October 17 - 23

  Felix “Imaginary Rats” Threepaper

Welcome folks, and happy “208th Anniversary of the London Beer Flood” week!

The Horse Shoe Brewery in London had a 22-foot wooden tower, used as a vat for fermenting beer. On 17 October 1814, the worn and ageing tower burst, sending nearly 1.4 million litres of beer flooding through the West End slums of London in a 15-foot high wave. 8 people died in the initial deluge, and in the following days there were stories of mass public drunkenness as hundreds of people gathered around and collected the free beer that was literally flowing through the streets. Thanks to the non-existence of public liability laws, the disaster was ruled an “Act of God”, and the company that owned the tower only had to pay to repair its own property. You may all celebrate by playing a game where you can break what you want with no penalty.

Holiday release season is ramping up this week.

Gotham Knights is the blockbuster release of the week. It’s made by WB Games Montreal, who made Batman: Arkham Origins—the last game in that series that I finished, and the only Arkham game that had a multiplayer mode. This is not a sequel to those games, though, more of a spin-off.

By all accounts, the story is solid, drawing on a wealth of source material from comics and animated series. Batman is dead, and you play as a roster of Batman proteges picking up the pieces: Batgirl, Robin, Nightwing, and Red Hood, each with their own movesets, gear, and skill trees to upgrade. You can switch between them in single-player or do it in co-op for up to 4 players. You are supposed to be able to drop into co-op seamlessly at any time, and the devs have sacrificed a lot of graphical fidelity and locked the framerate to guarantee multiplayer performance. As such, Gotham City isn’t as distinct or as detailed as it was in the Arkham games. In its place is a more generic city, full of more generic open world activities, like collecting crafting materials and gear. The combat is different too, based on building up a meter with regular attacks and well-timed dodges to unleash powerful momentum skills.

As you might expect when the playable character roster goes from 1 to 4, Gotham Knights appears less focused overall than the Arkham games. The devs seem to have decided that the selling point for Gotham Knights is its multiplayer—let’s see if it pays off.

A Plague Tale: Requiem is a sequel to the Medieval-Inquisition-era stealth game from 2019. It’s the same two main characters: Amicia and her younger brother Hugo, stealthing through plague-infested Southern France, avoiding (or killing) guards, and diverting rats. In true sequel fashion, they’ve put more meat on the same bones. In addition to her sling, Amicia now also has a crossbow and a knife. There’s more things to craft to manipulate fire (which scares the rats away), and Hugo has some more powers. There’s also skill trees to upgrade, improving your stealth or combat. The graphics and art design look as lush as the first game, with the new setting of Provence offering more colours and less gloomy outdoor settings. Overall, it looks like just what you’d want from a sequel.

Persona 5 Royal makes its way onto the non-Sony platforms this week. Though its canon and story don’t match up so well with Persona 5 Strikers (which is supposed to be a sequel to Persona 5), Atlus wants Royal to be the definitive version of Persona 5. Continuity issues aside, we aren’t going to see Persona 6 anytime soon, so this is your best bet for the foreseeable.

Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope is a sequel to the surprisingly solid, XCOM-like, turn-based tactical game on Switch. The grid layout has been ditched for more organic-feeling maps, a la Divinity: Original Sin. There’s more stuff that happens outside turn-based combat, including encounters, which introduces some real-time into the mix. And there’s a whole bunch of new characters, from both the Mario and the Rabbids side.

Gotham Knights was my most anticipated game this week, but now it’s here and I’ve seen more previews, I’m hesitant. My Pile is full of open-world games—the ones I stick with tend to have really strong world design: either a unique setting (like Tsushima or The Lands Between), or worlds that make exploration fun (like Spider-Man’s New York or The Lands Between). Gotham Knights’ prioritisation of the multiplayer tilts it away from my personal preferences, but that could make it the clincher for many others. Instead, I’ll give my GOTW to A Plague Tale: Requiem for its unique setting, plus I’m a sucker for setting swarms of rats on people.

