July 18 - 24

  Felix “Dib Dib Dib” Threepaper

Welcome folks, and happy “179th Anniversary of the launch of SS Great Britain” week!

SS Great Britain was the first steamship to use a screw propeller, and the biggest vessel of its time. Designed by legendary Industrial Revolution engineer, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, it made great leaps in naval engineering, but its service life was a bit of a fizzer. Intended as a passenger cruiser, it wasn’t as fast as expected and needed heaps of repairs. It also had a habit of running aground, which was not great for attracting luxury passengers. It eventually saw out its time making long runs to Australia, dropping off emigrants by the thousands to the gold rush of the 1850s. You may all celebrate by playing a game where a big expensive project eventually comes good.

It’s not a huge week.

Many folks’ favourite version of Forza is the Hot Wheels expansion. Well, here it comes for Forza Horizon 5. It is visually stunning, of course, and looks like a bunch of fun if you’re patient enough to build the tracks. The full kit is on the Premium Pass, otherwise you’ll be nickel-and-dimed for each new car or track piece doodad thingy.

Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin - Trials of the Dragon King is the first of 3 chunks of DLC. The game sold OK, but not quite as well as Team Ninja and Squenix hoped—it came out just after big dog February, in the crater left by Elden Ring. This DLC adds in new characters, gear, and usual DLC stuff, but it also tweaks a bunch of the original mechanics.

Hazel Sky is an indie adventure game that shows you how far that genre has come. It’s narrative-heavy: you’re a young boy stranded on an island by your father for some coming-of-age trial. There’s a lot of picking things up and examining them in your hand as you explore the island and solve puzzles. There’s even a guitar-strumming minigame. Acoustic guitar jangles form a big part of the soundtrack, too, giving the game a Boy Scouts by the campfire vibe.

River City Saga: Three Kingdoms is a pixellated arcade brawler with a jaunty chiptune soundtrack. One for the retronauts.

Otherwise, the consoles are getting a bunch of ports of 2021 PC games.

Severed Steel is a Tron-lookin’ stunt shooter. It’s all about parkouring and shooting: sliding, mantling, and wall running like in Nu-DOOM.

Bright Memory: Infinite is an FPS mixed with action. There’s guns and swords and special powers on offer, reminiscent of Devil May Cry or Crysis 3, with Earth Defece Force-level dialogue and story. Is it a neat fusion of gamestyles, or a hodgepodge? Like with Final Fantasy Origin, some folks could find it the right kind of bad.

Seduction: A Monk's Fate is being sold as a Name of the Rose-style mystery about a monk who must avoid temptation on his quest to save a woman from a dark ritual. You know, your typical horny monk story. The actual gameplay is a 90s-era, 2D side-scrolling and adventure game with inventory puzzling. Hmmm.

Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II is a port of the PS2 game from 2004. Black Isle actually went bankrupt mere months before it came out, putting the kybosh on their work on Fallout 3. Dark Alliance II was well-regarded for its time; it’s just that its time was 2004. And not much sprucing has been done to bring the game up to speed with 2022 (e.g. it's still local co-op only) and using the words “Baldur’s Gate” in a title seems to add $40 to any asking price.

Hell Pie is a “bad taste” 3D platformer. Underneath the plop and vomit jokes is a pretty solid effort at making a Ratchet and Clank-style combat platformer on about 10% of the budget. Still, it looks like a PS2 game.

Nothing is on my must-play list this week. Forza Horizon 5: Hot Wheels is the biggest release, but racing games are outside my wheelhouse. Hazel Sky deserves praise for looking good at what it does, even if it’s at a slower, exploratory pace. It’s like the devs built a game out of just that part of Red Dead Redemption 2 where you rummage through drawers, looking at pocket watches and stuff. That took up about 64% of my time in Red Dead. A very narrow GOTW.

  Antichulius

Personally, I don’t know much about LIVE A LIVE, but the remake announcement a few months ago sent shockwaves through some parts of the internet. The original 1994 JRPG by Square was a Japan-only release for the Super Famicom. The story follows seven protagonists in seven different time periods, and apparently their stories all tie together in the final chapters of the game. It sold only about a quarter-million copies, but had a devoted fan-base and a fan translation. The remake has been given the HD-2D treatment (picture the art style of Octopath Traveler) and a worldwide release on Switch, with Square Enix and Nintendo splitting publishing credits by region. There’s also a demo out already that includes parts of three of the characters/time periods.

