September 18 - 24

  Felix “Puppetry of the Heinous” Threepaper

Welcome folks, and happy Wednesday!

Sorry for the delay in posting this week. A big thank you to Staygold for whipping the List-O-Matic into shape, so it can keep generating the release lists. Before he built the List-O-Matic, I had to compile the release list by hand, and spent more time compiling and formatting the list than actually researching the games. I’m never going back, ya hear!

Let’s get straight into it. 42.86% of the week is not even ‘ahead’ anymore, geez.

Gloomhaven drops on consoles, in case you haven’t already had your fill of computer D&D. Comparing it to BG3 is unfair, as each game has a different scope. The original Gloomhaven board game is itself an adaptation of D&D rules and lore, simplifying some D&D mechanics and incorporating card combat. Gloomhaven is more roguelike too: although the missions and levels are bespoke instead of proc-gen, it’s tactically challenging, susceptible to the RNG gods, and your roster of PCs fluctuates as your first batch of adventurers will eventually retire and be replaced by new hires. Plus, Gloomhaven has the tools for people to create and share their own dungeons and campaigns. It’s got all the benefits of a polished, well-regarded board game, with none of the setting or packing up!

Payday 3 is another entry in this shooter series that’s carved out a niche as a heist simulator. The bank robbery and resulting street shootout in Heat is up there with Ellen Ripley in the top 5 list of Things That Game Devs Mean When They Say “Badass”. Payday 2 has delivered that vibe, in spades, for 10 years now. So what does Payday 3 bring to improve on that? Well, Ice-T in the single-player campaign, for starters. The gameplay has also been overhauled to bring it up to speed with this-gen shooters. So you will be generally faster, with more mobility actions, like sliding or grabbing hostages to use as meat shields. I’m not an expert on “gunfeel” but am assured that it is sufficiently “punchy” and “weighty” here. The biggest gripes are about a smaller selection of weapons, and heists to pull off. However, given the long tail of support for Payday 2, it looks like the devs are establishing a base-level game to build on and add to for years to come.

Operation Wolf Returns: First Mission is a remake of the classic 1987 arcade game that was one of the first on-rails light gun shooters. It’s had a visual and sonic overhaul, but I’m not sure if the magic will still be there without holding a juddering plastic Uzi in my hands.

Mon-Yu: (ridiculously long title) seems to have cut-and-pasted some of its RPG dialogue into its title by mistake. Or it’s going for the Guinness world record for longest game title. Unfortunately, with 286 characters (including spaces and punctuation), it falls well short of the current record holder, with 336 characters: Natsuiro Haisukūru ★ Seishun Hakusho ~ Tenkō shonichi no ore ga osananajimi to saikai sh*tara hōdō buin ni sa rete ite gekisha shōnen no hibi sukūpu dai renpatsu de igai to motemotenanoni nazeka maimemorī ga pantsu shashin bakkari to iu-den mi to mukiainagara kangaeru hito natsu no shima no gakuen seikatsu to sekirarana koi no yukue.

On paper, Lies of P looks ridiculous. A combat-heavy game where you play as Pinocchio, by a Korean developer who hasn’t made a single-player game before? It’s refreshing when Asian studios pastiche European culture, because the writers and artists often present it from angles that wouldn’t occur to those of us who are steeped in the proper iconography of the thing. Plus, we get a small taste of what it’s like when folks play fast and loose with things we feel cultural ownership of.

Anyway, cultural studies essay topics aside, Lies of P is actually a very well-executed Soulslike. The overall aesthetic looks most like Bloodborne, as it’s gothic and set in Belle Epoque-era France. The combat itself is more Sekiro: unforgiving and you will have to master the timing of the parry/block mechanic, especially in boss fights. The dodge/dash will not save you as much as it can in other Souls and Soulslike games. It has more narrative than a Souls game, with cutscenes that actually explain things rather than leaving you to piece together a story from item descriptions.

Avatar: The Last Airbender - Quest for Balance looks like a videogame rendition of the legendary animated series that may finally do it a degree of justice. Aang’s world has been rendered as a semi-open world, playable in single player or co-op, where you can switch between the various main characters and their elemental powers. This is pitched at a generation of kids who weren’t born when The Last Airbender first came out 18 years ago. The all-ages focus means it is very light on combat and focuses more on exploration and using each character’s unique skillset to solve puzzles and navigate the environment. This may be thematically appropriate for Aang’s character, but for old dinosaur me, who is used to violence being the main verb of games, it’s a bummer to have a world with these 4 different and cool-looking fighting styles and then not get to use them to, well, fight.

