November 25 - December 1

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

Welcome, and happy Thanksgiving week! US-based GWJers don’t need me to tell them how to celebrate. The rest of us are just left to wonder why our favourite podcasts and live roundtable RPG series skip a week.

This week, the celebration of plenty translates to a week of (relative) empty. We get the rare breather after the last couple of jam-packed months, and the leftovers of previous weeks’ releases still taste good. For the first time in 2019, the PC release list has fewer than 100 titles. For that, I am grateful.

Choose-your-own-adventure-style gamebooks have been steadily converted into video games in recent years, and I’m here for it. The latest is Deathtrap Dungeon Trilogy coming to the Switch this week. Fighting Fantasy books are what RPG nerds who couldn’t get together a D&D group did before the Gold Box games came out. Deathtrap Dungeon holds a special place in my heart for being my gateway to the whole series. It had a sequel, Trial of Champions, which itself had a sequel: Army of Darkness. This isn’t a simple PDF with some UI splashed over it—Nomad have taken the relatively simple “3 stats, 2 dice” system from the books and added layers: card collection, dice upgrades, leveling up, and character persistence throughout the 3 books. It looks intriguing to me, but I can’t tell whether someone who wasn’t nostalgic for Fighting Fantasy would enjoy these games on their own merits.

If reading about all this just makes you want to revisit (or visit) the gamebooks themselves, well, there’s a thread for that! Other GWJ folks have been talking over here.

Story of a Gladiator is a side-scrollin’ beat ‘em up, except you scroll in circles because you’re in an arena. It looks like a higher-end phone game, but has it got enough to hold your attention on a bigger screen?

Soccer: Tactics & Glory, aka Football: Tactics & Glory depending on how your sports are region-coded, is a console port of the PC title from 2018. It’s XCOM, but football/soccer. Matches are turn-based, your players earn XP and unlock skills, and the slightest opposition contact can result in permadeath. I’m not so sure about that last part, but player stats will affect whether a pass hits the mark. It presents interesting choices within the risk/reward calculus, as you weigh whether to pass around safely and build up slowly for goal, or take your best winger on a scorching run. There’s also a decently fleshed out management sim on top of the matches, but not nearly as hefty as the pure management sims like Football Manager. It’s refreshing to see familiar features of turn-based tactics games in a non-combat setting. Sounds like the thing to finally get me into non-cricket sports games. GOTW.

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

PC

  • 11-25

  • Zulin Time
  • Lavender
  • The Sphere of Abyss
  • ID-EGO
  • Starlight
  • The Adventures of Willow and Ash
  • Mega Balls
  • VR Katherine
  • NUVAVULT
  • Unlit
  • Helm Realm
  • 6.0
  • Battle Dome Redux
  • Seek Longevity
  • Tides of Existence
  • Arrow
  • Escape the Ayuwoki
  • 11-26

  • Chemically Bonded
  • End of Realms
  • Shoot Them
  • Go Ane Yuushi
  • Ortolan
  • Toy Robot
  • Seraphic Destroyer
  • Jingjie
  • Biological Knowledge Fighting Competition
  • 11-27

  • Widget Satchel
  • Re-O-Ri
  • SD Gundam G Generation Cross Rays
  • ArtFormer the Game
  • Story of a Gladiator
  • Rock Simulator
  • Wars of the Roses
  • Ruthless Conquest
  • The Dis-United States Of America
  • unitied
  • Creme de la Creme
  • 11-28

  • Roah
  • Pixel Force
  • Pax Ruthenia
  • Fateless
  • Elette Fragments
  • TAISHO x ALICE episode 1
  • Speed Masters ASD
  • Oceans We Make
  • Lab Runner: X
  • Corridor Crusaders
  • Draft Day Sports: Pro Basketball 2020
  • G-Robocorp
  • Noble Woman's Pastries
  • Gang District
  • 11-29

