June 26 - July 2

  Felix “Puppy Love” Threepaper

Welcome folks, and happy “60th Anniversary of JFK’s ‘Ich bin ein Berliner’ speech!”

On June 26, 1963, President John F. Kennedy Jr. stood on the west side of the Berlin Wall and declared “Ich bin ein Berliner” in solidarity with the West Germans living at the doorstep of Communism. It later became a joke—spread by folks like David Foster Wallace—that JFK messed up his translation and actually accidentally referred to himself as a doughnut, earning ironic laughter from the German audience. However, this is an urban myth. There’s no record among German accounts of his speech that show that the audience or commentators received it like that. They knew what he meant, and they dug it. You may all celebrate by playing a game with poor localisation.

2023 has been a firehose of blockbusters so far. The big devs have declogged their COVID-affected pipelines and emitted a steady stream of backed-up AAA games. This week, the hose pauses, leaving a drip of indies, remakes, and DLC.

AEW: Fight Forever is the biggest budget release this week. It’s a wrestling game that harks back to classic arcade wrestling games on the N64, before wrestling was fed through the 2K Sports Sim Template. They even hired one of the classic wrestling game devs from that era to make it: Yuke’s. The simpler control schemes and various game modes and minigames are all about casual sessions on the couch with friends, rather than grinding out a heavily mo-capped career in Season Mode.

Given its timing, I thought Inner Ashes might be about the psychology of Bazball. Sadly, no—it’s a puzzle/narrative game where you play a park ranger who is searching for his estranged daughter. The environment and puzzles look like the 3D Myst games.

Little Friends: Puppy Island is like an upscaled version of Nintendogs (which was the second-highest selling DS game of all time). It’s a puppy sim where you’re on an idyllic island, caring for, doing activities with, and customising your brood of cute puppies. The word “charming” gets thrown around so much in games that it’s an SEO tag on Steam, but this is almost the platonic ideal of charming. There’s no pressure, all you do is spend time with some very good virtual doggos.

If you’re more of a cat person, Pekoe is another chill-out game about hanging out and drinking tea in a village full of anthropomorphised cats. They’re also cute, but they own teahouses and send you on fetch quests.

I’ll KILL HER is a visual novel about Steph, an aspiring photographic artist who is also going through various struggles regarding family, relationships, and mental health. Sound vague? I don’t want to spoil anything, because the story is the main feature of this game. There’s no mechanics like shooting, crafting, or skill upgrades. It’s presented in a comic-book format with a manga art style. Check it out for a bite-sized experience with some adult themes.

On the remake front, there’s Front Mission 1st Remake: a remake of a renowned PS1 game that was itself a remake of a Super Famicom game. It’s a turn-based mech fighting game like Battletech, but not as crunchy or precise, and therefore more frustrating. For example: while damage maps to different mech components, there is no reliable way to target components when fighting—the damage is allocated according to hidden numbers. I guess this is for console owners who can’t play Battletech.

There’s also Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective Remaster, an HD remake of a renowned DS mystery puzzle game by the creator of Ace Attorney series. It’s the same level of glow-up for the soundtrack and visuals as was done to bring Ace Attorney to modern consoles. This is a good opportunity to experience a classic game.

Moonscars is the console version of a 2022 Souls-like Castlevanioid. This one is also heavy on the grimdark, using a colour palette of mostly greys with splashes of red.

Crime O’Clock is an investigation and puzzler game that combines “Where’s Waldo”-style object hunting with deductive reasoning and some time-travel mechanics. You mouse your magnifying glass over black-and-white maps packed with details and clues, watching how scenarios play out. You can annotate the maps as you collect clues, then put them together to solve the crime. It looks interesting because there’s more to it than just finding hidden objects.

Everybody 1-2 Switch is a bunch of team-based party games using the joy-con’s motion controls. There’s relay races, ninja fights, balloon pumping, and heaps more. You can also use your phone as a controller. Apparently, you can play with up to 100 people in local co-op—who’s game to host a Switch birthday party?

