend of Crystal Valley
  • ZHED - Puzzle Game
  • Centralia: Homecoming
  • Haunted Gas Station
  • Lost Empire 2977
  • Knife Only
  • Drunk ride
  • Planet destroyer
  • Freud Gate
  • Voyagers
  • Git Gud or Get Rekt
  • 10-17

  • The Beast Inside
  • Kine
  • Six Ages: Ride Like the Wind
  • Felix the Reaper
  • Stranded Sails: Explorers of the Cursed Islands
  • Sea Salt
  • The Jackbox Party Pack 6
  • Surviving Medieval
  • Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes - Complete Edition
  • Disc Creatures
  • Cat Lady
  • Battle Planet: Judgement Day
  • Autonauts
  • Dark Miasma
  • Zunius
  • Monkey King: Hero is Back
  • Demon Pit
  • The Fisherman: Fishing Planet - Complete Edition
  • Rising Hell
  • Mars Power Industries Deluxe
  • King of Halloween
  • Little Big Workshop
  • Best Plumber
  • Language Worm
  • Pax Ruthenia
  • Earthlingo
  • TORINTO
  • Killjoy Hunter Yuuko
  • ef - the latter tale.
  • King Of Firearms
  • Moo Moo Move
  • Knifeboy
  • 10-18

  • The Dwarves of Glistenveld
  • Driven Out
  • Mutiny Island
  • Ice Age: Scrat's Nutty Adventure
  • Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth: Complete Edition
  • ThreeStep
  • Hanaby the Witch
  • TILTit
  • Elite Escape
  • Martian Law
  • Ghost Guns
  • Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville
  • Dungeon Chest
  • House Number 666
  • Why Is There A Girl In My House?!
  • MITING SIMULATOR
  • Cyborg Killer Mockba 2042
  • 1812: Napoleon Wars
  • Breeders of the Nephelym: Alpha
  • DEEPSEA
  • Sticky Paws
  • Figure Simulator War
  • Sageball
  • TsukaiFurush*taKotobaYaUtaWoMV
  • Find The Treasure
  • Biomagnet
  • MadCowBalls2
  • Null Drifter
  • Pamp Quest
  • Anime Tanks Arena
  • GraFi Halloween
  • Medieval - Embers of War
  • One Incident In A Small Town
  • A Dragon's Tale VR
  • Paradox Escape Route
  • Man Wreck
  • SisterFight
  • 10-19

  • The Volcano

PS4

  • 10-15

  • Children of Morta
  • Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition
  • The Fisherman: Fishing Planet
  • Planescape: Torment: Enhanced Edition / Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition
  • The Ninja Saviors: Return of the Warriors
  • Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition Collector's Pack
  • Zombieland: Double Tap - Road Trip
  • The Sims 4: Realm of Magic
  • Samurai Shodown: Basara
  • Wands
  • Just Ignore Them
  • Warzone VR
  • 10-16

  • Draw a Stickman: EPIC 2
  • 10-17

  • Monkey King: Hero is Back
  • Felix the Reaper
  • The Jackbox Party Pack 6
  • Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes - Complete Edition
  • Stranded Sails: Explorers of the Cursed Islands
  • Kine
  • The Fisherman: Fishing Planet - Complete Edition
  • Doors & Rooms
  • 10-18

  • Worbital
  • Driven Out
  • Ice Age: Scrat's Nutty Adventure
  • Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville
  • Megaquarium
  • Return of the Obra Dinn

Xbox One

  • 10-15

  • Children of Morta
  • Planescape: Torment: Enhanced Edition / Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition
  • Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition Collector's Pack
  • The Fisherman: Fishing Planet
  • Zombieland: Double Tap - Road Trip
  • The Sims 4: Realm of Magic
  • Samurai Shodown: Basara
  • 10-16

  • Sole
  • 10-17

  • Felix the Reaper
  • Stela
  • The Jackbox Party Pack 6
  • Stranded Sails: Explorers of the Cursed Islands
  • Kine
  • The Fisherman: Fishing Planet - Complete Edition
  • 10-18

  • Pig Eat Ball
  • Driven Out
  • Ice Age: Scrat's Nutty Adventure
  • Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville
  • Return of the Obra Dinn
  • Megaquarium

