September 18 – September 24

Section: 

IMAGE(https://www.gamerswithjobs.com/files/pictures/pictures/picture-5877.jpg)   Greg “DoubtingThomas396” Decker

In a world where everything is either a sequel, a spiritual successor (which is like a sequel, but without grounds to sue) or a re-release of a game with a misleading title (No fighting game with a jump button is even remotely like Tekken, and shame on Nintendo for trying to fool people!), it's nice to know there are some original ideas still sleeting through the universe.

The Prototype, which lacks a unique or original title, at least goes for some interesting ideas. Part visual mystery novel, part RPG, it follows the story of a scientist who builds a time machine to solve the murder he was wrongly accused of committing. It combines over-played-16 bit JRPG graphics with striking hand-drawn character portraits and a promising story to grab my nod for Game of the Week.

IMAGE(https://www.gamerswithjobs.com/files/pictures/picture-111373-1483294321.jpg)   Chris "C" Cesarano

There was once a time that a new Marvel vs. Capcom game would be an immediate, day-one purchase. While Marvel vs. Capcom 2 on the SEGA Dreamcast felt like the ideal embodiment of a fighting game, Marvel vs. Capcom 3 and its gorgeous art style just felt... lacking somehow. Or perhaps it is more accurate to say it was impenetrable for someone a bit too casual with the genre? From what I've read of Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite, they'll be going the opposite direction to a fault.

The Nintendo Switch will be showing Capcom how it is done with Pokken Tournament DX, one of the often overlooked entries of the WiiU. I loved it specifically because they kept traditional fighting-game elements and philosophies at the core, but adapted a more Smash Bros.-style moveset that relied more on context of a button press than combinations.

Of course, anyone paying attention to me – and how can you not? I practically grab everyone's face, stare into their eyes and shout "listen to me!" – knows my pick of the week is SteamWorld Dig 2. It's an Image & Form game and a sequel to one of my favorite 3DS titles. There's no other pick I could make.

IMAGE(https://www.gamerswithjobs.com/files/pictures/pictures/picture-13445.jpg)   Felix “You know nothing” Threepaper

If you’re looking for co-op arcade platforming that’s not a LEGO game, there’s Caveman Warriors. It looks like Trine, Wonderboy and Metal Slug huddled in a cave over winter, if you get my drift. (My drift is to imply that 3 video games had sex).

Maybe it’s cultural cringe, but I’m a sucker for when film and TV actors do voices in games. The protagonist in ECHO is voiced by Rose Leslie, whom I remember as Ygritte from Game of Thrones.

In ECHO, you stealth your way through a beautiful palace, killing guards who look like you. The big selling point is adaptable AI: The guards memorise your moves and tactics, and periodically reboot their own tactics with this knowledge. Will it get more complicated than MGS:V’s algorithm of “if player does X headshots, guards start wearing helmets”? I’m intrigued enough to find out. GOTW.

Raiders of the Broken Planet is another action sci-fi stealth game, made by the devs of the Castlevania: Lords of Shadow trilogy and said to incorporate features that were ditched from Lords of Shadow 2. It’s a AA effort, but I bump it to a silver medal for its focus on multiplayer.

This week:

PC

  • A War Story
  • Achievement Hunter: Dogger
  • Achievement Hunter: Foxy
  • Achievement Hunter: Kiborg
  • Achievement Hunter: Urban 2
  • Age of Gladiators II
  • aMaze Achievements: darkness
  • AMBUSH tactics
  • American Patriots: Boston Tea Party
  • Ancient Frontier
  • Another Lost Phone: Laura's Story
  • Arrow Heads
  • Astroe
  • Atomega
  • Auto Age: Standoff
  • Bad Government
  • Battle of Frigates
  • Black My White
  • Black My White Again
  • Burger in Partyland
  • Caligo
  • Caveman Warriors
  • CHASER
  • City of Brass
  • Corrupt
  • Crazy Scientist
  • Cyberoque
  • Darkest Hunters
  • Darkestville Castle
  • Deep Dark Fantasies
  • Dialogue: A Writer's Story
  • DwarfCorp
  • ECHO
  • Eternal Lore
  • Eveslan
  • EZ4u
  • Fight'N Rage
  • Figment
  • Fluffy Friends
  • Football Mogul 18
  • GooHuebelets
  • Goro
  • Grave Chase
  • Guild Wars 2: Path of Fire
  • Heat Signature
  • Helium Skies
  • Hex: Origins
  • Holdfast: Nations At War
  • Inertia
  • JumpFist
  • Keyboard Killers
  • Little Adventurer II
  • LOGistICAL: Chile
  • LOGistICAL: Norway
  • LOGistICAL: USA - Oregon
  • Magic Forest
  • Make a word!
  • Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite
  • Mazeglaser
  • Megatronic Void
  • Middle Ages Hero
  • Miner Ultra Shooter
  • Mirror
  • Morphite
  • Mr. Jumpington 3
  • Muv-Luv Alternative
  • My Little Worms
  • NAVYFIELD
  • Neofeud
  • Number World
  • Onager!
  • Outskirts
  • Parking Cop Simulator
  • Pinball Wicked
  • Project Cars 2
  • Project Mercury
  • Raccoon Hero: Monkey Business
  • Raiders of the Broken Planet
  • Raiders of the Broken Planet: Prologue
  • Real * 1942 *
  • RINGOGNIR 2
  • Road Dogs
  • Robo-orders
  • Scarlett's Dungeon
  • Silicon Zeroes
  • SpaceDweller
  • SpaceShot
  • SPIIIDERS
  • Staplers! 3
  • Steampunk Syndicate 2
  • SteamWorld Dig 2
  • Stone Flower
  • Suicide Adventures
  • Suicide Simulator
  • Super Fancy Pants Adventure
  • Super Hydorah
  • Tarim
  • Temple Escape
  • The Caribbean Sail
  • The Coma: Recut
  • The Journey Down: Chapter Three
  • The jungle
  • The LEGO NINJAGO Movie Video Game
  • The Prototype
  • The Simple Apocalypse
  • The Thing: Space X
  • Trials of The Illuminati: Animated Christmas Time Jigsaws
  • Trials of the Illuminati: Sea Creatures Jigsaws
  • Tricolour Lovestory
  • Trinity Dungeon
  • Trivia Vault: Mini Mixed Trivia 4
  • Unblocky
  • Undercity
  • Vampires!
  • Vianiato PopOut
  • Voxel Interceptor
  • Waste Cleaner
  • When It Hits the Fan
  • YOU ARE KING
  • Zombie Solitaire 2 Chapter 2

PS4

  • Battlefield 1: In the Name of the Tsar
  • Blackguards 2
  • Burly Men at Sea
  • Caveman Warriors
  • ECHO
  • End Space
  • Hex: Card Clash
  • Hidden Dragon Legend
  • Ink
  • Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite
  • Morphite
  • NBA 2K18
  • Pankapu
  • Project Cars 2
  • Raiders of the Broken Planet
  • Robonauts
  • The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth+
  • The Coma: Recut
  • The Journey Down Chapter 3
  • The LEGO NINJAGO Movie Video Game
  • The Solus Project

Xbox One

  • Battlefield 1: In the Name of the Tsar
  • Blackguards 2
  • Caveman Warriors
  • Ink
  • Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite
  • Morphite
  • NBA 2K18
  • Pankapu
  • Project CARS 2
  • Raiders of the Broken Planet
  • Revolve
  • SEUM: Speedrunners from Hell
  • Super Hydorah
  • The Coma: Recut
  • The Journey Down Chapter 3
  • The LEGO NINJAGO Movie Video Game

Switch

  • Dragon Ball: Xenoverse 2
  • Morphite
  • Pokken Tournament DX
  • Soldam: Drop, Connect, Erase
  • SteamWorld Dig 2
  • The LEGO NINJAGO Movie Video Game
  • Thimbleweed Park

