Felix “Camarilla Filler” Threepaper
Welcome folks, and happy “146th Anniversary of the invention of Hires Root Beer” week!
Root beer was a traditional American drink based on sassafras oil and probably invented by Indigenous Americans. Charles Hires, a Pennsylvania pharmacist, had some on his honeymoon in 1875 and was so taken with it that he developed his own recipe for mass consumption. Being the late 1800s, he had to claim that it had some medicinal properties, so he said it purified the blood and gave you rosy cheeks. As his product became more popular, the fact that it had “beer” in its name attracted the ire of the temperance movement, so he switched his marketing to claim that a glass of his root beer contained less alcohol than a loaf of bread. Which begs the question: what the hell were they putting in bread back in those days? In any event, Hires Root Beer is still in production today, making it the longest continuously-made soft drink in the US. You may all celebrate by playing a game where you hold on to your consumables for way too long.
I’ve been saying “it’s a quiet week” all May, and this one may be the quietest. Sure, there’s a lot of titles in the list, but the haystack-to-needle ratio is higher than usual. This is what happens when the industry releases almost a year’s worth of bangers in February (yes, I’m still enjoying Elden Ring, thanks for asking).
Furi is a kind of bullet-hell fighting game. It’s all boss fights, with combat that blends dual-stick shooting with swordfighting. It’s by the dev that did the stylish, yet unbalanced, Afro Samurai back in the PS3 days. Anyone who remembers that game would not be surprised to learn that Furi has a bangin’ soundtrack and is very difficult. Furi originally came out on Steam, Xbox and Switch in 2016 and now gets a PlayStation release, along with Onnamusha, which is a new fighter to play with.
Vampire: The Masquerade - Swansong is not the sequel to Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines—that one was delayed indefinitely. But this may be the next best thing. It’s an RPG with a heavier emphasis on dialogue than combat, playing more like a detective thriller, with investigation, clues, and puzzles. It hews closely to 5th-edition V:TM rules. A hefty proportion of the skill trees focus on different ways to persuade people: charm, intimidation, etc. There’s two main resources. The first is willpower, which you spend to execute your investigative skills, like picking locks, hacking, or dialogue boosts. Then there’s your bloodlust, which goes up whenever you use your vampire powers, leading eventually to feeding time! All while trying not to break the masquerade, of course. You will switch between 3 different vampire characters for each mission, and each mission can play out quite differently depending on your choices.
Behind Closed Doors: A Developer's Tale is an indie game about being an indie game developer. It starts out as a mundane recreation of the humdrum of working life, then takes a twist when the protagonist is warped to an alternate reality and has to do a bunch of minigames involving platforming, twinstick shooting, and so on. Too meta?
Divination is a visual novel where you are a fortune teller in a cyberpunk future. Listen to peoples’ stories and predict their future based on the runes they draw. It’s a short ride that you can play through in under an hour. It didn’t get any professional reviews when it first came out on PC in 2019, but Steam users liked it overall, though it does have heavy themes touching on suicide.
DEADCRAFT is a zombie survival action game where the twist is that you are part-zombie, and can recruit zombies to your cause.
DOLMEN is the latest in a string of Sci-fi Soulslikes. It’s got the familiar Souls-y elements: levels that respawn enemies, lock-on targeting (even for guns), stamina bars, boss fights, and a brutal desire to trick and ambush you. Previewers have compared it to Blighttown in Dark Souls—and still liked it. Go figure.
Once again, I’m picking a game for future reference. For me, the pick of the bunch is Vampire: The Masquerade - Swansong. I love to dip into these plot-heavy and dialogue-centric games in between big action titles, while my old man reflexes regenerate. And The World of Darkness, with its emphasis on maintaining the masquerade, lends itself better to these styles of games than the all-out bloodbath of last year’s vampire battle royale game. GOTW.
Here's the list, now in release-date AND alphabetical order!
PC
-
05-16
- A Gladiator's Hell
- Abyss Protection
- Aurelia: Stellar Arising
- Block Breaker 2
- BLOCKED ZONA
- Bobbi Adventure
- BOX RUSH 2: Ice worlds
- Brave Survivor
- Decisive Strike
- Delivery in Space
- Duel Jousting VR
- Dungeon Fall
- Faking to Dance
- garage:VAMP
- Happy Hops
- Hyperbase
- Little Witch in the Woods
- Lone elven wanderer
- Long Journey
- MugenCards
- Music is the Language
- Mystery Quest (Felio Stung ROG)
- Night of Death
- One More Island
- Orph - The Lost Boy
- Peace Maker VR
- Penetrator
- Planetary Planter
- Raccoon Tales
- Riding Away
- Shelter 69
- Sisters_Possession2
- Slaughter Cannon 2
- Spacemancer
- Stonegeon
- Sunline
- TD GOGOGO
- The Bird's Realm 3
- The King of Drive - Parking Edition
- The Witch's Garden
- Tru Or Die: Chiraq
- Welcome to the Untitled Game
-
05-17
- Apocalive
- Brilliance shines in Zhejiang
- Death Dungeon
- ENDRR
- Furi: Onnamusha
- Lander Odyssey
- Mapstermind
- My Name is Mayo 3
- New Legend of the Condor Heroes
- Outward: Definitive Edition
- Rail Walkers
- Ralph's party RPG
- Snack Stall
- SudoKube
- Tennis Manager 2022
- The Horror Story: Remastered - The Prequel
- Trash Patrol - Academic Version
- TYPER GIRL
- Volvalis
- Witching Hour
-
05-18
- A Fungus In My Garden
- Animal Babysister Fighter : Zombie Coming!
