Greg “DoubtingThomas396” Decker
There are no big releases this week, which suits me fine. I’ll happily dig through the rough in search of diamonds. Or, at the very least, bits of shiny glass that sort of look like diamonds until you get them home.
The Bard’s Tale trilogy gets the remaster treatment this week. I’ve never played a Bard’s Tale game, so this might be my opportunity to jump in. It’s like a medieval themed Singstar, right? Do I have to provide my own microphone?
The Legend of Protey looks fun if you like your JRPGs without combat. I don’t actually know anybody who likes JRPGs without combat, but here’s our opportunity to find out.
Speaking of combat-less games, Evergarden looks like it’s trying to be a version of The Witness that doesn’t alienate half of the players to the point of refunding it. I say: Best of luck to them!
But enough about singing and puzzles! Reventa brings some stylish character-action this week. Combos! Wall running! Bullet Time! Since Bethesda is never going to make the sequel to Wet that I so dearly want, this looks like it might be the next best thing.
Death’s Gambit has the misfortune of being a beautiful pixel-art, side-scrolling action game that releases a week after Dead Cells. It’s from Adult Swim Games, though, which means it’s probably still worth a look, especially if you’re not so much into the rogue-lite thing.
Barbearian is a misspelled, hand-drawn musou beat-em-up that solves the main problem I have with most musou beat-em-ups: the map. Instead of bringing you in close to the action and making you decipher a terrible minimap (cough Dynasty Warriors cough) Barbearian looks down at the whole battlefield from the isometric perspective. It looks absolutely gorgeous and delightfully chaotic. Also, there’s a boss that’s a giant skull that says “Boo!” when it appears. Game of the week!
Felix “Never Say Never Again” Threepaper
I’ve never played WoW, so the Battle for Azeroth expansion coming out this week goes over my head. Probably a big deal, though.
The most appealing thing about XCOM 2 Collection on consoles isn’t the price – it’s as hefty as it’s ever been – but rather the hope that any campaign-ending bugs have been ironed out. At least, could they front-load them into the first 10 hours, and not when I’ve defeated ⅔ of the Chosen and am grinding up my psionic squaddies for the final mission? Like Fallout: New Vegas, it’s a great game, when it works.
Guns, Gore & Cannoli 2 does the BroForce side-scrollin’ co-op mayhem thing, but with wiseguy gangster humour (or should I say, “yumour”?). It allows for up to 4 players, and I suspect it may be brutally hard without a full goon squad.
Graveyard Keeper is kinda like the Bard’s Tale of Stardew Valley.
At first glance, Phantom Doctrine looks a lot like XCOM 2, with its turn-based missions, customisable squaddies, base management and strategic overworld game, but in a 1983 Cold War setting. Frankly, that’s enough for me to take a second glance. I’m a sucker for espionage-themed games – hey, I finished Alpha Protocol. Twice. GOTW.
Colleen “momgamer” Hannon
Barbearian is a deadly cute hack-n-slash. You are a giant bear, summoned to this world, and you must hack your way through barriers and mow through a digital lawn-worth of enemies to find out why you’ve been brought here and what to do to get home. I initially looked at it as a flashy sinecure for nights when work’s been hard and you just want to smash things for a while, but it seems to have some challenge to it.
That said, while I am going to be picking up a couple of these, I’m not even going to pretend I’m going to be doing anything but playing World of Warcraft: Battle For Azeroth. I’ve finished the pre-launch quests, and I have to join the chorus of concern about the expansion’s story at this time. From the Horde perspective, that was a gut-punch that I’m not sure I’m going to be able to stand up from. But I’m going to try. I damned skippy can’t leave it like that!
Here's the list, now in release-date order!
