October 15 – October 21

Section: 

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

There’s lots of interesting stuff out there this week, and I encourage you all to go hunting on your own. What follows are just some of the things that I found.

Halloween Forever is a bit of a cheat for me. I’ve had it on PC for a while now, and it’s only now getting ported to PS4 (and Vita, for some reason), but it remains one of the best 16-bit-style platformers I’ve played in recent years. It doesn’t quite rival Shovel Knight, but it’s close for me.

Terraforming Mars is the official video-game port of the board game that took the board gaming world by storm. Crunchy, deep-system board games like this seem like a natural fit for PC enhancement, since it means you don’t have to spend as much time reading the rules and then going to YouTube because the written rules are inadequately explained.

PROELIUM deserves a mention, if only for chutzpah. Someone’s releasing a 1v1 fighting game the same week as Soul Calibur VI? It’s either very, very good or very, very self-unaware, and I’m interested to see which, although I know which way to bet. Regardless, it reminds me of Rise of the Robots, a not-very-good fighting game by Time Warner Interactive that I, of course, had a fair amount of fun with.

The Hex is one of those closed-system murder mysteries where everyone’s locked in a building and at least one of them must have dunnit. The hook here is that the suspects are all videogame protagonist archetypes. Also, it’s made by the people who brought you Pony Island, which I probably should have led with if I wanted to get your attention.

I don’t know what it is about Souls-likes for me. I don’t tend to like them very much, but I like the concept and I keep searching for that one that will hook me. Sinner: Sacrifice for Redemption may or may not be that one, but it’s got great character and boss design.

After wading through all of that, though, my game of the week is Soul Calibur VI. I first got into Soul Calibur back in my college days, when I studied for exams while waiting for my quarter to advance to the edge of the screen, at which point my Yoshimitsu would invariably get schooled by a woman playing as Voldo. (I eventually beat her – once – and it was one of my proudest moments.) I’ve bought every Soul Calibur game since then, and have usually been disappointed (with the exception of 2, because Heihachi is awesome), but Namco seems to have learned its lesson from Tekken 7 and is bringing the series back to basics. I’m looking forward to breaking out the fight-stick and doing a little eight-way-running. Soul Calibur VI is an easy pick for game of the week.

IMAGE(https://www.gamerswithjobs.com/files/pictures/pictures/picture-13445.jpg)   Felix “Original Starbuck” Threepaper

This week’s release list feels like I’ve lost a reward challenge in Survivor]. I can practically hear Jeff saying to me “I got nothin for ya. Grab your stuff and head back to camp.”

It’s not that there isn’t a shedload of titles in practically every genre coming out. Maybe I’m just feeling ornery because my 5 year old son got ahead of me in Spider-Man the glut of big releases makes it hard to appreciate everything.

Sure, various quantities of Dark Souls are coming out on PS4, Xbone (but not in Europe) and Switch. But I’ve resisted their charms until now.

Yeah, yeah, cult last-gen JRPG Resonance of Fate gets a remaster, and Shadow of the Colossus-alike Sinner: Sacrifice for Redemption is coming out, but these are titles I am merely hypothetically interested in, rather than actually wanting to play.

Starlink: Battle for Atlas is Ubisoft’s entry into the toys-to-life field, about a year after the last big entrant became landfill.

The management-by-Tinder indie game Reigns gets a Game Of Thrones skin to tide you over until Winter comes. It has no spoilers though.

Battlestar Galactica: Deadlock – Anabasis shows that this game has legs and might be worth a look. “Anabasis” literally means “inland march” and, in military terms, means an advance into an enemy’s interior. Ironically, Xenophon’s “Anabasis” is a tale of an army marching to the coast through enemy territory, though, to be fair, they did march inland before hooking back to sea. But I digress. The centrepiece of this expansion, as its name suggests, offers an FTL-like survival mode where your fleet is pursued relentlessly through Cylon space as you try to make it back to Caprica. On top of that, there’s new missions, maps for single- and multiplayer, and munition types. Why the frak not. GOTW.

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

PC

  • 10-15

  • A Winter's Daydream
  • Abalyte
  • AI War 2
  • Animals Memory: Horses
  • ANTIFECTOR
  • BlitzKeep Unleashed
  • Escape Legacy: Ancient Scrolls
  • Finding Light
  • Magical Monster Land
  • Refight:Burning Engine
  • Second Second
  • Spacefarers!
  • The Operational Art of War IV
  • Tiny-Tasy Town
  • Touhou: Dreaming Butterfly
  • Twin Synth
  • ULTIMATE HARDBASS DEFENCE
  • Wanderfog
  • 10-16

