November 8 - 14

Section: 

IMAGE(https://www.gamerswithjobs.com/files/pictures/pictures/picture-13445.jpg)   Felix “Castles in the Sky” Threepaper

Welcome folks, and happy “188th Anniversary of the Highstown rail accident” week! This was the earliest-recorded, fatal train accident, which occurred near New Jersey in 1833, only 2 months after steam trains had replaced horses on the line. Besides the 2 fatalities, it was also notable for a few VIPs on board, including Cornelius Vanderbilt, who broke his leg and vowed never to ride a train again (but went on to become one of the first railroad tycoons), and ex-president John Quincy Adams. That was the thing about trains: there were no private lines, so while the rich may have been in separate carriages, they were pulled by the same engines and on the same tracks as the hoi polloi. You may all celebrate by playing The Last Express.

Orcs Must Die! 3 - Cold As Eyes is an expansion that introduces various, powerful Cyclops units to repel and 3 new icy maps to face them in. Now you know why it’s called “Cold as Eyes” and can groan accordingly.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Anniversary Edition uses Skyrim’s 10th Anniversary to resell it to you, again. What’s new in this edition? It contains the next-gen version of the game (though not much by way of graphical upgrades), plus fishing and a huge bundle of the top Creation Club content. Creation Club is the platform for selling premium mods, like extra questlines, pets, and a Survival mode that adds hunger and cold mechanics. If you already own the Special Edition (which was the 5th Anniversary remaster), then most of this is a free update, though you get a smaller bundle of free Creation Club stuff. The Switch version doesn’t support mods (without homebrewing) or Creation Club, so it isn’t getting any of this new update. No fishing for you!

Another remaster of some classic, even older, games is the Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy - The Definitive Edition. The main feature of these remasters is the graphical improvements: they’re not polished up to look as good as current games, but they look a hell of a lot better than the originals—remembering that GTA 3 is a 20 year-old, PS2-era game. The controls have also been updated to match GTA V controls, which essentially means weapon aiming and shooting are mapped to the front bumpers (L2/LT and R2/RT). It’s hard to believe we were all shooting with the Circle/B button back in the day. GamePass owners will get GTA: San Andreas for free. I just wish I could buy Vice City separately for a third of the price. I might finally be able to get past that infuriating RC helicopter mission after 19 years. Rockstar’s hoping my nostalgia itch will be strong enough to fork out for the whole package.

Shin Megami Tensei V is a whole, actual, new game releasing this week. Reviews are already out, and it’s scoring solid 4-out-of-5s across the board, with most criticisms being about performance on the increasingly-chuggy Switch, rather than the game itself. While this series has been somewhat eclipsed by its spinoff, the Persona series (kinda like how Better Call Saul is better than Breaking Bad), there’s 80-plus hours of grindy, demon-customising gameplay to be had for JRPG fans.

Sometimes competitors in a duopoly march in a lockstep that suggests they are colluding; sometimes one zigs when the other zags. Battlefield 2042 is heading into the future after its last game was set in WW2, and it’s going multiplayer-only— all while CoD recently re-introduced single-player campaigns and went back to WW2. Battlefield’s future is twice as big, with 128-player maps, and will be full of drones and harsh weather, but no suppression mechanics. Classes have been redesigned as specialists who get a special gadget but can pick any gun type to go with it. You will also be able to switch up gun attachments during a match. It’s the biggest shakeup of the Battlefield formula since 2008’s Bad Company, which was the last Battlefield game I actually played.

Other notable releases include Football Manager 2022, which will challenge how much you think you know about football, and Jurassic World Evolution 2, the “Zoo Tycoon, but with dinosaurs” game that includes scenarios which recreate the conditions of each of the Jurassic Park movies to see if you can do better than InGen Corporation.

My GOTW is Airborne Kingdom, which is coming to consoles this week. This is the peaceful city-builder set in the sky, where your city is flying and if it leans too far in any direction, people fall off. The land below is to be explored for resources and quests, but it’s mostly about building your weird and wonderful city and keeping your people happy. It takes around 10 hours to finish the main objective, so it’s not too much of a time-sink. I’m not sure how replayable it is after you’ve finished it once or twice, but it looks like a chill time, which is what I need in this hectic end-of-year rush of games.