  • The Deer
  • Neon Noodles
  • Fear the Dark Unknown
  • OVER LIMIT
  • Cumulus
  • Quantumleaper
  • Build 'm up, Shoot 'm down!
  • Miracle Calamity Homeostasis
  • Dangerous Blaster
  • Displace
  • Yuri Ovalnay's Bizarre Adventure
  • Bunny Sudoku
  • PixelCraft VR
  • you are pig sitter
  • Alien Invasion 3D part 2
  • Sanic The Hawtdawg: Da Movie: Da Game 2.1: Electric Boogaloo 2.2 Version 4: The Squeakquel: VHS Edition: Directors cut: Special edition: The Musical & Knackles
  • Blaster Master Zero II
  • Blaster Master Zero II: Copen
  • Runoveryou
  • Tower Climb
  • Cowboys vs Hipsters
  • Nexomon
  • Dragon Stone - Legendary Archer
  • Plasmoid
  • MMA President
  • 12-01

  • Beat Beauty

PS4

  • 11-25

  • Brain In Retro
  • True Fear: Forsaken Souls - Part 2
  • 11-26

  • Hellmut: The Badass from Hell
  • Soccer: Tactics & Glory
  • Gas Guzzlers Extreme
  • The Escapists / The Escapists 2
  • Bleep Bloop
  • FoxyLand
  • Pic-a-Pix Classic 2
  • Story of a Gladiator
  • 11-27

  • Golazo!
  • TheNightfall
  • 11-29

  • Five Nights at Freddy's HD
  • Where the Water Tastes Like Wine

Xbox One

  • 11-26

  • The Escapists / The Escapists 2
  • 11-29

  • Five Nights at Freddy's HD
  • Where the Water Tastes Like Wine

Switch

  • 11-26

  • Pine
  • Soccer: Tactics & Glory
  • Monster Jam Steel Titans
  • Overcooked! + Overcooked! 2
  • Chameleon
  • 11-27

  • Widget Satchel
  • Real Heroes: Firefighter
  • Story of a Gladiator
  • Gemstone Keeper
  • 11-28

  • Decay of Logos
  • One-way Ticket
  • Professional Farmer: American Dream
  • Kissed by the Baddest Bidder
  • Electronic Super Joy
  • Knowledge Trainer: Trivia
  • Family Tennis SP
  • Hyper Sports
  • Nyan Cat: Lost In Space
  • Trover Saves the Universe
  • Amazing Brick Breaker
  • Skelittle: A Giant Party!!
  • TheNightfall
  • 11-29

  • Five Nights at Freddy's HD
  • Five Nights at Freddy's 2 HD
  • Five Nights at Freddy's 3 HD
  • Five Nights at Freddy's 4 HD
  • Where the Water Tastes Like Wine
  • Blaster Master Zero II: Copen
  • Deathtrap Dungeon Trilogy
  • FoxyLand
  • StrikeForce Kitty

Comments

Deathtrap Dungeon? Huh, never heard of it. I've played a bit of these sorts of games on my phone over the past few years and still enjoy them.

Football: Tactics & Glory is great.

For a pretty simple game it's strangely compelling and then you line up a 99% shot and miss and everything becomes clear. It's XCom with balls.

Mr Bismarck wrote:

Football: Tactics & Glory is great.

For a pretty simple game it's strangely compelling and then you line up a 99% shot and miss and everything becomes clear. It's XCom with balls.

I really really enjoyed for like 10 hours or so, but then I promoted, faced impossible opposition and realized the way up would be very grindy.

tl;dr: great value for money, gets grindy after a while.

dejanzie wrote:
Mr Bismarck wrote:

Football: Tactics & Glory is great.

For a pretty simple game it's strangely compelling and then you line up a 99% shot and miss and everything becomes clear. It's XCom with balls.

I really really enjoyed for like 10 hours or so, but then I promoted, faced impossible opposition and realized the way up would be very grindy.

tl;dr: great value for money, gets grindy after a while.

This is a fair comment - there's a significant jump in opponent skill between leagues.

That said, it's an interested strategic challenge to deal with - I've taken a tactical demotion to give my team a chance to train up before going back up to the harder league. The strategy can get pretty "long-game".

The port of Football: Tactics & Glory will be the thing that makes me get a Switch. I love this game so much on the PC and being able to play it from the couch or on the train will make me log even more hours with it. Will be a bummer about not having the mod capability that Steam has, but I can look past that.