  • 3Buttons
  • Cat's Puzzle
  • Chuckie Egg 2017
  • Color by Numbers - Halloween
  • Crayola Scoot
  • Cultist Simulator: Dancer
  • Existence = !Existence;
  • Gachi Heroes
  • HANZ!
  • Heavy Fire: Red Shadow
  • Hiding Spot
  • Lantern of Worlds - The First Quest
  • LEGO DC Super-Villains
  • NBA 2K Playgrounds 2
  • Newt One
  • Orogenesis
  • Planet Coaster: World's Fair Pack
  • Rumours From Elsewhere
  • TAPSONIC BOLD
  • The Hex
  • theHunter: Call of the Wild - 2019 Edition
  • Warriors Orochi 4
  • Washed Up!
  • 10-17

  • Bulleto Master
  • Cateau
  • Escape the Enterprise
  • Farplane Relic
  • God's Basement
  • Grottesco Absurdus
  • Hentai Forest
  • Hentai tentacle bicycle race
  • Hexen Hegemony
  • Immortal Darkness: Curse of The Pale King
  • Intelligence: Underwater Kingdom
  • Journey Through Memories
  • Kolkhoz: The Red Wedge
  • Little elf
  • Magicae Mundi
  • Resonance of Fate 4K / HD Edtion
  • SparkChess
  • Terraforming Mars
  • The 9th Gate
  • The Jackbox Party Pack 5
  • Trancelation
  • Wenjia
  • Wonder Wickets
  • YOMOTSU
  • Zombie Soldier
  • 10-18

  • AV-17
  • Battlestar Galactica: Deadlock - Anabasis
  • Cooking Simulator
  • Cubanoids
  • Cube Defender 2000
  • Dragon Knight Royal Quest RPG
  • Dreamwalker: Never Fall Asleep
  • Elemental War
  • Evolo.SpiderSim
  • Great Hero's Beard
  • Heliophobia
  • Hidden Animals : Photo Hunt. Seek and Find Game
  • Infliction
  • Initial 2 : New Stage
  • Istanbul: Digital Edition
  • Kingdom Rush Origins
  • LOGistICAL 2
  • P**** Password
  • Parcheesi Boardgame Simulator
  • PRATAGON
  • Prison Break RPG
  • PROELIUM
  • Reigns: Game Of Thrones
  • Return of the Obra Dinn
  • Sinner: Sacrifice for Redemption
  • Time Splatter
  • TOK
  • Viviette
  • Voltage Drop
  • Wer weiss denn sowas? - Das Spiel
  • Yet another tower defence
  • 10-19

  • A Killer's Sorrow
  • Combo Jumper
  • CRAKEN
  • Distorted Illusions
  • DotX
  • Double Head Shark Attack
  • GAME QUOTES - THE GAME
  • Hentai Girls Puzzles
  • Hentai Lady
  • Island sky RPG
  • It's good to be a pirate RPG
  • Life Game
  • Lost and Found RPG
  • Lost Frontier
  • Megavaders 5000
  • Mojo 2
  • Mojo 2: Mia
  • Not Heaven
  • OIL PATCH SIMULATIONS
  • Pandas Die
  • Poker Tower Defense
  • Quest room: Hanon
  • Sakura Day 2 Mahjong
  • Shadows Light RPG
  • Slimes RPG
  • SoulCalibur VI
  • Stationary
  • Sudoku Killer
  • Sunshine RPG
  • Supply Chain Idle
  • The Blight
  • The Legend of Evil
  • The Moment We Met
  • Three Treason Theories RPG
  • World War 3
  • 10-20

  • Blockz VS Ballz
  • Run Fairy
  • Super Potato Bruh
  • 10-21

  • Charlie's Conscious
  • Chronicles of Lurra
  • Coop Tank War

PS4

  • 10-15

  • Palm Reading Premium
  • RAZED
  • 10-16

  • Crayola Scoot
  • Fast Striker
  • For Honor: Marching Fire
  • For Honor: Marching Fire Edition
  • Gnomes Garden
  • Heavy Fire: Red Shadow
  • Home Sweet Home
  • LEGO DC Super-Villains
  • NBA 2K Playgrounds 2
  • Overload
  • Phobos Vector Prime: The First Ring
  • Starlink: Battle for Atlas
  • The Jackbox Party Pack 5
  • theHunter: Call of the Wild - 2019 Edition
  • Warriors Orochi 4
  • 10-17

  • PIPE by BMX Streets
  • 10-18

  • Battlestar Galactica: Deadlock - Anabasis
  • Sinner: Sacrifice for Redemption
  • 10-19

  • Dark Souls Trilogy
  • Halloween Forever
  • Resonance of Fate 4K / HD Edtion
  • Riot: Civil Unrest
  • SoulCalibur VI