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

PC

  • 11-08

  • Ani Leaving Sirius
  • Astronium
  • Blue Reflection: Second Light
  • Bulkhead
  • Chou Shougi
  • Curatours
  • Cyber Sokoban
  • Dextram
  • Evil God Korone
  • FlightChess
  • Gear of Glass: Eolarn's war
  • Give Me More Pills
  • Hello World
  • Hope Despair Chaos
  • Insect Seeker
  • labyrinth inf
  • Madrid Noir
  • Maze Workout - Urban Lost Solo Car Racer
  • Memetric: Final Lifeforms
  • Our Mother's house
  • PLAYBOOK
  • Pool Adventure
  • Qin overwhelms the world
  • Star Shift Origins
  • The Game of Squids: Ultimate Parody Game
  • War era Lumberjack
  • Who dies first
  • Xangel
  • 11-09

  • Alone In The Mars
  • Blasting Courier
  • Classic Chess
  • Death Becomes You
  • Fighting Fiends
  • Football Manager 2022
  • Forza Horizon 5
  • Frog Ball Rerolled
  • Jurassic World Evolution 2
  • Pandemic Pandemonium
  • Sole Iron Tail
  • Squidoku
  • Take As Needed
  • 11-10

  • 1940
  • 890B
  • Banished Sir
  • Bobok
  • Cyjin: The Cyborg Ninja
  • epic maze
  • Final Fantasy V Pixel Remaster
  • Forge Squad
  • Fructus
  • Garda
  • Legendary Boxing Belt
  • Quizee - Games for Parties and Twitch!
  • SEARCH ALL - CANDY
  • Shifting Dungeon
  • Ship Graveyard Simulator
  • Spacefolk City
  • Star Fisher
  • The Drill RPG
  • There Is No Light 616
  • TimeShifters
  • Wrought Flesh
  • Zeta Bit Player Pack 1
  • 11-11

  • A Pretty Odd Bunny
  • Ancient Huntsmen
  • Artemis
  • Ask Dao Xiantu 2
  • Breakwaters
  • Bright Memory: Infinite
  • Captain Toonhead vs the Punks from Outer Space
  • Cats Don't Speak
  • Chang'an Yeming
  • Chronicles of Time - The Germination of Astra
  • Clarity of The Soul
  • Clean Art
  • Control Headlights!
  • Epic Chef
  • Failure simulator
  • Fantasma
  • Finding You Before Spring Coming
  • Fish Story
  • Four Animals
  • Gladiator's Glory: Salvation
  • Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy - The Definitive Edition
  • Gravitational
  • Henry's Day
  • House Builder
  • Hyper Echelon
  • I MAED A GAM3 W1TH Z0MB1ES 1N IT!!!1
  • Imitating Zombies
  • In The Line Of My Heart
  • Kainga
  • Kingdom of Maverta
  • Lame Defenders
  • Last Devil
  • LIGHT NITE
  • Little Stars
  • Mage Mountain
  • Motherland
  • Nightwalker 2
  • Only Mine
  • Orcs Must Die! 3 - Cold As Eyes
  • Passin'Time
  • Piratopia
  • PLEASE COMPLY
  • Punk Wars
  • Puzzlezon
  • RollMe
  • Siege the Day
  • Slice of Sea
  • Slot Factory Create and Play - Magic Brewery
  • Smintheus
  • Space Rocks Blaster
  • Splash Jumper
  • SYNTHETIK 2
  • The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Anniversary Edition
  • Treasures of the Aegean
  • Xenture
  • 11-12