Switch

  • 10-15

  • Planescape: Torment: Enhanced Edition / Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition
  • The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Complete Edition
  • The Ninja Saviors: Return of the Warriors
  • Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition
  • Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition Collector's Pack
  • Zombieland: Double Tap - Road Trip
  • Overwatch
  • The Eyes of Ara
  • Billy Bomber
  • Samurai Shodown: Basara
  • 10-16

  • Little Town Hero
  • 10-17

  • Felix the Reaper
  • Rabi-Ribi
  • The Jackbox Party Pack 6
  • Stranded Sails: Explorers of the Cursed Islands
  • Where the Bees Make Honey
  • Kine
  • Domiverse
  • Summer Sweetheart
  • Sublevel Zero Redux
  • Battle Planet: Judgement Day
  • Sega Ages - Columns II: The Voyage Through Time
  • Sega Ages: Ichidant-R
  • Sea Salt
  • 10-18

  • A Hat in Time
  • Worbital
  • Pig Eat Ball
  • Ice Age: Scrat's Nutty Adventure
  • Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth: Complete Edition
  • Return of the Obra Dinn
  • Ring Fit Adventure
  • Megaquarium
  • Safari Pinball
  • ZikSquare
  • StarBlox Inc.

Vita

  • 10-15

  • Just Ignore Them

Comments

Disco Elysiam is suppose to be a detective cool cop rpg. I'm excited for that.

Journey to the West is one of those epic tales that has everything you’d need to adapt into a big action-adventure videogame, but has never been adapted well.

Enslaved: Odyssey To The West begs to differ!

I'd like to encourage the console players to take a long, hard look at Return of the Obra Dinn. That was an amazing experience for me, one of the best games in the last five years. It's a puzzle/mystery game, with only thinking and no action at all, but it is remarkable, a genuinely new thing in gaming, where new things are very scarce on the ground. The UI is mostly new, with many little niceties that come in very handy. It rewards play... experiment with it.

This a game that's best approached with child's mind; fool around with everything. Play with the UI, mess around with stuff, truly look at what you're seeing. As adults, it's so easy to gloss past things, and a lot of this game is about not doing that, about taking a step back and reconsidering what's been sitting right in front of you the whole time.

It's carefully constructed in a way I haven't often seen, meticulously crafted, and I wish I could play it again for the first time. I'm a little envious of those of you who haven't seen it yet.

Again: thinking game, not action. Space Invaders, this is not.

Disco Elysium is being buzzed so hard as one of the best RPGs of all time. I'd much rather buy that than:

the enhanced editions of Baldur’s Gate, Planescape, and Icewind Dale

Sadly, I fear these games need remakes for console and not straight ports. They're great games, all, but Eurogamer confirmed my fear that they are a pain to play on console. Perhaps others will feel differently, but considering I have a love/hate relationship with the mobile versions that borders the hate side that I'm not sure how a console port could make me want to drop $50 a pop for the two packs.

Disco Elysium seems like a nice evolution of the iso RPG. I'm all in for that.

Ninja Warriors isn't a game I ever saw in the arcade, but I loved them through MAME. Can't say I'll be buying these remakes because I've found beat em up remakes don't work for me anymore. Give me a new Dragon's Crown, not a remake of something from 1991.

That said, HCG loves it (shocking!):

For me, Return of the Obra Dinn was an amazing experience. I wonder if I've forgotten enough of it to play it again?

I enjoyed a second playthrough immediately after the first, so if it's been awhile, you'll probably have a good time. It'll never be like the first time through, but it's rewarding in a different way; you have more context for what you're seeing as the game progresses.

For others: I'm purposely being extremely vague about things, because I think this is a game best approached knowing as little as possible about it. "Puzzle/mystery game" is all you need, anything more will only detract, IMO.

garion333 wrote:

Disco Elysium is being buzzed so hard as one of the best RPGs of all time.

I breezed past Disco Elysium because the lead character looked very "Trevor from GTA 5", but now I've seen more trailers and ... wowee. If the game delivers on just half of what it's promising, it would still be a solid RPG.

I dont understand how I have entirely missed Disco Elysium.
I am disappointed GWJ forum. Because it surely cant be my fault.

Reviews are glowing.

Return of the Obra Dinn is indeed amazing. Not sure I really enjoyed playing it, but the design of the game is just spectacular.