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

PC

• 10-17

• Backrooms: Escape Together
• Battle Dawn 2: Terra Reborn
• Boo! (Bart Bonte)
• Candlehead
• Crush Penguin
• Cult Of Babel
• For Mother Matron
• Free My Sight
• FREM Sprite32!
• Highway Cross
• Jettatura
• Made to be Crushed
• Mars Base
• Mars Base Beta
• Mythos: Sudoku
• Never Rain
• Nova Lands: Emilia's Mission
• Open The Gates!
• Pastel Putter
• PHYAKH
• Potionomics
• Reefland
• Slime Hero
• Squid Prison
• Supermarket Duck Dash
• Terror of Hemasaurus
• The Dead Prince
• The Infinite Black 2
• The Shadow Government Simulator
• The Way Home: Pixel Roguelike
• Valora Survival
• Walking In The Abyss
• Wojak This Game
• Yerr Out
• Zombie Apocalypse Survival Simulator

• 10-18

• A Plague Tale: Requiem
• Amberial Dreams
• Asym Altered Axis
• Blaze in Space: Beat a-maze
• Clown Theft Auto: Woke City
• Code Red
• Coin Blitz
• Da Tutu
• Deadlink
• Ghost Follows
• Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed
• hole
• Jennifer Wilde: Unlikely Revolutionaries
• Lucy Dreaming
• Marvel Snap
• Missing Pieces
• Monstir Iradicator
• Mythic Legions Tactics
• Nitro Kid
• Oathbreakers
• Ocean of Emptiness
• Only Love Three Kingdoms
• PARADOX
• Retrowave Rider
• Right and Down
• Riley & Rochelle
• The Villager and the Werewolf - A jigsaw puzzle tale
• Thread
• Together With Me
• Ukraine War Stories
• VANQUISH (GreenOrb)
• Voxella
• Wolfskin's Curse

• 10-19

• Brave the Three Kingdoms
• Bunny Box Breakout
• Chacara
• Chewing Gum Tests
• Disc Golf Online
• Glass Hearts
• Harmony's Odyssey
• Hentai Fantasy World
• Heroes of Eroticism - New Beginnings
• Internet Generation
• Jack (Austin Chase Williams)
• Junjou Gal to Shiawase no Katachi ~Shape of Happiness~
• Lion King Simulator
• Of Blades & Tails
• The Last Hero of Nostalgaia
• THE TRADER -Goods Dealer Simulator-
• The Valiant
• Tiny Solar System
• To Eternity
• Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection
• Yuanjing

• 10-20

• ALIEN INVASION
• ANGEL DROID
• Anna's Kingdom
• Batora: Lost Haven
• DarKnot
• DEATHWATCH - PRELUDE
• Dungeon Knight
• E.E.R.I.E2
• Fear Factory
• Flying Neko Delivery
• Goblin Rules Football
• Golden Egg
• Gramm
• Haunted:Live
• Heads Will Roll: Downfall
• Hell is Others
• Hidden Shapes - Trick or Cats
• I commissioned some bees 8
• Idle Intergalactic Factory
• Indenture
• Lost Hammer
• Machine Gun Mages
• Meow Defence
• Mission In Space
• Nightmare (Adult)
• No Way Back
• One True Hero
• Paper Nebula
• Park Story
• PAVOR
• Pocket World
• Portal war
• REQUISITION: HOME NOT ALONE
• Richman 11
• Scandal Notes
• Search 4 Bigfoot
• Second Extinction
• Sigil of the Magi
• Stanislav
• strategy battles
• The Jackbox Party Pack 9
• The Pegasus Expedition
• Warhammer 40,000: Shootas, Blood & Teef
• Who is Here?
• Will you become a vtuber too?
• World Boss

• 10-21

• 69 Ember Hot
• A Potion For Chamomile
• Aery - Last Day of Earth
• Assassin's Vol.
• BANG
• Bus Parking 3D
• DarkenDerek The last Fallen
• Dead Containment
• DEATHWATCH
• DOORS
• Escape Purgatory
• Eureka
• Extreme Truck Stunts
• FAITH: The Unholy Trinity
• Fhtagn Simulator
• Forgive My Sins & Desires, Father - BL
• Fumo Tianshi
• Furry Arena
• Gachi-Natsu
• Gold Of Lotusland
• Gotham Knights
• Gravix
• JoJo Siwa: Worldwide Party
• Jones
• Kingdom Of Secrets
• Lost In The Backrooms
• Mermaid
• Monster Prom 3: Monster Roadtrip
• Morrow
• New Tales from the Borderlands
• Omni Magic!
• OnlySociety: Dawn
• Out of the Cube
• Persona 5 Royal
• Pillars Of Protection
• Pool Game
• Quest room
• Run Blob Run 2
• Ship Contracted
• Super Company
• TAKIBI
• The Backrooms
• Wake out of Twilight
• Wassie Tale
• Wheel of Innocence
• Witch Amelia
• Wormmy
• XiuZhen Metaverse