  • [International] Absented Age: Squarebound
  • A Fishy RPG
  • Alchemic Cutie
  • Arcade Galaxy
  • Armored Front
  • Bokube
  • Brick Love
  • Chronicles of Sarval: Bridges of Koni
  • City Zoomer
  • Crisp Cube
  • DayDream Mosaics 2: Juliette's Tale
  • Echo Tokyo: Mana Defence Force
  • Edwardo
  • Ephesus
  • Gaslamp Cases 2
  • Girl of Fighting Nations
  • Grave Knight
  • Honor Douluo
  • Island Crusaders
  • Jump Movement
  • JUNKPUNK
  • LOST BUBBLES: Sweet mates
  • Megacraft Hotspot Royale
  • Mistrun
  • MONSTER X
  • My Furry Detective
  • OtherSoul
  • Punch It Deluxe
  • Reborn Tribe
  • Resonance Wars
  • Run, Kitty!
  • Squid Run
  • Squid Survival
  • Tale of six
  • The Quiet Apocalypse
  • Timmy the Tiger's Big Adventure
  • Wild West Z
  • 11-13

  • Gedel Escape
  • Hide and seek with Flandre
  • 11-14

  • Breakdown (QuickBobber)
  • Consume Thy Flesh: The Pumpkin Smashing Sim
  • Solaris Rift

Xbox Series X

  • 11-09

  • Airborne Kingdom
  • Football Manager 2022
  • Jurassic World Evolution 2
  • My Singing Monsters Playground
  • 11-10

  • Gunkid 99
  • Real Farm: Premium Edition
  • 11-11

  • Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy - The Definitive Edition
  • Orcs Must Die! 3 - Cold As Eyes
  • The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Anniversary Edition
  • Treasures of the Aegean
  • 11-12

  • Battlefield 2042
  • Human: Fall Flat
  • Ty The Tasmanian Tiger HD

Xbox One

  • 11-09

  • Airborne Kingdom
  • Football Manager 2022
  • Jurassic World Evolution 2
  • My Singing Monsters Playground
  • 11-10

  • Alchemist Simulator
  • Gunkid 99
  • Real Farm: Premium Edition
  • 11-11

  • Epic Chef
  • Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas - The Definitive Edition
  • Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy - The Definitive Edition
  • Orcs Must Die! 3 - Cold As Eyes
  • The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Anniversary Edition
  • Treasures of the Aegean
  • 11-12

  • Battlefield 2042
  • Gynoug
  • Whiskey Mafia: Leo's Family

PlayStation 5

  • 11-09

  • Airborne Kingdom
  • Classic Racers Elite
  • Jurassic World Evolution 2
  • My Singing Monsters Playground
  • 11-10

  • Gunkid 99
  • Real Farm: Premium Edition
  • 11-11

  • Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy - The Definitive Edition
  • The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Anniversary Edition
  • Treasures of the Aegean
  • 11-12

  • Battlefield 2042

PlayStation 4

  • 11-09

  • Airborne Kingdom
  • Blue Reflection: Second Light
  • Classic Racers Elite
  • Jurassic World Evolution 2
  • My Singing Monsters Playground
  • 11-10

  • Gunkid 99
  • 11-11

  • Epic Chef
  • Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy - The Definitive Edition
  • Orcs Must Die! 3 - Cold As Eyes
  • The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Anniversary Edition
  • Treasures of the Aegean
  • 11-12

  • Gynoug

Switch

  • 11-08

  • Gravity Light
  • 11-09

  • Airborne Kingdom
  • Blue Reflection: Second Light
  • Classic Racers Elite
  • My Singing Monsters Playground
  • 11-10

  • 890B
  • GUNKID 99
  • Real Farm: Premium Edition
  • The Adventure of Ravi 'n' Navi
  • 11-11

  • Epic Chef
  • Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy - The Definitive Edition
  • Island Farmer
  • Joojee's Journey
  • Panmorphia: Enchanted
  • Pups & Purrs Animal Hospital
  • Retro Highway
  • Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
  • Timingooo!
  • Treasures of the Aegean
  • 11-12

  • A Pretty Odd Bunny
  • Amazing Princess Sarah
  • Gynoug
  • Hoplegs
  • Pukan, Bye-Bye!
  • Shin Megami Tensei V
  • Ty The Tasmanian Tiger HD / Ty The Tasmanian Tiger 2: Bush Rescue HD
  • Venus: Improbable Dream
  • 11-13

  • FishWitch Halloween

Comments

Though I did not play the Beta myself, impressions I've seen from various YouTube channels and friends I know that are long-time franchise fans is that Battlefield 2042 needs a serious delay. As in, minimum six-months delay, if not a year. Unfortunately, that's not the way things work, so they're going to push it forward anyway. I wish them success, I suppose.

