Felix “Cross Cowboy” Threepaper
Welcome folks, and happy “239th Anniversary of the first free crewed balloon flight” week!
The Montgolfier brothers of France had been experimenting with balloon flights all through 1783, and on November 21, they felt confident enough to go for an untethered balloon flight with humans on board. People were fascinated, yet also terrified of these new balloons. Previous demonstrations of uncrewed balloon flights had ended with villagers attacking the balloons with pitchforks when they landed. King Louis XVI therefore decreed that the pilots of the first crewed balloon flight should be already condemned criminals, in case anything went wrong. However, Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier (who managed the build of the balloon) and François Laurent d'Arlandes (who just really liked balloons) persuaded the king that they should pilot it instead. Made of wallpaper and propelled by a log fire in the basket, the balloon travelled for 25 minutes and went 5 miles at a top altitude of 3,000 feet. When they landed, the pilots drank champagne, which is a tradition in ballooning to this day. You may all celebrate by playing a game with drunkenness mechanics.
There’s not much on this week, but there’s a couple of AA games that offer stripped-down versions of the AAA games that inspired them. And another entry in a stalwart franchise.
Just Dance 2023 Edition finally brings some BTS to the party. On top of the new tracks, it also goes online for the first time, where you can dance off against others or form an online dance party. A small part of me feels like the Just Dance franchise is my pathway back to my pre-children fitness levels. I have a dream where I platinum the entire series in an intensive bootcamp, then hit the club and carve it up (after insisting that the DJ play my very long and specific list of songs from 2009 and later).
Evil West is a third-person action game set in a dark, steampunk Wild West that has vampires and other eldritch horrors. The hero has a grumpy attitude and big-ass gauntlet on his right arm. That, and the way the camera sits over his shoulder as he punches stuff, is very reminiscent of 2018 God of War. But there’s not just punching! You also wield pistols, rifles and other special weapons, using different damage types to build up stun or other status effects, then unleashing finisher combos. As I said, very God of War, with some Devil May Cry thrown in. It’s all on a AA budget, so there won’t be sidequests or extended narrative sequences. It just focuses on the good stuff: taking on groups of critters (either solo or in 2-player co-op) and dispatching them with the appropriate, brutal moves. It’s by Flying Wild Hog, who made the rebooted Shadow Warriors games. That series featured lots of fast-paced mayhem and wisecracks, so expect more of that here, except this time the sidekick will crack wise and your guy will just grunt disapprovingly.
Gungrave G.O.R.E is another third-person action shooter. It’s a sequel to a PS2 game that became an anime series and plays like a PS3 game. The guns are outlandishly big, the plot is front-loaded, and G.O.R.E stands for “Gunslinger Of REsurrection”, which makes my left eye twitch uncontrollably. The combination melee/gunfighting looks similar in flow to Bayonetta. It also throws in some nu-DOOM, where the only way to get health is by killing enemies, which keeps you on the offensive. Once again, the focus is on throwing you into levels with goons to kill, rather than big cutscenes or lots of secondary systems.
Otherwise, there’s Ship of Fools, a co-op, seafaring roguelite. It’s got FTL-type controls where you have to crew different parts of your ship, like cannons or sails, as the situation demands, while you sail to islands and go ashore to collect resources to repair/upgrade your ship.
From the slim pickings on offer this week, I choose Evil West. Copying God of War is no bad thing, and if the combat is satisfying enough, you don’t always want heaps of story in between. GOTW.
Here's the list, in release-date AND alphabetical order!
PC
-
11-21
- Ants of Duty
- Aviator: Air Combat
- BALLDVENTURE
- Beat Reality
- Cats and the Other Lives
- Climber: Sky is the Limit
- Dear Friend
- DICE GAME
- Follow The Crown
- Idle Shapes
- Keep of the Witch
- Lims
- Lootem
- Mad Geometry
- Meat Madness
- My Little Miniatures
- My Soul Forever
- Once in a Blue Moon
- Opaloid Kingdom
- Orbital Clash
- PAVOR
- Please Be Happy
- Portable Ops
- Power Driver
- Project 0
- Rayna Survivors
- Reknum Fantasy of Dreams
- See Ya Later!
- Talesworth Adventure: The Lost Artifacts
- Theocracy
- VR Archeology: Secrets of Kulikovo Field
- VTuber Connect
- Welme
-
11-22
- 22 Racing Series: Real-Time Strategy Racing
- A2C:Ayry seems to be playtesting a 2D runner shooter from Cci
- Accounting Simulator
- Beers and Boomerangs
- Blobek
- Blood Exile
- Boom 2020
- Castrum Novum VR - Life in a Roman colony
- Cowboys & Zombies VR
- Cult of the Mask
- DYNAMIC
- ECCO: The Last Wisper
- EON Fighter
- Evil West
- Funeral
- Gungrave G.O.R.E
- Hunting Life VR: Dove Season
- Lost World
- Mining Factory
- Nanali in another world
- One Drunken Knight
- Police Transporter Simulator
- Prison Architect: Future Tech Pack
- Rogue Ship Evolution
- Sands of Slumber: The RPG
- Ship of Fools
- Summer Puzzles
- SURVIVOR!