PSVR

  • 10-15

  • Drone Striker

Xbox One

  • 10-16

  • Crayola Scoot
  • For Honor: Marching Fire
  • For Honor: Marching Fire Edition
  • Heavy Fire: Red Shadow
  • Home Sweet Home
  • LEGO DC Super-Villains
  • NBA 2K Playgrounds 2
  • Starlink: Battle for Atlas
  • theHunter: Call of the Wild - 2019 Edition
  • Warriors Orochi 4
  • 10-17

  • The Jackbox Party Pack 5
  • Transport Giant GOTY Edition
  • 10-18

  • Battlestar Galactica: Deadlock - Anabasis
  • Sinner: Sacrifice for Redemption
  • 10-19

  • Dark Souls Trilogy
  • SoulCalibur VI

Switch

  • 10-15

  • RAZED
  • 10-16

  • Big Buck Hunter Arcade
  • Crayola Scoot
  • Exorder
  • LEGO DC Super-Villains
  • NBA 2K Playgrounds 2
  • Rapala Fishing Pro Series
  • Starlink: Battle for Atlas
  • Valkyria Chronicles
  • Warriors Orochi 4
  • 10-17

  • The Jackbox Party Pack 5
  • 10-18

  • Black Bird
  • Drift Legends
  • Momonga Pinball Adventures
  • Moto Racer 4
  • Personality and Psychology Premium
  • SINNER: Sacrifice for Redemption
  • Spencer
  • SpiderSolitaire BLACK
  • Syberia 3
  • The Room
  • WILL: A Wonderful World
  • Zarvot
  • 10-19

  • Dark Souls Remastered
  • I Hate Running Backwards
  • Passpartout: The Starving Artist
  • Pizza Titan Ultra
  • The Legend of Evil
  • Tied Together

Vita

  • 10-16

  • Fast Striker
  • 10-19

  • Halloween Forever

RIFT

  • 10-15

  • Echoes in White
  • Muerte's Arena
  • Shepard Fairey VR - DAMAGED
  • 10-16

  • Hang Up
  • 10-17

  • Rascals
  • The Finnish Virtual Art Gallery
  • 10-19

  • HOT GIRLS VR
  • 10-21

  • BATTLE X Arcade

Vive

  • 10-15

  • Echoes in White
  • Shepard Fairey VR - DAMAGED
  • Swing the cat
  • 10-16

  • Fit It
  • Hang Up
  • Puppet Blaster
  • 10-17

  • Rascals
  • The Finnish Virtual Art Gallery
  • 10-19

  • HOT GIRLS VR
  • 10-20

  • Duck HuntR
  • 10-21

  • BATTLE X Arcade

Comments

This would have been a big week for me had I time and money. Valkyria Chronicles would have been an easy repurchase, but I'd like to at least finish Octopath Traveler and Battle Chasers: Nightware before snagging another RPG for the Switch. It's a priority, though, as I promised my buddy Steve I'd give him my still unopened PS4 copy of the remaster when I bought it.

Soul Calibur VI I'm waiting for the Switch port on. Eventually it's going to be my fighting game platform of choice, as it has the advantage of portability that no other console has. I prefer playing with my friends on the couch, so waiting is not only an obvious move, but okay by me considering my non-bill funds are going towards Christmas.

Resonance of Fate, however, I did not expect to release so soon. I need to pick that one up, just don't know when. Nor do I know when I would fit it in my already busy PS4 schedule of games to play.

Finally, Starlink: Battle for Atlas, which looks interesting but I have zero interest in having physical toys in my house. I would purchase it digitally, only I have no clue what will actually be available. Is this a game that demands I purchase DLC if I'm not going to go ahead and clutter my home with toys? I'm hoping some of the local GWJers can help me out with that info, because when I sought news closer to E3 time none of the journalists seemed all too curious about that. Just some throwaway comments that assured you'd have DLC and didn't have to buy the toys... but... still insinuated purchases needed to be made nonetheless.

I just want my digital game and to pilot an Arwing without the toy, dang it.

ccesarano wrote:

Finally, Starlink: Battle for Atlas, which looks interesting but I have zero interest in having physical toys in my house. I would purchase it digitally, only I have no clue what will actually be available. Is this a game that demands I purchase DLC if I'm not going to go ahead and clutter my home with toys? I'm hoping some of the local GWJers can help me out with that info, because when I sought news closer to E3 time none of the journalists seemed all too curious about that. Just some throwaway comments that assured you'd have DLC and didn't have to buy the toys... but... still insinuated purchases needed to be made nonetheless.

I just want my digital game and to pilot an Arwing without the toy, dang it.

Good news, ccesarano! You can get everything digitally, there's no requirement to have the physical toys. If you're US-based you can even save money by going digital as you can get everything included in the starter pack (Inc. all the Star Fox content) for the price of a standard full-price game. All the additional ships, pilots, etc., can also be purchased digitally. I know that in Europe you can add €20 to the price of your game to get a 'Deluxe' edition which - I'm pretty sure - includes digital versions of everything (ships, etc, etc.) that's currently available. I'm guessing something similar is is available in the US too. Alternatively, you can by the game digitally, get all the Starter Pack content, then buy specific pilots, ships etc. digitally if you feel you need/want them.

ccesarano wrote:

I promised my buddy Steve I'd give him my still unopened PS4 copy of the remaster when I bought it.