• 10-22

• Banana Quest
• Deception
• Father's Day
• Horror Hotel
• King of the Hat
• Mantra (Optimus Games)
• Pedra Crystal Caves

Xbox Series X

• 10-18

• A Plague Tale: Requiem
• Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed
• The Sims 4
• Them's Fightin' Herds

• 10-19

• Pnevmo-Capsula
• The Last Hero of Nostalgaia

• 10-20

• Batora: Lost Haven
• Park Story
• Phantom Abyss
• Second Extinction
• TEMPUS - Level Escape
• Warhammer 40,000: Shootas, Blood & Teef

• 10-21

• Gotham Knights
• JoJo Siwa: Worldwide Party
• New Tales from the Borderlands
• Persona 5 Royal

Xbox One

• 10-18

• Doctor Who: The Edge of Reality + The Lonely Assassins
• Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed
• Kovox Pitch
• Them's Fightin' Herds

• 10-19

• Pnevmo-Capsula
• The Last Hero of Nostalgaia
• WW2: Bunker Simulator

• 10-20

• Batora: Lost Haven
• Gas Station Simulator
• Park Story
• Second Extinction
• TEMPUS - Level Escape
• Warhammer 40,000: Shootas, Blood & Teef

• 10-21

• Aery - Last Day of Earth
• JoJo Siwa: Worldwide Party
• New Tales from the Borderlands
• Persona 5 Royal

PlayStation 5

• 10-18

• A Plague Tale: Requiem
• Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed
• Life in Willowdale: Farm Adventures
• Them's Fightin' Herds

• 10-20

• Batora: Lost Haven
• NORCO
• TEMPUS
• Warhammer 40,000: Shootas, Blood & Teef

• 10-21

• Gotham Knights
• New Tales from the Borderlands
• Persona 5 Royal

PlayStation 4

• 10-18

• Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed
• Life in Willowdale: Farm Adventures
• Them's Fightin' Herds

• 10-20

• Batora: Lost Haven
• Gas Station Simulator
• NORCO
• TEMPUS
• Warhammer 40,000: Shootas, Blood & Teef

• 10-21

• JoJo Siwa: Worldwide Party
• New Tales from the Borderlands

Switch

• 10-17

• Mars Base

• 10-18

• A Plague Tale: Requiem - Cloud Version
• Advent Calendar
• Hidden Objects Collection Volume 4
• Them's Fightin' Herds

• 10-19

• Harmony's Odyssey
• Pnevmo-Capsula
• RichMan 11

• 10-20

• Aery - Last Day of Earth
• Apre Lapli: After the rain
• Backgammon: Board Game Puzzle
• Batora: Lost Haven
• Beholgar
• CubicBan
• Dead Secret Circle
• Doomed to Hell
• Flying Neko Delivery
• Forest Pop
• Gas Station Simulator
• Harmonia
• Lost Grimoires 2: Shard of Mystery
• Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope
• Matchpoint: Tennis Championships
• Minigolf Adventure: Cherry Blossom Valley
• One More Island
• One True Hero
• Pure-hearted Gyaru and the Shape of Happiness
• Sea Horizon
• Seduced in the Sleepless City
• Shutter Nyan! Enhanced Edition
• TEMPUS
• The Jackbox Party Pack 9
• Touhou Gouyoku Ibun ~ Sunken Fossil World.
• Ultra Kaiju Monster Rancher
• Warhammer 40,000: Shootas, Blood & Teef

• 10-21

• Crowalt: Traces of the Lost Colony
• Crystal Goddess
• Fantasy Blacksmith
• Howloween Hero
• JoJo Siwa: Worldwide Party
• New Tales from the Borderlands
• Persona 5 Royal
• RUNOUT
• She Wants Me Dead
• Space Warlord Organ Trading Simulator
• The Walking Zombie 2
• World Soccer Cup 2022