3 months ago, I would have said Gloomhaven was the shoo-in for GOTW. But now the games are actually here, I have to give it to Lies of P. Many devs try to deliver on a Soulslike, but not many of them pull it off as well as Neowiz Games has. I hope we hear a lot more from this studio.

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

PC

• 09-18

• 77p egg: Eggwife
• Alien
• Autocraft
• Builders of Greece: Prologue
• Car Mechanic: City Driving
• Case 03: True Cannibal Boy
• Castle Of Void
• Crystalish
• Darkless
• Dr. Lunatic Supreme With Steam
• Dragonheir: Silent Gods
• Dungeon Dreams 2
• Every Letter
• Fantasy Monster Clicker
• Fortress Defense
• How To Hack In?
• Kallax
• Paranoia Zanatorium
• Polyfury
• Real Car Parking: 2024 Authentic Simulation
• ReversiBot
• Shadows of the past (Adult)
• Shipping Manager
• Sunset Racer
• The Third Age
• Time Survivors: Chapter 0
• Tower of Pandemonium
• Twilight Town: A Cyberpunk FPS
• Unloop
• unparalleled

• 09-19

• AXEMBLER
• Bit.Trip Rerunner
• Blackjack Simulator 2024
• Caster's Trap
• Click Click Click
• DERE Vengeance
• Drunk Or Dead 2: Prologue
• Lies of P
• Mahjick - The Realm Taker
• Mall Craze
• Mortal Kombat 1
• Mortal Kombat 1: Kombat Pack 1
• Mortal Kombat 1: Shang Tsung
• Particles of Reality
• Persha and the Magic Labyrinth: Arabian Nyaights
• Petty's Adventure: Volcano
• Planet Zoo: Oceania Pack
• Puzzle Game
• Puzzle Of Selene
• Sagashi Mono wa, Natsu Desu Ka.
• Secret of the Vikings 2 - The World Tree
• Soul Academy
• Spirited Thief
• This new City-Builder game
• Trapped In Here With Me

• 09-20

• Adventurer Farmer: Save my son!
• At Light Speed
• Blood Knuckle: Rooftop Of The Impossible Skyscraper
• HEAVEN SEEKER Prologue
• Leafy Trails: Magic Tree
• Lilith Rising - Season 1
• Monster War 3D
• Moonstone Island
• My Pet Hooligan
• Party Animals
• Pyramid Curse
• Relight The Dark
• The Guilty: Fangshi
• Twin Blades of the Three Kingdoms
• Warhaven

• 09-21

• Airship: Kingdoms Adrift
• Astrea: Six-Sided Oracles
• BobsleighX
• Celbugs
• Core Defence
• dEscape
• Dropkick Navvy: First Step
• Evolings
• Fate Bond
• Free World
• FROGGIN' AROUND
• Hellgineers
• Jewel Match Atlantis Solitaire 4 - Collector's Edition
• Life is not Auto
• Pacifist Kunoichi Kikyo
• Paperman: Adventure Delivered
• Payday 3
• Resident Evil 4: Separate Ways
• Seedlings
• Slow Rise
• Super Adventure Hand
• Super Paperman
• The Adventures of Beanman
• The Faceless Ones

• 09-22

• Arcana Alchemia
• ArcRacer
• Avatar: The Last Airbender - Quest for Balance
• Brick on the Head
• Bud Spencer & Terence Hill - Slaps and Beans 2
• Checkmate! My Shogi Club President can't be this Cute!
• Cosmic Cowabunnies
• DeltaBlade 2700 Re:Create
• Endless Apocalypse
• Ero Item de Haramase Harem Seikatsu ~ Isekai no Kyonyuu Mesu-tachi o Niku Onaho Ni!
• Evil Snowmen 2
• homebound
• Hundred
• HYNPYTOL
• Lost Girl
• Lucha Masters StickerMania
• Mardori
• Marshmallow Imouto Succubus
• Missiles Away
• Ovine Replica
• Pray Game
• Rainbow High: Runway Rush
• Redemption?
• SEMU
• Shrink Assault
• Succubus's making lunch
• Sushi for Empress Setsuko
• Tarantula Virus
• The Bunny Graveyard
• The Winning Secret of the Newbie Strategist Princess
• Touhou Artificial Dream in Arcadia
• Trapped in a Cage
• Upload Simulator Silicon
• Ursine Science
• VCB Why City 4k
• Woodland Town

• 09-23

• Butchers Don't Surf!
• Kill The Topulus
• Out of the World
• Steel Roamer
• The Events at Unity Farm