- Sycamore Free
- Virago: Herstory
-
11-23
- 5 Days
- Across-Stitch
- Altar War
- Bot World
- Cleopatra Fortune S-Tribute
- Code Red
- Crispy Puppy
- Draft Day Sports: Pro Basketball 2023
- Dysterra
- Fairy Biography 2: Confidante
- Godbeast Mk.II
- Out of the ground
- Pages of Time
- Portobugia
- Return to the Scene
- Sand:box
- Siren Head: The Horror Experience
- Social Credit Simulator
- SpiritBelowTheWaves
- Teahouse of the Gods
- Tsubaki Hata
- Zodiac fantasy 2
-
11-24
- Alien
- Amber Time Pocket
- BLOCK SLIME CAVE
- Breathspace
- Chronicle OL
- Computer Cats
- CyberBrick
- Dark Desire 5
- Dark Desire 6
- Disembowel
- Football Club Management 2023
- Forge of Destiny
- God Souls
- GODDESS OF VICTORY
- Heroes Three Kingdoms
- Interplayer
- James Peris 2: La fuente de la eterna embriaguez
- Keystone Library
- Legendary Heroes
- Light & Shadow
- MECH PUNK
- Mystic Forest
- Project New Horizon
- RE Encryption
- Rush Rally 3
- ShovelBear
- Stolen Dolls
- Swoon! Earth Escape
- The Indigo Parallel
- The Shadow Over Route 80
- Unsolved Case
- Utopia (Team Utopia)
- War Robots: Frontiers
-
11-25
- Blind
- Boots Quest DX
- Clown Of Duty
- Club Metaverse VR
- Crypto Clicker
- Cyber Dungeon: Excalibur
- Cyberpunk Samurai VR
- Digital Frida
- DreamCell: Lost in Nightmares
- Flying Things
- Galactoids - Galactic Invaders
- Games Gallery
- HookEscaper -High Speed 3D Action Game-
- HOSPICE Vol. 1
- Inheritance: Ladeina's Path
- Jump The Gun
- Martian Invaders
- Mikoto Remake
- Military Conflict: Vietnam
- Moto Pizza Courier
- Robot-X
- Sefirot Shards
- Star Devil
- Starfighter Renegade
- Summer Crush
- Temple Trashers
- The Last Conquerors
- The Mystery of William Moore
- The Swarm
- Tivick'ing! Chronicles
- Valkie 64
-
11-27
- Deserted Island
- Forest Camp Story
- L30-P4RD
- Mindworks: The Great Division
- Robocoder - Dwarf Mountain
- Shiny Ski Resort
- Sleep
- Space Adventure
- Tennis Club Story
- The Spectator
Xbox Series X
-
11-22
- Bus Simulator 21
- Evil West
- Gungrave G.O.R.E
- Just Dance 2023 Edition
- Saint Kotar
- Ship of Fools
Xbox One
-
11-22
- Evil West
- Gungrave G.O.R.E
- Prison Architect: Future Tech Pack
- Saint Kotar
-
11-23
- Dead Station
- Finding the Soul Orb
- Jelly Brawl
- Super Rebellion
-
11-24
- Cleopatra Fortune S-Tribute
-
11-25
- Run Sausage Run!
PlayStation 5
-
11-22
- Evil West
- Gungrave G.O.R.E
- Just Dance 2023 Edition
- Saint Kotar
- Ship of Fools
-
11-23
- Finding the Soul Orb
PlayStation 4
-
11-22
- Evil West
- Gungrave G.O.R.E
- Prison Architect: Future Tech Pack
- Saint Kotar
-
11-24
- Cleopatra Fortune S-Tribute
-
11-25
- Horse Club Adventures 2: Hazelwood Stories
Switch
-
11-22
- Just Dance 2023 Edition
- Saint Kotar
- Ship of Fools
-
11-23
- Dead Station
-
11-24
- A Building Full of Cats
- Aliisha - The Oblivion of Twin Goddesses
- Arctictopia
- Blade of Darkness
- Cleopatra Fortune S-Tribute
- Floating Cloud God: Anniversary Edition
- Freud's Bones - The Game
- HALF DEAD 3
- Legendary Heroes
- Monmusu Gladiator
- My Downtown
- Primal Light
- Retro Goal
- Scar of the Doll: A Psycho-Horror Story about the Mystery of an Older Sister
- Swoon! Earth Escape
- Watch Over Christmas
-
11-25
- How to Fool a Liar King Remastered
- KnifeBoy Rebooted
- Parents Vs Kids
- Pocket Pool
-
11-26
- AlphaLink
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