November 28 – December 4

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Welcome back, everyone. I trust you all had a nice long weekend and have recovered well from tryptophan poisoning. As we look at the week ahead, there is an impressive amount of quality gaming to be had. Maize looks delightfully corny. (Ahem.) And those of you who were worried about what happens to Super Mario Maker after the WiiU goes away have the 3DS version to look forward to until that system goes away, too.

My favorite part of the post-Thanksgiving week, however, is the leftovers. In that spirit, I’m looking at two games in particular for my games of the week. Why two? Because you can’t make a leftover turkey sandwich with one slice of bread, unless you’re some kind of weirdo who likes eating sandwiches with a fork. Or if you’re out of bread and only have the heel left.

Final Fantasy XV is the bottom of the sandwich, mainly on behalf of my wife who preordered it, but also because it looks like they took the series in a new direction that I’m interested in seeing. It promises to be a heavy, rich experience much like the bottom slice of bread on a turkey sandwich after it gets soggy from all the gravy and cranberry sauce.

The top of the sandwich is Syberia III. I’ve been a longtime fan of Microids’ work, and I’m pleased as punch to see them emerge blinking in the waning light of 2016. I am excited to see what clockwork mammoths are in store this time. It promises to be a pleasant topper to my leftover sandwich, sitting lightly upon the spread of dressing I put on top of the turkey, and offering a convenient way to keep my fingers from getting all greasy.

Metaphors are hard.

The latest Final Fantasy and Syberia sequels get my Game of the Week awards.

Felix “Gimli Some Lovin” Threepaper

It’s odd to see the Wii game estate being divvied up and parceled out to other consoles. We Sing hits PS4 and Xbone, and Super Mario Maker goes to the 3DS.

When “The Week Ahead” estate was divvied up, I got the “not into JRPGs” part. I should remedy this, expand my gaming horizons, yadda yadda, but my pile’s big enough as is. So Final Fantasy XV sails right by me. Enjoy, folks!

That leaves a bunch of indies, and of these, The Dwarves stands head and shoulders … below the rest. The pausable real-time combat looks tactically interesting, the RPG bits look like they’d suck me in, and the art and storyline appeal to fools like me, who watched all 3 of those dang Hobbit movies.

Chris "C" Cesarano

I sure do hope Ubisoft paid the Artemis team money for Star Trek: Bridge Crew. Of course, it's not like a big ol' company like Ubisoft has to do such a thing. Either way, fans of Star Trek and/or VR are getting a much desired experience this week on Playstation 4.

Meanwhile, I feel like the entire world has me in a tug-of-war in feeling excited for Final Fantasy XV or not. The press tells me to be hyped, and Square-Enix has certainly tried desperately to hype me up with trailers, an anime mini-series and even a feature-length film, yet any time I listen to amateur podcasts or read up in communities, there's just this air of disinterest, insistant skepticism or aggressive dislike that I just cannot escape. It's not like I cannot understand the myriad reasons why, of course.

Perhaps I'm being too optimistic this time around, but for all the changes, adjustments, or reasons to be skeptical I see, there are too many other things to just fascinate and intrigue me. So Final Fantasy XV gets my pick for the week.

This week:

PC

  • Akuto: Mad World
  • Astervoid 2000
  • Beekyr Reloaded
  • Coffin of Ashes
  • ConflictCraft
  • Crate Punks
  • Dawn of Andromeda
  • Delicious - Emily's Message in a Bottle
  • Drop Alive
  • Hade
  • King Lucas
  • Mad Hunter
  • Maize
  • Mechatroniks Attack
  • Minion Masters
  • Neon Arena
  • Ohr
  • Phrase Shift
  • Quern - Undying Thoughts
  • Redie
  • Second Coming
  • Sleengster
  • Space Jammers
  • Stargazer Christmas
  • Syberia 3
  • The Crew: Calling All Units
  • The Crew: Ultimate Edition
  • The Dwarves
  • the research facility NO.507
  • Townsmen
  • Twin Bros
  • VCB: Why City
  • Watch Dogs 2
  • Where's the Fck*ng Light: VR

PS4

  • A King's Tale: Final Fantasy XV
  • Deponia
  • Final Fantasy XV
  • Star Trek: Bridge Crew
  • Steep
  • Steins;Gate 0
  • Syberia 3
  • The Crew: Calling All Units
  • The Crew: Ultimate Edition
  • The Dwarves
  • We Sing

Xbox One

  • A King's Tale: Final Fantasy XV
  • Final Fantasy XV
  • Furi
  • Steep
  • Stern Pinball Arcade
  • Syberia 3
  • The Crew: Calling All Units
  • The Crew: Ultimate Edition
  • The Dwarves
  • We Sing

Wii U

  • Shoot the Ball

3DS

  • Hyperlight EX
  • Super Mario Maker for Nintendo 3DS

Vita

  • Steins: Gate 0

RIFT

  • 8-Bit Arena VR

Vive

  • 8-Bit Arena VR
  • Bounce
  • Bullet Sorrow VR
  • Crazy Saloon VR
  • Manastorm: Champions of G'nar
  • Space Junk Patrol
  • Super Ninja Hero VR

Comments

Wow, Syberia 3 is finally out? Guess I can go see what Kate is up to now.

Fwiw, Dawn of Andromeda is just an Early Access release.

The Dwarves seems pretty cool, actually. First I've heard of it, but it's from the same devs who did The Book of Unwritten Tales games which were incredibly well received adventure games (which I'm now buying because why not give em a try even though I don't much care for adventure games). Should be interesting to see how this turns out.

Oh man, Steep is out this week? Totally missed that. The beta was fun.

My money, however, will be going to the Cities: Skylines - Natural Disasters expansion.

tanstaafl wrote:

Wow, Syberia 3 is finally out?

Not even close. On October 6, it was announced that Syberia 3 is delayed until 2017.

MeatMan wrote:
tanstaafl wrote:

Wow, Syberia 3 is finally out?

Not even close. On October 6, it was announced that Syberia 3 is delayed until 2017.

Curses! My double-corroborate strategy fails me.

Oh yay The Crew!

And Dawn of Andromeda is pretty nice so far, you guys.

I have no idea what to look forward to. Trying to digest my diet of Steam Sale games. I feel like the original retro gamer, playing titles months/years old.

Stern Pinball Arcade. Commence chubby.