Normally my pick would be Shin Megami Tensei V, as it's one of the titles I've been waiting for ever since the January 2017 reveal of the Switch games line-up and marketing. However, I just do not have the time or budget for an 80-hour JRPG, and the city-now-turned-desert-wasteland aesthetic is just not doing it for me. I'll maybe snag it later.

Shout-out to Blue Reflection: Second Light getting its Western release, a sequel to a Magical Girl JRPG, both by the same developers as the Atelier franchise. The marketing of this one feels more Persona and less Magical Girl, but I suppose once you make an RPG out of the latter it's only so different from the former. I will also not be picking this up, though mostly due to wanting to play the first game yet Koei Tecmo are unwilling to put it on sale under $40.

Feels like a good week with Battlefield and SMTV, but that remasters are filling in gaps for publishers really takes the shine off of everything. I take it this is the way things will be moving forward.

That said, fixing the shooting in those old GTA games is beyond needed. Those games always felt awful and marked a clear divide (at the time) between console and pc shooting (pc > console). It's crazy to think GTA3 released merely weeks begore Halo brought control parity to the systems.

Battlefield 2042 technically releases on November 19th.

The 12th is the start of a week-long "early access" period for people that preordered one of the More Than $60 Super Duper Editions.

But if you are calling it "released" on November 12th, then it probably should be on the PC list too.

*Legion* wrote:

Battlefield 2042 technically releases on November 19th.

The 12th is the start of a week-long "early access" period for people that preordered one of the More Than $60 Super Duper Editions.

But if you are calling it "released" on November 12th, then it probably should be on the PC list too. :D

Fair enough -- thanks for the pickup! Given that it already popped up on the list a month ago because of the open beta, I get confused sometimes.

Felix Threepaper wrote:

Given that it already popped up on the list a month ago because of the open beta, I get confused sometimes.

Yeah, not your fault. I've been awaiting this game for months - and played in the beta - and I've still had to triple check exactly what is happening and when.

KOTOR on Switch?!

Probably the mobile port right? Got it free on Android a while back and played some.

Stele wrote:

KOTOR on Switch?!

Probably the mobile port right? Got it free on Android a while back and played some.

Something like that, yeah. Def not getting the HD remasemter (yet).

Stele wrote:

KOTOR on Switch?!

Probably the mobile port right? Got it free on Android a while back and played some.

Yeah, definitely the mobile port.

I’ve been plugging away at the GTA3 remaster today and oof- I was expecting the bare minimum from the trailer but it’s even less than that. It really feels like something they shoved out the door for a quick cash infusion.

They fixed the shooting, at least.

garion333 wrote:

They fixed the shooting, at least.

Sort of? They controls are better and the lock-on is looser but it still functions basically the same as before. They didn’t actually retrofit the GTA5 combat model into the game, they just remapped the controls to be more similar to GTA5.

ruhk wrote:
garion333 wrote:

They fixed the shooting, at least.

Sort of? They controls are better and the lock-on is looser but it still functions basically the same as before. They didn’t actually retrofit the GTA5 combat model into the game, they just remapped the controls to be more similar to GTA5.

Did you see what they did to the rain? Absolutely broken.

Please don't buy these games, they are very much quick cash jobs.

I haven’t seen anything that bad yet but I’m still playing 3 and it seems like all the problems and glitches get progressively worse in the later games. The rain in 3 is still pretty bad, though. It’s too bright and too heavy, making it hard to see anything while driving. They skimped on the animation for the rain hitting the ground, as well. The rain drops form noticeably distracting looping uniform tessellations on the ground.

There’s just tons of weird graphical issues everywhere. Damage decals that are occasionally detached and floating next to the vehicles. Stairs with random uneven protruding steps. Signs on buildings that are blended with the texture of the building. Steam grates on sidewalks that are bright, glowing white until your character gets close enough for the texture to load. Etc.