PC
-
08-13
- Bottle of truth
- Cat doesn't like banana
- Cat Inside
- Flying Soul
- Hentai Dojo
- Jubox 2
- Les 4 Alice: Lorange Journey
- Mahjongg The Ultimate Collection 2
- Silentium 2D
- Simple Racing
- Son.Light.Sleepwalker
- Space Break
- Sword Legacy: Omen
- World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth
- WWII - TD
-
08-14
- Anime Solitaire
- Combat rush
- Death's Gambit
- Deathgarden
- Excursion
- Phantom Doctrine
- Stay or Leave
- Tanglewood
- The Bard's Tale Trilogy Remaster
- The Lift
- The Walking Dead: The Telltale Series - The Final Season
- The Walking Dead: The Telltale Series - The Final Season Episode 1
- Tiger Fighter 1931
- UniverCity
- Urban Lockdown
- Volcanic Blocks
-
08-15
- Age of Gladiators II: Rome
- Anime Girl Or Boy?
- Ayni Fairyland
- Barbearian
- Brothers in Arms: Kill to Survive
- Caramba!
- Clone Adventures
- Daemonical
- Dragon Spear
- Endless World
- Evemnesis
- Fruit Tower Defense
- Graveyard Keeper
- Hentai IQ Puzzle
- Mist Survival
- Monster Slayers
- my dream
- Newton and the Apple Tree
- Ranger in Spider's den
- Reventa
- Scorch
- Small Sister
- State of Mind
- Step sisters: Episode 2
- Super Frog's Quest
- Teenager vs.Tropical Mutants
- The Legend of Monster Mountain
- The Legend of Protey
- Top Down Racer
-
08-16
- Atex Brawl
- Boons Farm
- Cash Rush
- Claw Breaker
- Destination Primus Vita - Episode 1: Austin
- Divine Miracle Defense
- DomiCard
- Evergarden
- Gimel Dimension
- Good Girl
- Here Nya
- John Black: Memories
- Kitten and food: adventure park
- Leaflet Love Story
- Philosophic Love
- Robbotto
- SpaceExcavators
- The Front of Greed
- The Magician's Burden
- vridniX
-
08-17
- Coloring Pixels
- Dissimilated Land
- Driftpunk Racer
- Ducks and Gooobers
- Dystopia (Big Boys Studio)
- er-mo
- Factory Manager
- Fury Strike
- Geocells Tricells
- goto
- Hentai Girl
- Heroes of elements
- Hipster Attack
- JUST DASH
- Lucy Got Problems
- Mind Over Mushroom
- Not Tonight
- Road Doom
- Sandhill Architectures
- ShadowSide
- Shining Souls
- Swamp Jump
- The point G. How to find?
- TripTrip
- VANILLA REFEREE'S GARDEN
-
08-18
- Age Of Forays
- Unexpected Circumstances
-
08-19
- Jimmy Kamikaze
PS4
-
08-14
- Arizona Sunshine: Dead Man
- Death's Gambit
- Detective Gallo
- Dog Gone Golfing
- Domino Craft VR
- Guns, Gore & Cannoli 2
- Phantom Doctrine
- Super Night Riders
- TerraTech
- The Walking Dead: The Telltale Series - The Final Season
- The Walking Dead: The Telltale Series - The Final Season Episode 1
- Vroom Kaboom
- Wailing Heights
- XCOM 2 Collection
-
08-15
- State of Mind
-
08-16
- Hero Defense
-
08-17
- Persian Nights: Sands of Wonders
- Treadnauts
Xbox One
-
08-14
- Airheart: Tales of Broken Wings
- Phantom Doctrine
- The Walking Dead: The Telltale Series - The Final Season
- The Walking Dead: The Telltale Series - The Final Season Episode 1
- XCOM 2 Collection
-
08-15
- Fernz Gate
- Graveyard Keeper
- Hero Defense
- State of Mind
-
08-17
- Drunk-Fu: Wasted Masters
- Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes
- Polygod
- Treadnauts
Switch
-
08-14
- Cosmic Star Heroine
-
08-15
- Out Of The Box
- Penguin Wars
- State of Mind
-
08-16
- CastleStorm
- Johnny Turbo's Arcade: Nitro Ball
- Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes
- Manual Samuel
- Red's Kingdom
- Robbotto
-
08-17
- Detective Gallo
- Persian Nights: Sands of Wonders
- Polygod
- Treadnauts
RIFT
-
08-15
- StarDrone VR
-
08-16
- Team Up
-
08-17
- VR Jogger
Vive
-
08-15
- Punch Pad Workout
- StarDrone VR
-
08-16
- Team Up
-
08-17
- Goalkeeper Legend
- VR Jogger
Comments
Keeping a close eye on Phantom Doctrine this week.
