November 6 - 12

  Felix “Woah Woah” Threepaper

Welcome folks, and happy “24th Anniversary of Australia voting to keep the British Queen” week!

On 6 November 1999, Australians voted in a constitutional referendum to decide whether or not to keep the English monarch as Australia's head of state. Overall, they actually voted to keep it, starting a depressing trend in my adult life of witnessing my fellow Australians vote for a regressive status quo instead of progressive change. It has also resulted in one of the most infuriating cricket sledge songs from the Barmy Army at Ashes matches. You may all celebrate by playing a game where you can’t have nice things.

This week, there’s two big AAA releases surrounded by a bunch of indies, without much concern for each other, like those sharks that swim around surrounded by little fish.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III started life as an expansion for Modern Warfare II but then got made into a fully-fledged game. The single-player campaign gives up the authored, linear stages for more of a sandbox approach, where you are dropped into a level and left to complete it however you see fit. This is the 20th Call of Duty game and, similar to other long-running, annualised games like sports franchises, the multiplayer mode seems to get lost rummaging around in the ‘previous features’ box rather than trying anything new. That won’t matter to the tens of millions of fans that buy these games each year.

Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name is a Yakuza spinoff starring original protagonist, Kiryu. Kiryu has faked his death to escape the Yakuza and essentially become a superspy with flashy gadgets. Otherwise, it’s your typical Yakuza formula: heaps of street fighting mixed with heaps of minigames and side activities. Also thrown in are fully playable old Sega Master System-era games like Sonic Fighters and Galaxy Force.

Tintin Reporter: Cigars of the Pharaoh could be the first good Tintin game. It is a love letter to the Belgian comics that I’m sure we all grew up with. It’s based on the 4th comic book in the series from the 1930s, and you can bring up the book and show it side-by-side with your gameplay screen to see how closely they match. It’s well-rendered adventure-gaming and puzzle-solving, pitched at players of all ages.

GUNHEAD is a roguelike FPS. The levels are procedurally-generated derelict spaceships with interwoven defence systems protecting a central cortex, the main goal of each level. So it’s not just about fragging goons: the cortex may be protected by shields, so you’ll have to take out shield generators, which could be protected by an alarm system that you may also want to take out, and so on. Completing the levels is one thing, but the bigger rewards come from completing secondary objectives, providing you with more of that sweet upgrade material. There’s a demo on Steam, if you want a taste.

There’s a console port of previous GOTW winner, turn-based tactical RPG SpellForce: Conquest of Eo.

Tales of Arise: Beyond the Dawn is a hefty expansion that bolts on another 20-plus hours of game, recommended to be played after you finish the main game.

There’s some ports of some classic Double Dragon games with Super Double Dragon and Double Dragon Advance. I spent the last few years building up an immunity to arcade game nostalgia, so these fly right past me.

Salt and Sacrifice is a sequel to the punishing 2D Soulslike Salt and Sanctuary. It’s more of the same: gothic art, every enemy is a threat, and elaborate boss fights. There’s a new mage-hunting mechanic which is about doing bonus boss fights to unlock even more dungeons and challenges.

Let's Sing 2024 will have a story mode for the first time, tracking your rise from singing in your bedroom to international stardom. It will also feature a battle royale mode, where you enter a lobby with unlimited songs on loop and it’s last singer standing. The song list is your usual blend of new and recent pop songs that you’d find on your standard MixFM radio station, with a little too much Ed Sheeran for my liking.

Enough people must have bought Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl, because now there’s a second one. Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 adds in a single-player campaign, arcade mode, and boss rush, in an attempt to bring it to feature parity with Super Smash Bros. New characters include Angry Beavers, El Tigre, and Ember—if anyone in your household knows who they are, you’re probably getting Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2.

Bem Feito is an odd mix of life sim and creepypasta, with a conceit that it’s a port of a long-lost game from a fictional handheld device, like a Gameboy, and some haunted code came across with the port.

Once again, nothing really screams out to me this week compared to the bangers of weeks past. I still haven’t started Spider-Man 2 yet! But I like the look of Tintin Reporter: Cigars of the Pharaoh for some new-school adventure gaming within a treasured setting. There’s even bits where you get to play as the dog, Snowy. GOTW.

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

PC

• 11-07

• A2C:Ayry seems to be playtesting a 2D runner shooter from Cci
• Cyber Blade: Action Platformer
• Franchise Hockey Manager 10
• Halls of Watershot
• Idling Gears
• Ikoka Game
• Lucky Dungeon
• MULTIPLAYER OBBY
• Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2
• Only an Alien Going Up!
• Overlord of the late Han Dynasty
• Pathogen Purge - Tower Defense
• Redgar: The Space Viking
• Roboquest
• Stranded: Alien Dawn - Robots and Guardians
• Stronghold: Definitive Edition
• The Awakener: Forgotten Oath
• Tintin Reporter: Cigars of the Pharaoh
• Treachery in Beatdown City U.N. Trouble
• TYPECAST
• Watermelon Game

• 11-08

• Cobalt Core
• Concealed
• Doomsday Paradise
• Estelaroid: Escape Room
• Fantasy Three Kingdoms Eight Formations
• GEOTRA
• GUNHEAD
• heaven and hell
• Lucky One
• Money Transporter
• Neon Fantasy: Monkeys
• Pretty Overseer - Dating Sim
• Risk of Rain Returns
• Two Hour Escape Mystery: A Puzzling Voyage