3DS

  • Guide the Ghost
  • Pokemon Silver
  • Pokemon Gold

Vita

  • Burly Men at Sea
  • Mary Skelter: Nightmares

RIFT

  • Butterfly Moment
  • DrumSim
  • KENDAMVR: Virtual Reality Kendama
  • XING: The Land Beyond
  • Project Cars 2

Vive

  • AESCULAP OrthoPilot Elite VR Palpation
  • Alpha Mike Foxtrot
  • BadRobots VR
  • Butterfly Moment
  • DrumSim
  • Echo Grotto
  • Into the Rhythm VR
  • KENDAMVR: Virtual Reality Kendama
  • Octopus Bar
  • Temple of Aluxes
  • XING: The Land Beyond

Comments

Huh, Age of Gladiators II. Neat, Age of Gladiators was successful enough they're moving from ancient times to a scifi setting.

I downloaded and played the demo for Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite. I'll admit that the videos I had seen of the game made it look bad, but I was surprised to find I enjoyed the demo and didn't think it looked too bad. Well, that is, until Arthur came on screen. The Capcom characters can look pretty silly.

Nod to Project Cars 2. Wish I had the time for you.

Well, I'm definitely in for Project Cars 2, and I ended up cancelling my order of MvC:Infinite, let's see what else we have here.....

This week:

PC

  • Suicide Adventures
  • Suicide Simulator

....Cool...cool cool cool.

Looking at that scroll, I almost pine for the 90's Macintosh days, when you got 5 games a year and loved them.

There's no hope of finding my One True Love For The Year in that hot mess.

Hmmm...

I really want to pick up Stellaris: Synthetic Dawn this week and start a new campaign...but I'm REALLY feeling the pull of Divinity: OS2 and its favorable reception.

Decisions decisions.

Nathaniel wrote:

Looking at that scroll, I almost pine for the 90's Macintosh days, when you got 5 games a year and loved them.

There's no hope of finding my One True Love For The Year in that hot mess.

Admittedly, this is one of the reasons I'm in the Nintendo fanboy camp right now as they space things out throughout the year and give me time to play my games. Some months I skip a release, but most months I'm looking forward to something from them, not 25 somethings.

Stellaris: Synthetic Dawn

Bobiverse is go!

The first Steamworld Dig was so nice I played it twice, so I'm totally in on Steamworld Dig 2.

Can't believe Steamworld Dig 2 is already here. Switch is getting quite the library.

PCars2 is already pre-purchased, inevitable jankiness be damned. The discount for having PCars in my library tipped me over the edge (along with a dose of Keeping Up With The Joneses viz-a-viz our driving gang, The Racing Dorks).

But Steamworld Dig 2 is a nice surprise. Think I might lean towards the Switch for that one.

It's time for two column formatting for the PC releases.

I'm with Felix - ECHO looks pretty interesting. I'll wait for some more reviews to see for sure, as I'm not usually for the sneaky/stealthy games.

Dammit, 2k - you're starting to annoy me. I bought MLB The Show this year and didn't like it. I bought Madden too and was similarly disappointed. I was hoping you'd phone it in this year with NBA2k, so I could avoid it and put my cash into Destiny instead. But no - you had to go and rack up (so far) a 93 on Metacritic. Damn you.

EDIT: Hmm, the user reviews are remarkably low - perhaps there is hope yet...

LOGistICAL: Norway
LOGistICAL: USA - Oregon

Wooohooooo!!!!!

LOGistICAL: Chile

This isn't out until next week you guys. C'mon now.

Veloxi wrote:
LOGistICAL: Chile

This isn't out until next week you guys. C'mon now.

For the last few months, I had been checking the PC list and PMing corrections to doubtingthomas, but with the list now being over 100 every week, I don't feel like spending a whole hour or more verifying that many release dates.

Aristophan wrote:

It's time for two column formatting for the PC releases.

Agreed. It is getting quite ridiculous.

MeatMan wrote:
Veloxi wrote:
LOGistICAL: Chile

This isn't out until next week you guys. C'mon now.