SOULVARS is a port of a pixel-art mobile game that says it combines turn-based RPG battles with deckbuilding. The deckbuilding side is fairly light compared to Slay the Spire or Wildfrost, and looks more like a system to build combos in combat. Approach it as a retro RPG to avoid disappointment.

Personally, I’m still way into Zelda and won’t be playing anything from this week anytime soon. But I will give the GOTW to Little Friends: Puppy Island. Everything about it is designed to make you forget about the outside world and experience anxiety-free escapism. It’s pushing so hard to be your happy place that you could hit the emotional uncanny valley and spiral anyway, like when you forget to turn off your 2-year-old’s Youtube before you fall asleep and end up having strange nightmares about Wiggles.

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

PC

• 06-26

• [E]ISLAND HOP
• Aohri's Uprising
• Be King
• Blaster Panic
• BloodDome Classic
• Choo Choo Survivor
• Comet Brigade
• Diary of a Madman
• Displaced Defense
• Dust and Aliens
• HAELE - 3D Feet Poser
• JungleRing2D
• Kingdom Eighties: Summer of Greed
• Life Not Supported
• Lifespace Traveler
• Magic Potion Stories
• Mechanics
• My Little Sister's Special Place
• One Lonely Outpost
• Open Mod
• Pirate Runner
• Puzzle Time: Seasons
• Raging Bytes
• Starship Traders MMO
• Succubus Summon
• The Purge Dilemma
• The Tale of Galariel
• Time Knight VS. Zombies
• TimeK
• Water Defense

• 06-27

• A Little To The Left: Cupboards & Drawers
• Amarantus
• Another Day
• Bombing!! 2: A Graffiti Paradise
• Dimensional Dexterity
• Expand & Exterminate: Terrytorial Disputes - Endless Base Defense
• Feudal Friends
• Hata Kokoro Barrage Ren
• Idle Ultimate
• Legend of Ancient Valkyries
• Little Friends: Puppy Island
• Merchant of the Six Kingdoms
• Neon Fantasy: Birds
• Other World Survivors
• Pechka
• Shogun Showdown
• SKY
• Sludge Life 2
• SOULVARS
• Starsiege: Deadzone
• Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life

• 06-28

• A Long Journey to an Uncertain End
• Court, Connect, Capture
• Cronous
• Don't let Him In
• Gun to the Zone
• Idle Medieval Tavern
• Knights of the Throne
• Machine Phantasm
• Mysterious Place
• On Dark Terms
• OpenFlower
• Reverie: Sweet As Edition
• Revival: Recolonization
• SlavicPunk: Oldtimer
• Spiritle
• Take Me To The Dungeon!!
• Tamageddon
• The Assistant Season 1
• Waking Atlas

• 06-29

• Adorabilis
• AEW: Fight Forever
• Amalgamy
• Flow State - Max Chill Edition
• Frightence
• FUN.IO
• I'll KILL HER
• Impossible Stunts
• Lost Connections
• Martian Panic
• Mini Golf Aeons
• Neonscape
• Paper Plane
• Phanotia: Interlude I-Aubzan Abbey
• Platboarder
• Puzzle Playing Cards
• RPG Plus - Virtual Tabletop
• RUN GUN ZR
• Skedaddling In Egypt
• SWEET FEETS
• The Callisto Protocol: Final Transmission
• The Moonflower
• Weak Soul
• WildCraft
• Zombie Town!
• Zombie Virus Attack

