March 13 - 19

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

Welcome folks, and happy “242nd Anniversary of the discovery of Uranus” week!

In 1781, William Herschel was surveying the stars with a 7-foot telescope he built in 1774. On 13 March, he spotted a disc-like object, which he originally thought was a comet. Further investigation revealed it to be a planet—the first new planet found in 2,000 years. Herschel named it Georgium Sidus, to curry favour with his monarch and patron, George III. By the mid-19th century, though, other astronomers generally agreed that the solar system should stick to its Roman/Greek mythology theme for names and renamed it Uranus, to the joy of nerdy joke writers everywhere. You may all celebrate by playing a game with a name that’s a single entendre.

Vernal Edge is this week’s new Castlevanioid. The map is a series of floating islands that you visit non-linearly to find 2D dungeons and platforming with combat. It’s got a (take a drink) charming, pixel-art, fantasy aesthetic. You start with a daunting number of spells and combos, and there’s a swag more to discover on your adventures. But you only have so many slots for them, so there’s a bit of “horses for courses'' planning that goes into boss fights and dungeons. In between healing at dungeon checkpoints, your power attacks heal you, giving you incentive to keep pushing on. There’s an astonishing number of dungeons to visit, giving the devs space to include nearly every traversal and combat mechanic from other Castlevanioids.

The Guise is this week’s old Castlevanioid—a port of a 2020 PC game with a macabre, Nightmare Before Christmas art style. Mechanically, it doesn’t seem as well-polished as Vernal Edge.

Wolcen: Lords of Mayhem is another console port of a 2020 game. It’s a dark fantasy action-RPG, Diablo-style and discourages button-mashing by giving you a limited number of dodges, special attacks on a long cooldown, and other tweaks. It got a metascore of 60 on its PC release, with the general vibe being “promising, but buggy as hell”. Have they ironed out the bugs for consoles?

Tricky Thief is an App Store kinda game which is basically sliding-tile puzzles dressed up as burglary missions.

Backbeat is a turn-based strategy game calling itself a “90s funk puzzler”. You lead your squad of 4 bandmates through obstacle-based puzzles, and they play their instruments as they go. At the end, all the turns play out as a song. Interesting concept, not sure how the puzzles hold up. There’s a demo available if you want to learn more.

POST VOID is another port—an arcade shooter that looks like a Hotline Miami version of original DOOM. Your health drains as you go, so if you stop moving and killing, you die. Basically, there’s nothing for it but to keep running and shooting through the proc-gen levels until you hit an oasis with a cool upgrade for the next level. Rinse and repeat.

The Forest Cathedral is a Myst-alike based on the seminal environmental science book Silent Spring, which documented the harm caused by pesticide use. You play as Rachel Carson (author of Silent Spring) exploring an island and solving puzzles with a DDT-related storyline.

Two Point Campus: School Spirits is DLC for the University-management sim. This expansion adds some ghostbustin’ to the mix: a new campus, haunted by ghosts that you have to deal with.

I don’t usually go in for Castlevanioids, but Vernal Edge looks pretty sweet, if complicated. It dumps a lot of mechanics in your lap from the start, but some previewers reckon it’s better than Hollow Knight. GOTW.

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

PC

  • 03-13

  • Absinthia
  • As Talk As Walk Wayfarer Team - Land of Music
  • Barnstormers: Determined to Win
  • Beer Factory - Prologue
  • COSMIC HOLES
  • Jump By Coronho: Chapter 2
  • Life of Delta
  • MiLE HiGH TAXi
  • Miniland: Prologue
  • Ovivim
  • Oxygen Caliber
  • Poly Jigsaw: Birds
  • Potion Tycoon
  • Red Sea
  • Rough Justice: '84
  • Tide Girl: Phenomena
  • Tokyo Necro
  • Triopticon
  • VONA / She
  • Wizard of Wyndmoor
  • WuJiDaoRen
  • Yondu's Journey
  • 03-14

  • Aquaphobia (Erratic Animist)
  • Bubble SIege
  • Chibi Ninja Shino-kun: Treasure of Demon Tower
  • DELETE AFTER READING
  • Island games
  • Keks Slot Machines
  • MADGUN
  • Married Woman Gakuen
  • NTR'd By Clumsiness
  • Omo Sou Shikaku
  • SKIP
  • Slobbish Dragon Princess 3
  • Stadium Renovator: First Touch
  • Stellaris: First Contact Story Pack
  • Terminal Velocity: Boosted Edition
  • The Forest Cathedral
  • The Legend of Heroes: Trails to Azure
  • The Longest Dungeon
  • The Wreck
  • Vernal Edge
  • 03-15

  • Adventure Awaits
  • Around Us
  • Ashkeep
  • Aw Heck, WAR!
  • Backbeat
  • Bubble Troops
  • Crafty Survivors
  • Dark Desire Mute 3
  • DIMENSIONLESS
  • Glory & Miserable Survivors DX
  • House Sitter Escape Game
  • Infinite Waves TD
  • Medved Hellraiser
  • Meta Lines
  • Phase Line: Raider Assault
  • Physical Layer
  • Repin Develop Casual
  • Retro Short Game
  • Richman 6
  • Richman 7
  • The Hero Journey in Yggdrasil
  • Torico's mine quest!
  • Tricky Thief
  • Two Point Campus: School Spirits
  • Uncle Kenny The Game
  • Walthros: Renewal
  • 03-16