80's Cold War XCOM?
Yes, please.
Send your email to [email protected].
It's from the folks who did Hard West, which has been sitting in my wishlist, inexplicably unpurchased, for ages now.
You've never known true joy until you've shaken a lich stick at someone.
LOL, Hard West was on sale last week for (I want my) $2 on Steam.
Send your email to [email protected].
Yeah, it's not the price that's stopping me buying it, it's the unfinished XCOM2 and Battletech runs that I should be finishing before kicking off yet another tactics game.
You've never known true joy until you've shaken a lich stick at someone.
You're kidding, right?!
Jorrn (btag Jorrn#1973) |Super Cam! | Click here for GWJ WoW guilds info
Once again It’s time to play “Multiple Choice Rationale” with Greg! (Formerly “That’s My Poe(‘s Law)!”)
Did Greg fail to count Battle for Azeroth as a major release because:
They’re all true*, but feel free to choose whatever explanation makes you the least angry!
*For specific values of “true.”
Jonman Wrote:
Yes, you can cancel Darksiders, but only by using your Sony Golds. Which, while pretty good, aren't a patch on Zelda.
I'm A Steam Curator!
Death's Gambit gets the nod from me this week. Been looking forward to it for quite some time.
Now Playing: Crimson Shroud, Blood of Bahamut, SMT IV, RDR, SBCG4AP, Octopath Traveler, The Baconing, The Legend of Dragoon.
Switch Friend Code: SW-7025-5637-0902
Okay, random poll -
Death’s Gambit or Dead Cells?
Reasons why and experience with either game welcome!
LastSuprise: Destroyer of Wallets would be an excellent tag and/or third handle for you.
https://twitter.com/theharpomarxist
Haven't played Death's Gambit yet (though I have it pre-ordered and am very much looking forward to it), but the gameplay for it seems more like a straightforward Metroidvania style, whereas my experience with Dead Cells (which I own) has been that of Metroidvania-meets-roguelite; essentially your unlock some items that will randomly drop during subsequent attempts after you die, while also acquiring permanent abilities that stay with you throughout all subsequent attempts. After each death, the world layout randomly generates anew. It really is a fun game and so far I've yet to experience any unfair deaths or challenges.
Hope that helps in some way?
Now Playing: Crimson Shroud, Blood of Bahamut, SMT IV, RDR, SBCG4AP, Octopath Traveler, The Baconing, The Legend of Dragoon.
Switch Friend Code: SW-7025-5637-0902
The jokes all hit home with me this week. Props!
Phantom Doctrine's been on my radar for a while now. Hope it turns out well.
Curious to see Age of Gladiators for a sequel. It's a gladiator management sim, which should totally be a new genre.
Barbearian looks neat! Color me surprised.
How did I live before digital distribution of old, cheap games?
MilkmanDanimal wrote:You did live before digital distribution of old, cheap games. Now you just play games.
I bought Death's Gambit and returned it after multiple issues with the frame rate (which is tied to the speed of the gameplay), and game play issues. The stamina mechanic was poorly balanced. I could not roll and attack without running out of stamina. I think that the game is balanced around blocking and not dodging even though that is how I would have liked to play. You have to hold down LB/L1 in order to hold onto a ladder. More stats are laid out when leveling but, I found no way to access that menu when trying to compare items. The game looks great and is definitely a game I would like to play. It's a little weird because if this was early access I probably would have kept it and waited for patches. But, not knowing how much support would come to this game leaves me skeptical. It is also a game that feels much more like a console game with no regard to the PC version other than we can port it so lets do that. So if a Switch version comes out I may pick it up there instead.
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Battle.net ID: Chimalli#11515