For the last few months, I had been checking the PC list and PMing corrections to doubtingthomas, but with the list now being over 100 every week, I don't feel like spending a whole hour or more verifying that many release dates.

And here I thought I was just getting better at checking.

Seriously, though, I'm checking every title on Friday morning before the list goes up, and an awful lot of games push their release dates during the weekend.

I'd re-check on Monday before posting, but as has been pointed out there are a freaking lot of games coming out every week.

Aristophan wrote:

It's time for two column formatting for the PC releases.

I'm open to suggestions about how to handle presenting the list. I briefly considered suggesting that we actively curate it, but I don't want to be in the business of showing people only what I think they should see. Part of the fun for me is making my pick and then watching what everyone else decides is important to them.

Also, I kind of dig that we're the only site on the internet to keep such a comprehensive list of weekly releases. It's like we've picked up the torch when Shacknews put it down.

doubtingthomas396 wrote:
Aristophan wrote:

It's time for two column formatting for the PC releases.

I'm open to suggestions about how to handle presenting the list.

Because using HTML or BBCode to make a table is not allowed, your only option is to display a single column, unless you could convice doogiemac to allow it for TWA posts.

doubtingthomas396 wrote:

I briefly considered suggesting that we actively curate it, but I don't want to be in the business of showing people only what I think they should see. Part of the fun for me is making my pick and then watching what everyone else decides is important to them.

It's a nice idea on the surface, but honestly, curate the sh*t out of it. Literally, please.

Ain’t no-one needs to know about the latest, “greatest” Achievement Hunter game.

Jonman wrote:
doubtingthomas396 wrote:

I briefly considered suggesting that we actively curate it, but I don't want to be in the business of showing people only what I think they should see. Part of the fun for me is making my pick and then watching what everyone else decides is important to them.

It's a nice idea on the surface, but honestly, curate the sh*t out of it. Literally, please.

Ain’t no-one needs to know about the latest, “greatest” Achievement Hunter game.

I don't know - having the whole list is useful for a variety of reasons. And the commentary at the top is already a curation - you could skip the list entirely and just read from our esteemed panel of judges...

Quite truthfully, curating the PC list would likely be as much trouble as actively researching every item on it. Which, believe it or not, is what I used to do when there wasn't a big release I was already looking forward to. Even then, I've become so jaded with the indie genres that are released constantly that I'd be tempted to dismiss a lot. But what I may consider irrelevant may be fantastic for someone else.

I mean, do we know if SallyNasty's Steam library is filled with these Achievement Hunter games?

It's a weird conundrum, I think.

Yeah, curating this would take way longer than it does to for me to breeze through the PC list. I'll put up with the absurdity of Achievement Hunter games if it means people won't have to spend more time on this than they already do.

I would like to see something like a 'top releases' or something for the PC games, so I can easily tell what are the big games people are waiting on and looking forward to, vs the 80 other indie $10 games coming out.

Another suggestion would be in the Switch section show which games are eshop-only.

Yeah, there's just too many hidden gems in the weekly PC list to curate without inadvertently excising titles of genuine quality and interest.

To wit I've already got more than 10 nominees for my 2017 GOTY list and not a single one of them costs more than $20.

Curation seems to be the path to madness. I was just wondering if there was a way to present the information more compactly. I really like this feature of the site, but mostly for the commentary.

Because none of crew highlighted it, probably because it got lost in the sea (wasteland) of PC titles, I wanted to mention that Heat Signature, the next game from Tom Francis who made the wonderful Gunpoint, released today. (Thanks for the heads up, Steam email!)

For anyone interested in talking about it, I created a catch-all.

IMAGE(https://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/adventuretimewithfinnandjake/images/6/61/S2e26_Heat_Signature_movie.png/revision/latest?cb=20140105153830)

That was an excellent trailer. It told me what the game was about with a minimum of fuss and a shipload of humor.

Plus Alex Ashby as the voice. Excellent trailer.

PS: Thanks for the comment section curation! Purchased.