  • 1414: Crossroads
  • Big Han Beacon
  • Fish Simulator: Agonik Lake
  • Forklift Extreme: Deluxe Edition
  • Hero's Quest: Automatic Roguelite RPG
  • Hostile Dreams
  • ISEKAI FRONTLINE
  • Low Oxygen
  • Modo Defence
  • Nibun Kore Ichi
  • Pacific Strafe
  • Shiner
  • Slave Family with the Rich Lady
  • Trip to the Three Kingdoms
  • Walstikski
  • Wander Vyrosa
  • 03-17

  • Anthology of Fear
  • Archery Club
  • BLACK * ACADEMY
  • Colony Cephea
  • Destiny Duel
  • Draw Rider Remake
  • Film Studio Manager
  • Flame Keeper
  • ForRest Paper Doll
  • FUR Squadron
  • Gettin' Railed
  • Lost Dream: Darkness
  • Mining Simulator
  • Peppa Pig: World Adventures
  • Revival AO - Argentum Online
  • RTD - Road to Desolace
  • Skate Horse
  • Super Cakeboy
  • Tanky Tanks 2
  • THE CURE (BloodRain Publishing)
  • The Voidness - LIDAR Horror Survival Game
  • WWE 2K23
  • 03-19

  • Biz Builder Delux
  • Endless Thunder
  • Future Front
  • KingMini
  • Phyllis: The Receptionist of the Guild

Xbox Series X

  • 03-14

  • The Forest Cathedral
  • The Wreck
  • Valheim
  • Vernal Edge
  • WWE 2K23
  • 03-15

  • SIFU
  • Tricky Thief
  • Two Point Campus: School Spirits
  • Wolcen: Lords of Mayhem
  • 03-16

  • Anno 1800 Console Edition
  • 03-17

  • Backbeat
  • Peppa Pig: World Adventures
  • The Guise

Xbox One

  • 03-14

  • The Wreck
  • Valheim
  • Vernal Edge
  • WWE 2K23
  • 03-15

  • SIFU
  • Tricky Thief
  • Two Point Campus: School Spirits
  • Wolcen: Lords of Mayhem
  • 03-16

  • Defend the Rook
  • 03-17

  • Backbeat
  • Peppa Pig: World Adventures

PlayStation 5

  • 03-14

  • Hot Wheels: Rift Rally
  • The Wreck
  • Vernal Edge
  • WWE 2K23
  • 03-15

  • Tricky Thief
  • Two Point Campus: School Spirits
  • Wolcen: Lords of Mayhem
  • 03-16

  • Alice Gear Aegis CS: Concerto of Simulatrix
  • Anno 1800 Console Edition
  • GORN
  • POST VOID
  • The Dark Pictures: Switchback VR
  • 03-17

  • Peppa Pig: World Adventures
  • The Guise

PlayStation 4

  • 03-14

  • Hot Wheels: Rift Rally
  • The Legend of Heroes: Trails to Azure
  • The Wreck
  • Vernal Edge
  • WWE 2K23
  • 03-15

  • Tricky Thief
  • Two Point Campus: School Spirits
  • Wolcen: Lords of Mayhem
  • 03-16

  • Alice Gear Aegis CS: Concerto of Simulatrix
  • POST VOID
  • 03-17

  • Peppa Pig: World Adventures
  • The Guise

Switch

  • 03-13

  • Life of Delta
  • 03-14

  • Tents & Trees
  • Terminal Velocity: Boosted Edition
  • The Legend of Heroes: Trails to Azure
  • The Wreck
  • Vernal Edge
  • 03-15

  • Tricky Thief
  • Two Point Campus: School Spirits
  • 03-16

  • Air Battle
  • Alice Gear Aegis CS: Concerto of Simulatrix
  • Amber City
  • Backbeat
  • Bitter-Sweet Cohabitation
  • Blocky Farm
  • Link The Cubes
  • Loop
  • Loot Box Simulator - Heroes of the Dark Age
  • My Little Prince - A jigsaw puzzle tale
  • NONO ADVENTURE
  • POST VOID
  • Session: Skate Sim
  • Sixtar Gate: STARTRAIL
  • Squad 51 vs. The Flying Saucers
  • Subway Midnight
  • Tanky Tanks 2
  • TERRACOTTA
  • Unmatched: Digital Edition
  • 03-17

  • Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon
  • Cute and Creepy
  • Flame Keeper
  • FUR Squadron
  • Off The Tracks
  • Peppa Pig: World Adventures
  • The Guise
  • The Treflik Family
  • 03-18

  • Fantasy Ball

Comments

I'll give a shout-out to Spin Rhythm (PC), which has just launched v1.0 out of early access.

It's a super-great rhythm game in the vein of Guitar Hero but using M&K. Well worth checking out if you have any love for the genre (and add me on Steam for leaderboard-chasing purposes!)