• 06-30

• A Chinese Ghost Story 2023
• AmazeVR Concerts
• Breezy
• Containerphobia
• FATPETS
• Fly Fly Dragon!
• Forge Industry
• Front Mission 1st Remake
• Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective
• Goddess detective 2
• GreenIsland
• Inner Ashes
• Jrago The Demon Hunter
• Keep the Lights On
• KILL CRAB
• Leafy Trails
• Machi: Above the Void
• MIND
• nothing_matters
• Ntraholic
• Pandora (Sunset Script)
• Phantom of Zana
• Primal Rift
• QLewds
• Ragnarok Begins
• SCARY AND DOT
• SCARY AND PERIOD
• Shire Scopes
• Tactic Legends
• Tap Craft
• The Orphanage
• Two Weeks Game
• Vaudeville

• 07-01

• Arcatron-Z
• My Senior Happy Life

• 07-02

• UNDRESS!
• Unstoppable

Xbox Series X

• 06-27

• F.I.S.T.: Forged In Shadow Torch
• Raging Bytes
• SOULVARS
• Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life

• 06-28

• Reverie: Sweet As Edition

• 06-29

• AEW: Fight Forever
• Burnhouse Lane
• NeverAwake
• Noob: The Factionless
• The Callisto Protocol: Final Transmission

• 06-30

• Front Mission 1st Remake
• Goodbye World
• Inner Ashes

Xbox One

• 06-27

• Destroy All Humans! 2 - Reprobed Single Player
• Raging Bytes
• SOULVARS

• 06-28

• Reverie: Sweet As Edition
• Shootvaders The Beginning
• Your Computer Might Be At Risk

• 06-29

• AEW: Fight Forever
• Enclave HD
• Noob: The Factionless
• The Callisto Protocol: Final Transmission

• 06-30

• Doom & Destiny Worlds
• Front Mission 1st Remake
• Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective
• Goodbye World
• Inner Ashes

PlayStation 5

• 06-27

• SOULVARS
• Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life
• The Callisto Protocol: Final Transmission

• 06-28

• Reverie: Sweet As Edition

• 06-29

• AEW: Fight Forever
• Burnhouse Lane
• Noob: The Factionless

• 06-30

• Front Mission 1st Remake
• Goodbye World
• Inner Ashes
• Spells & Secrets

PlayStation 4

• 06-27

• Destroy All Humans! 2 - Reprobed Single Player
• SOULVARS
• The Callisto Protocol: Final Transmission

• 06-29

• AEW: Fight Forever
• Enclave HD
• Noob: The Factionless
• Xicatrice

• 06-30

• Front Mission 1st Remake
• Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective
• Goodbye World
• Inner Ashes

Switch

• 06-27

• A Little To The Left: Cupboards & Drawers
• Charade Maniacs
• Dolmenjord - Viking Islands
• Little Friends: Puppy Island
• Placid Plastic Duck Simulator
• Raging Bytes
• SOULVARS
• Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life

• 06-28

• Abandon Ship
• Deadliest Catch: The Game

• 06-29

• 11111Game
• AEW: Fight Forever
• AEW: Fight Forever - FTR: Revival Pack
• AEW: Fight Forever - Matt Hardy
• Athanasy
• Boo Party
• Burnhouse Lane
• Bus Tycoon Night and Day
• Enclave HD
• Forever Lost: Episode 3
• Grisaia Phantom Trigger 5.5 to 08
• Hamster on Rails
• Medieval Royal Chess: Classic Board Game
• Moving Blocks Puzzles
• Noob: The Factionless
• Picontier
• Quick Race
• Shootvaders: The Beginning
• Suicide Guy: The Lost Dreams
• The Lara Croft Collection
• Volleyball Heaven
• WW2: Bunker Simulator
• Your Computer Might Be At Risk

• 06-30

• A Tale for Anna
• ChronoBreach Ultra
• Crime O'Clock
• Doom & Destiny Worlds - Damsels & Dragons
• Everybody 1-2-Switch!
• Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective
• Inner Ashes
• Master Detective Archives: RAIN CODE
• Ray'z Arcade Chronology
• RayStorm x RayCrisis HD Collection
• The Lost and The Wicked
• Vision Soft Reset

• 07-01

• Bruxa
• Sokoball Dreams