- Aqorel
- Aspects
- BALLYGON
- BeachRun
- Countess in Crimson
- CowboysShowdown
- Doorman
- Fantasy Fighters
- Final Foe
- Fruit Juice
- Gibbon: Beyond the Trees
- Heroes of Book & Paper
- Icemaze Cave: Skate Escape
- K9 UPRISING
- Knight Story
- Local Paper Small Town
- Meekanoid
- Minionslayer
- Recursive Ruin
- Rogue of Dungeon
- Satama Puzzle
- Sushi Rush
-
05-19
- "Space Swap 110%" - Amazing Tribute "Tetris Attack" Game!
- 3D PUZZLE - Castle
- Ball Hunter
- Barro GT
- Blacksmith War
- CARDMON
- Contract Killer
- Curious Expedition 2: Shores of Taishi
- DEADCRAFT
- Decision: Red Daze
- Eger
- Element Runner
- Eternal Threads
- FACTOR D
- Frequency Dissonance
- Freshman Magic: Spellbooks and Tangled Sheets
- Galloping the Three Kingdoms
- Gem Setter
- Goetia 2
- Golf Gang
- Gordianaut
- HAYAI
- Hovercars 3077: Underground racing
- IFO
- Jelly Is Sticky
- KAWAII SLIME ARENA
- Linelith
- Maroon Berets: 2030
- Miner Rush
- Mortificare
- Otoko Cross: Pretty Boys Mahjong Solitaire
- Oyster VR
- Potions War
- REPULSOR
- Shadow Racer
- Space Crafting
- Space Ducks: The great escape
- Space Turbo
- SPE:X
- Suicide Guy Deluxe Plus
- Surflexers
- TENDY
- Territory - animals genetic strategy
- The Hunsa Magic
- The Last Tater
- True Detective
- Vampire: The Masquerade - Swansong
- Via Mortis
- Wood Cuter
-
05-20
- 3 DAYS: Ghosts of War
- Abort, Retry, Fail
- All Alone with Mannie
- Almost Home Now
- APICO
- AstoriaVR
- Beauty Paradise
- BINGIMAN: Trap Ochido
- Blade Bros ACTION!
- Change District
- Cook OL
- Core Iris
- Cosmic Purge
- Cute Lands - Puzzle Game
- Dice & Dungeons
- Dimension War
- DOLMEN
- Dub Club
- euphoria
- Fly Dangerous
- Forsaken Barn
- Grederys
- Hex Rally Racers
- Innocence Or Money - V 0.0.3
- Interitus
- LandPort
- Late photographer 5
- Lone Bastion
- Loopback
- Maze Dungeon
- Metal World: Street Scraps
- MewMew - PewPew
- MONOBEHEVO
- News Reacts
- Orbit VR
- RitualSummon
- Roll Player
- Scavenger's Deep
- School Bus Driver Simulator
- SenS
- Sketch
- Smilemo
- Spirit Wolves
- STOLEN CITY
- Tales of Agaris
- The Endless Summer Surfing Challenge
- The First Generation
- They are coming!
- Tiny Arcade Racers
- Ultra Imposer
- Uplifting
- Virtual Circuit Board
- World Escort
- ~ Daydream ~
-
05-21
- Phromg Game
- Sword and Shadow
-
05-22
- CRPG is in China.
- Galacticon
- Sciophobia: The Fear of Shadows
Xbox Series X
-
05-17
- Outward: Definitive Edition
-
05-18
- Behind Closed Doors: A Developer's Tale
- Divination
-
05-19
- DEADCRAFT
- Vampire: The Masquerade - Swansong
-
05-20
- DOLMEN
Xbox One
-
05-17
- Umurangi Generation Special Edition
-
05-18
- Behind Closed Doors: A Developer's Tale
- Divination
-
05-19
- DEADCRAFT
- Eternal Threads
- They Always Run
- Vampire: The Masquerade - Swansong
-
05-20
- DOLMEN
PlayStation 5
-
05-17
- Furi
- Furi: Onnamusha
- Outward: Definitive Edition
-
05-18
- Divination
-
05-19
- DEADCRAFT
- Matchpoint: Tennis Championships
- Vampire: The Masquerade - Swansong
-
05-20
- DOLMEN
PlayStation 4
-
05-17
- Furi: Onnamusha
-
05-18
- Divination
-
05-19
- DEADCRAFT
- Eternal Threads
- They Always Run
- Vampire: The Masquerade - Swansong
-
05-20
- Cotton Fantasy
- DOLMEN
Switch
-
05-17
- Furi: Onnamusha
- Hidden Objects Collection Volume 2
-
05-18
- Divination
-
05-19
- DEADCRAFT
- Snow Bros. Special
- They Always Run
-
05-20
- Cotton Fantasy
-
05-22
- Galacticon
Comments
I don't trust anyone who doesn't finish every game with a big stock of their most powerful consumables as they were saving them "just in case". Nothing here really to help me out of my post Elden Ring slump sadly, might be time to try Gran Turismo.
Furi was on PS4. And it was a PS+ title.
And unlike some of those, they are giving the PS5 upgrade for free. Yeah there's still some DLC, the mentioned Onnamusha, but the main game upgrade is free.
So since I never got around to it before, now seems like a great time. Downloading...
What Stele said ^ -mortalgroove
Switch: 6273-9936-5107
Ahh, dunno how I borked that one. Thanks for clarifying!
Defunk'd Bloggue
Bluesky: @lancecalhoon.bsky.social
Confusing matters with Furi is the fact that it's being updated on all platforms except Xbox.
Interesting article about that, and the devs' concerns that it's "Game Pass or bust" for indies on Xbox these days: Linky linky link
"Quotations are useful in periods of ignorance or obscurantist beliefs."
~ Guy Debord