• 09-24

• Cats Hidden in Bali
• Civilization Simulator
• HBD-RPG
• Jammo (Tyro)
• SANGOKU XIANGQI
• Slaughter: The Lost Outpost

Xbox Series X

• 09-18

• Gloomhaven
• Payday 3

• 09-19

• Lies of P
• Mortal Kombat 1
• Mortal Kombat 1: Kombat Pack 1
• Mortal Kombat 1: Shang Tsung

• 09-20

• Party Animals

• 09-21

• Days of Doom
• Paperman: Adventure Delivered
• Resident Evil 4: Separate Ways
• RIN: The Last Child

• 09-22

• Avatar: The Last Airbender - Quest for Balance
• Cyber Citizen Shockman 2: A New Menace
• Rainbow High: Runway Rush
• Shuyan Saga
• Super Snake Block DX

Xbox One

• 09-18

• Gloomhaven

• 09-19

• Lies of P

• 09-20

  Party Animals

• 09-21

• Days of Doom
• Paperman: Adventure Delivered
• RIN: The Last Child

• 09-22

• Avatar: The Last Airbender - Quest for Balance
• Cyber Citizen Shockman 2: A New Menace
• Rainbow High: Runway Rush
• Shuyan Saga
• Super Snake Block DX

PlayStation 5

• 09-18

• Gloomhaven
• Payday 3

• 09-19

• Broken Edge
• Lies of P
• Mortal Kombat 1
• Mortal Kombat 1: Kombat Pack 1
• Mortal Kombat 1: Shang Tsung
• Persha and the Magic Labyrinth: Arabian Nyaights
• RUINSMAGUS: Complete
• You Suck at Parking

• 09-21

• Hellsweeper VR
• Paperman: Adventure Delivered
• Resident Evil 4: Separate Ways
• RIN: The Last Child
• The Expanse: A Telltale Series - Episode 5

• 09-22

• Bud Spencer & Terence Hill - Slaps and Beans 2
• Cyber Citizen Shockman 2: A New Menace
• Rainbow High: Runway Rush
• Shuyan Saga

PlayStation 4

• 09-19

• Gloomhaven
• Lies of P
• The Legend of Nayuta: Boundless Trails
• You Suck at Parking

Nintendo Switch

• 09-18

• Gloomhaven
• Gloomhaven - Jaws of the Lion
• Ugly

• 09-19

• Lost Crystals
• Mortal Kombat 1
• Mortal Kombat 1: Kombat Pack 1
• Mortal Kombat 1: Shang Tsung
• Persha and the Magic Labyrinth: Arabian Nyaights
• The Legend of Nayuta: Boundless Trails
• You Suck at Parking

• 09-20

• Rayland 2

• 09-21

• Aireo FlightSimulator
• Anime Quest: Mystic Maidens
• Bro Falls DELUXE
• Days of Doom
• Earthshine
• Evil Wizard
• Evolings
• Final Exerion
• FRAG Pro Shooter
• Fragment's Note2+
• HammerHelm
• Kind Heart Defenders
• Livestream 2: Escape from Togaezuka Happy Place
• Magic Donut Adventure: Line Match Three Puzzle
• Mon-Yu: Defeat Monsters And Gain Strong Weapons And Armor. You May Be Defeated, But Don't Give Up. Become Stronger. I Believe There Will Be A Day When The Heroes Defeat The Devil King
• Murder Workbook
• Nani ni Mieru? Shindan
• Operation Wolf Returns: First Mission
• Osyaberi! Horijyo! Gekihori: Anna Holinski saves the universe, alright?!
• Paperman: Adventure Delivered
• Raid on Taihoku
• Retro Kart Rush
• RIN: The Last Child
• Sankaku to X no Nanzo Toki
• Sugar Tanks
• Super Adventure Hand
• Taipei Daikuushuu Raid on Taihoku
• Tick Tack Puppet
• Warriors of the Nile 2

• 09-22

• Avatar: The Last Airbender - Quest for Balance
• Bud Spencer & Terence Hill - Slaps and Beans 2
• Construction Machine Simulator 2023 : Hard Truck Work Job
• Cry Babies Magic Tears: The Big Game
• Cyber Citizen Shockman 2: A New Menace
• Farm Land
• Galaxy Battle
• Mermaid Castle 2
• Rainbow High: Runway Rush
• Shuyan Saga
• Venatrix
• Whateverland

• 09-23

• Slots Casino Game

• 09-24

• The Jelly Adventure