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

PC

• 07-18

• Ahack Adventure 2: Quest For The Ciggy
• Booty Farm
• Demons And Altar
• Detective Agency: Murder at the Manor
• DOMINUS RAGE
• Dungeons of Sundaria (Early Access)
• Elisius
• Escape From Mandrillia
• GAMECINE
• Maggie the Magnet
• MP5
• PC Virtual LAB
• Project Vostok
• RFVR
• The Creature Zone VR
• Topo Mix Game
• Viaje al Centro de la Tierra - Version Extendida

• 07-19

• As Dusk Falls
• Bullet Quest
• Endling - Extinction is Forever
• Forza Horizon 5: Hot Wheels
• INTRAQUARTZ
• Mari and Bayu - The Road Home
• Remnant Records
• Rogue Warlords
• Shapebreaker - Tower Defense Deckbuilder
• Stray

• 07-20

• Bail or Jail
• Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II
• Coin Operated Carnage
• DreamIsland
• Fireworks Playground
• GrappleWell
• Haru Sue Zhiyu
• Hazel Sky
• Lord of the Click 3
• PARANECRO
• Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin - Trials of the Dragon King
• TombStar
• Ultra Mission

• 07-21

• Bibi & Tina: New adventures with horses
• Danganronpa S: Ultimate Summer Camp
• Deer Journey
• Ex-Zodiac
• FIND ALL 3: Travel
• Fleet Commander: Pacific
• GearHead Caramel
• Heat Runner
• Hell Pie
• Just King
• Justice.exe
• Kingdom Gun
• Liar Moon Shangri-La
• Like Dreamer
• Pathogen
• PolyCore Defense
• River City Saga: Three Kingdoms
• Soda Story - Brewing Tycoon
• STAR MATH: Interstellar Rogue 2
• The Monster Mole
• The Sunny Life
• University stories
• WASTE
• Zodiac fantasy

• 07-22

• Aery - Vikings
• Alone
• Becoming Omega
• Blacken Slash
• Bloodscent
• Book Of Yog
• Capcom Arcade 2nd Stadium
• Cosmopoly
• Ctrl Alt Ego
• Dead forest
• HOSTLIGHT
• Incremental Epic Hero 2
• INHUMAN
• Mao Yu's Adventure
• Resist the Succubus
• SENSEs: Midnight
• Target:Summit
• That Which Was Lost
• Versus.
• Zodiac (Man Changing Ideas)

• 07-23

• Moonrakers: Luminor
• Raubritter

Xbox Series X

• 07-19

• As Dusk Falls
• Forza Horizon 5: Hot Wheels
• Gloom and Doom

• 07-20

• Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II
• Seduction: A Monk's Fate
• Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin - Trials of the Dragon King

• 07-21

• Bright Memory: Infinite
• Hell Pie

• 07-22

• Severed Steel

Xbox One

• 07-19

• As Dusk Falls
• Endling - Extinction is Forever
• Forza Horizon 5: Hot Wheels
• Gloom and Doom

• 07-20

• Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II
• Hazel Sky
• Seduction: A Monk's Fate
• Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin - Trials of the Dragon King

• 07-21

• Hell Pie

• 07-22

• Aery - Vikings
• Capcom Arcade 2nd Stadium
• Princess.Loot.Pixel.Again x2
• Severed Steel

PlayStation 5

• 07-19

• Century: Age of Ashes
• Stray

• 07-20

• Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II
• DreadOut 2
• Seduction: A Monk's Fate
• Severed Steel
• Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin - Trials of the Dragon King

• 07-21

• Bright Memory: Infinite
• Hell Pie
• Post Void
• Wayward Strand

PlayStation 4

• 07-19

• Century: Age of Ashes
• Endling - Extinction is Forever
• Stray

• 07-20

• Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II
• DreadOut 2
• Hazel Sky
• Seduction: A Monk's Fate
• Severed Steel
• Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin - Trials of the Dragon King

• 07-21

• Arcade Archives: Chack'n Pop
• Danganronpa S: Ultimate Summer Camp
• Hell Pie
• Post Void
• River City Saga: Three Kingdoms
• Wayward Strand

• 07-22

• Capcom Arcade 2nd Stadium

Switch

• 07-19

• Endling - Extinction is Forever
• Fallen Angel
• Gloom and Doom
• Redout 2

• 07-20

• Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II
• Bunny Must Die! Chelsea and the 7 Devils
• Hazel Sky
• Seduction: A Monk's Fate

• 07-21

• Aery - Vikings
• Am I Kind Hearted?
• Arcade Archives: Chack'n Pop
• Bricky to Me
• Bright Memory: Infinite
• Coromon
• Farm Manager 2022
• Hell Pie
• Japanese Escape Games The Hotel of Tricks
• Post Void
• River City Saga: Three Kingdoms
• Severed Steel
• Solitaire Collection
• Wally and the FANTASTIC PREDATORS

• 07-22

• Capcom Arcade 2nd Stadium
• Doodle Devil: 3volution - Doodle Devil Pack
• Dungeon Slime Collection
• Hover Racer
• Inertia: Redux
• Live A Live
• Sakura Fantasy