• 11-09

• Atlantis Academy
• Bem Feito
• Dark City Trouble Nights
• Endure The Swarm
• Gatekeeper: Infinity
• Gem Galaxy
• God's Miniature Garden
• Grace of Letoile
• Hamster Scramble
• Hovermania
• Jabuti Adventures
• Molten Horn
• Monkey Splash!!
• My Friend Aki
• Proposal failed, I still don't know her name
• SANGI
• Savanna Story Diamond Edition
• Squeebing Up the Tower of Friendship
• Super Double Dragon
• Sweet Nightclub
• Tales of Arise: Beyond the Dawn
• THE MULLER-POWELL PRINCIPLE: Foreword
• Tomb Of AnuBI0S
• What The Duck (Seize Studios)
• You Have No Time

Xbox Series X

• 11-07

• Let's Sing 2024
• Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2
• Roboquest
• SpellForce: Conquest of Eo
• Stranded: Alien Dawn - Robots and Guardians
• Tintin Reporter: Cigars of the Pharaoh

• 11-08

• Excessive Trim
• Lost Islands

• 11-09

• Bem Feito
• Berzerk: Recharged
• Devil Engine: Complete Edition
• Double Dragon Advance
• Dungeons 4
• Grace of Letoile
• Ikonei Island: An Earthlock Adventure
• Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name
• Spells & Secrets
• Super Double Dragon
• Tales of Arise: Beyond the Dawn
• While the Iron's Hot
• Wildshade: Unicorn Champions

• 11-10

• Air Twister
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III

Xbox One

• 11-07

• Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2
• Roboquest
• Stranded: Alien Dawn - Robots and Guardians

• 11-08

• Excessive Trim
• Lost Islands
• Risk of Rain 2: Survivors of the Void

• 11-09

• Bem Feito
• Berzerk: Recharged
• Devil Engine: Complete Edition
• Double Dragon Advance
• Grace of Letoile
• Ikonei Island: An Earthlock Adventure
• Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name
• Super Double Dragon
• Tales of Arise: Beyond the Dawn
• While the Iron's Hot

• 11-10

• Air Twister
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III
• The Fast Journey

PlayStation 5

• 11-07

• HappyFunland
• Kill It With Fire VR
• Let's Sing 2024
• Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2
• SpellForce: Conquest of Eo
• Stranded: Alien Dawn - Robots and Guardians
• The Forest Cathedral
• Tintin Reporter: Cigars of the Pharaoh

• 11-08

• Excessive Trim
• GUNHEAD

• 11-09

• Bem Feito
• Berzerk: Recharged
• Devil Engine: Complete Edition
• Dungeons 4
• Grace of Letoile
• Ikonei Island: An Earthlock Adventure
• Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name
• Spells & Secrets
• Tales of Arise: Beyond the Dawn
• While the Iron's Hot
• Wildshade: Unicorn Champions

• 11-10

• Air Twister
• Burning Secrets - A Bara Visual Novel
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III

PlayStation 4

• 11-07

• Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2
• Stranded: Alien Dawn - Robots and Guardians
• Tintin Reporter: Cigars of the Pharaoh

• 11-08

• Excessive Trim
• Risk of Rain 2: Survivors of the Void

• 11-09

• Bem Feito
• Berzerk: Recharged
• Devil Engine: Complete Edition
• Double Dragon Advance
• Grace of Letoile
• Ikonei Island: An Earthlock Adventure
• Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name
• Super Double Dragon
• Tales of Arise: Beyond the Dawn
• While the Iron's Hot
• Wildshade: Unicorn Champions

• 11-10

• Air Twister
• Burning Secrets - A Bara Visual Novel
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III
• Demons of Asteborg

Nintendo Switch

• 11-07

• AAA PRO CLOCK 2023
• Let's Sing 2024
• Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2
• Salt and Sacrifice

• 11-08

• Cobalt Core
• Excessive Trim
• Risk of Rain 2: Survivors of the Void
• Risk of Rain Returns
• Whitestone

• 11-09

• 9 Years of Shadows
• Berzerk: Recharged
• CATAN: Console Edition
• CATAN: Console Edition - Championship Maps
• CATAN: Console Edition - The Helpers
• Double Dragon Advance
• Dragon Wings
• Flooded
• Flooded
• Fushigi Dagashiya Zenitendou: Fushigi Dagashi Banashi 50-Sen
• Kun no Mirai 2 Mirai Yochi
• Mario Kart 8 Deluxe: Booster Course Pass - Wave 6
• Mono Shiri Quiz Taiko no Kyouryuu
• Motto Shiritai Kodai Egypt Game
• SANABI
• Spells & Secrets
• Super Double Dragon
• Virche Evermore - ErroR: Salvation -
• While the Iron's Hot

• 11-10

• Air Twister
• Bob the Elementalist
• Burning Secrets - A Bara Visual Novel
• Claire: Extended Cut
• Polyturbo Drift Racing Simulator
• Sakura Alien 2
• Slaughter: The Lost Outpost
• The Trotties Adventure
• Village Tycoon: Farm City Simulator

• 11-11

• PeopleWillMoney