That's very nice of you. There's no rush though cause I have no memory of that conversation.

And I don't own a PS4.

Still very nice of you though.

I missed that Sinner: Sacrifice for Redemption comes out this week.
I'm interested, especially in the reverse power curve (you give up a power/stat/weapon every boss you beat), but not sure if I'd particularly like it.
Maybe one for a sale.

Terraforming Mars for me - I can't get enough of the board game. It will be nice to have a quick-playing digital version.

Oh, so that really is a Cylon in the header image? Shocking!!

Stevintendo wrote:
ccesarano wrote:

I promised my buddy Steve I'd give him my still unopened PS4 copy of the remaster when I bought it.

That's very nice of you. There's no rush though cause I have no memory of that conversation.

And I don't own a PS4.

Still very nice of you though. :)

Resonance of Fate. I hope it is cheap enough. If it isn’t then I hope the old PS3 won’t have hdmi hand shake issues to replay it.

I may have to wait on Soul Calibur. Apparently the PC minimum spec calls out a GTX 1050, and I only have a GTX 970.

This game is going to play like crap on a console of the PC requirements are that high, seeing as how the PS4 is not even the match of a GTX770.

doubtingthomas396 wrote:

I may have to wait on Soul Calibur. Apparently the PC minimum spec calls out a GTX 1050, and I only have a GTX 970.

This game is going to play like crap on a console of the PC requirements are that high, seeing as how the PS4 is not even the match of a GTX770.

970 >>> 1050

You should be okay, though I would wait until you see if the port is of high quality (or buy it and refund it if you're ok with doing it that way).

Yeah a 970 is like a 1060 so you should be ok.

Wait, seriously?

I haven’t been by to check the specs over at Passmark, but I thought the performance was linear: as in 670<970<1050<1080

You know, like how math works.

I thought the exception was when they started adding suffixes, like TI, which offer a +10 charisma bonus when doing a persuasion check to get games to run faster.

You have exactly nailed why graphics card naming conventions are confusing and dumb.

Yeah, it is dumb but think of it this way.

The last two numbers reference the power or low end to high end scale. so 50 < 60 < 70 < 80. Anything before that is the generation. So while a 970 is only one generation older than a 1050 it was a mid-high end card when it was released. The 1050 would be considered a budget card.

I don't think I made that any more clear and they confused things more by doing the jump from 10 to 20 series this year. yeah stupid naming scheme.

Actually that makes it a lot more clear. I mean, it's still dumb but at least there appears to be some semblance of logic there.

Looking at some benchmarks I think the 970 is actually a little closer to the 1050Ti than a 1060, but either way you'll be above a 1050.

Boudreaux wrote:

Actually that makes it a lot more clear. I mean, it's still dumb but at least there appears to be some semblance of logic there.

The real dumbness was skipping from a 10-series to a 20-series instead of logically going to an 11-series, and thereby missing out on a killer "ours goes up to 11" Spinal Tap marketing gimmick!

EvilDead wrote:

Yeah, it is dumb but think of it this way.

The last two numbers reference the power or low end to high end scale. so 50 < 60 < 70 < 80. Anything before that is the generation. So while a 970 is only one generation older than a 1050 it was a mid-high end card when it was released. The 1050 would be considered a budget card.

I don't think I made that any more clear and they confused things more by doing the jump from 10 to 20 series this year. yeah stupid naming scheme.

Ah, so we're talking about office copiers now. Got it.

wordsmythe wrote:
EvilDead wrote:

Yeah, it is dumb but think of it this way.

The last two numbers reference the power or low end to high end scale. so 50 < 60 < 70 < 80. Anything before that is the generation. So while a 970 is only one generation older than a 1050 it was a mid-high end card when it was released. The 1050 would be considered a budget card.

I don't think I made that any more clear and they confused things more by doing the jump from 10 to 20 series this year. yeah stupid naming scheme.

Ah, so we're talking about office copiers now. Got it.

Good to know. I thought we were talking about Terminators.

Who's to say that Neural-Net Processing didn't originate from an unpatched office copier bot network?

EvilDead wrote:

Who's to say that Neural-Net Processing didn't originate from an unpatched office copier bot network?

The T-1000 is, essentially, a sentient 3D copier...

doubtingthomas396 wrote:
EvilDead wrote:

Who's to say that Neural-Net Processing didn't originate from an unpatched office copier bot network?

The T-1000 is, essentially, a sentient 3D copier...

Perfect quote for the back of the box!