July 1 - 7

  Felix “But It Might Work For Us” Threepaper

Welcome folks, and happy “96th Anniversary of the first TV station broadcast” week!

On 2 July 1928, W3XK, the first TV station, began broadcasting. Due to limited bandwidth, it could only show silhouette images, and there were only a few dozen TVs to receive it, located in research labs. It would take another decade for TV to start to take off as an entertainment medium. You may all celebrate by playing a game with retro graphics.

There’s not much in my wheelhouse this week, though I am in the market for something fresh. As masterful as Elden Ring and its DLC is, I’m not enjoying it this time around. I prefer to watch my son play; he's having a blast with it.

Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail is the 5th expansion for this MMORPG version of Final Fantasy and the first in over 2 years. The vibe is summer vacation and the new area, Tural, is inspired by Central and South America with its “mountains-meet-the-sea” topography and Andean architecture. Aside from introducing new places, classes, and a higher level cap, it also contains a major patch that updates the graphics for the first time since its original release in 2010. The aim is to set up FFXIV for another 10 years of service.

Cyber Citizen Shockman Zero is a re-release of a side-scrolling beat-’em-up game that was made for the SNES in 1997 but was only available via download using the Stellaview modem peripheral. No wonder I’d never heard of it before. This week sees its first release outside of Japan. The bionically-suited protagonists give it the feel of a co-op MegaMan clone. One for genre tragics or game preservation buffs.

The First Descendant is a looter-shooter with that Unreal Engine 5 sheen. It’s free to play, and supports cross play. It seems to be competing with games like Helldivers and Genshin Impact rather than the big dog, Destiny, as it’s not offering much of a solo experience or pouring much effort into the story. It’s the kind of game that mistakes lore for story. There will, of course be monetisation features, which currently include paying to increase your inventory size and the obligatory cosmetics. It’s been through a few beta periods, so there’s a few previews out there. From what I’ve seen, the combat loop in missions rated well, but the grinding to unlock the missions? Not so much.

PowerWash Simulator: Alice's Adventure Special Pack is another expansion that shows that this game’s devs are going the extra mile rather than cheap cash-ins. They could have just made a bunch of new buildings and vehicles to wash, but instead they provide a psychedelic expansion where things become other things as you wash them and stuff is generally more colourful and trippy.

Otherwise, the list is stuffed with ports. Baseball management sim Home Run High and space colony management sim Epic Astro Story come to consoles from the mobile platforms. Bleak Faith: Forsaken is a 2023 Soulslike that imitates the Dark Souls art style, but doesn’t reach the gameplay quality of, say, Lies of P. Hot Blood is a low-poly 3D zombie beat-’em-up that contains female protagonists as an excuse to show underwear.

I’ll give the GOTW Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail, because I’ve never Final Fantasy’d and feel like maybe I should check it out someday. It’s the kind of game where I’d wait overnight for it to download, try it out the next day after work, get confused in the character creation screen, then delete after 30 minutes and go back to playing Civ V or something.

GWJ Word of the Week

MMORPG: Shorthand for Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game. The “Role Playing Game” part is rolling up a character with stats, a class, class-based skills, level progression mechanics and quests with gear to find. The “Massively Multiplayer Online” part is that thousands, perhaps millions, of other people around the world are playing the game at the same time. Devs have modified elements from single-player RPGs to adapt to this environment, e.g. by designing quests with bosses that are only defeatable in groups and providing tools for players to communicate, trade and teabag each other.

Because MMORPGs have ongoing running costs, they tend towards subscription funding models, which in turn influences design features by encouraging grind, to keep players coming back regularly. They are often designed to be the only game you can find time to play. “MMORPG” often gets shortened to “MMO”, but in the age of always-connected pocket computers that used to be called phones, everything is an MMO to some degree.

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

PC

• 07-01

• 100 Hiddensaurs
• Apple Clicker
• Asylum Nightmares
• Box Dog
• Conquest Reforged
• Dogs
• Drinks Down Under
• Extreme Jump
• Galactic Inferno
• Galactic Striker
• Galactic Tennis
• Golf Around! Lite
• Just Walk
• Ladder it Up!
• Lift: The Last Days of The Westwind
• Mercenaries of War
• Over Clock
• Raspberry
• Realms of Arcana
• Super Power Man
• Tactishia
• Technoblade The Quest Of L'Manburg
• Vorago
• WEEB

• 07-02

• Ancient Sacrifice
• Deadly Fight
• Drive Me Crazy
• Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail
• Hot Blood
• How to turn a Cherry tree spirit into an idol
• PowerWash Simulator: Alice's Adventure Special Pack
• Run, Run at Marathon!
• Steel Warrior
• Templar 2
• The First Descendant
• The Happy Ball

• 07-03

• 4 in a row
• Ducks (The Duck Company)
• Meh
• Multiplayer RPG
• Star Beads

• 07-04

• 666: El dia del portal
• Alerta Roja
• Amber Alert
• Beyond the Portal: Island's Salvation
• Blue Valkyrie
• Burger Kombat
• ELEVATE
• Fruits
• Giraffe
• Innerchild VR
• Machi Koro
• Poop
• Sir Quest and the Temple of Apollo
• The Adventures of Detective Donut at Shao-Lu Temple
• The Great Couturier
• Watermelon
• Zenless Zone Zero

• 07-05

• BACKROOMS THE COMPANY
• Bananamana
• Castaway Soul
• Chupacabra Hunt
• CloudStudy
• Hexalert
• Meadow Assault
• Mob Trader
• Poolrooms
• Seafarer's Gambit
• Void Reaper

• 07-07

• Banana Cat
• Chibi Reboot
• Was God Birthed!?

Xbox Series X

• 07-02

• Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail
• PowerWash Simulator: Alice's Adventure Special Pack
• The First Descendant

• 07-04

• Agatha Christie: The ABC Murders
• Epic Astro Story
• Home Run High
• Scholar's Mate

• 07-05

• Bleak Faith: Forsaken
• Cyber Citizen Shockman Zero

Xbox One

• 07-02

• PowerWash Simulator: Alice's Adventure Special Pack
• The First Descendant

• 07-04

• Epic Astro Story
• Home Run High
• Scholar's Mate

• 07-05

• Cyber Citizen Shockman Zero
• Paper.io 2

PlayStation 5

• 07-02

• Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail
• Hot Blood
• PowerWash Simulator: Alice's Adventure Special Pack
• The First Descendant

• 07-04

• Fate Seeker 2
• Zenless Zone Zero

• 07-05

• Bleak Faith: Forsaken
• Cyber Citizen Shockman Zero
• The Legend of Heroes: Trails through Daybreak

PlayStation 4

• 07-02

• Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail
• Hot Blood
• PowerWash Simulator: Alice's Adventure Special Pack
• The First Descendant

• 07-05

• Cyber Citizen Shockman Zero
• The Legend of Heroes: Trails through Daybreak

Nintendo Switch

• 07-02

• Food Truck Simulator
• Hot Blood
• PowerWash Simulator: Alice's Adventure Special Pack
• The Battle Cats Unite!
• Wild West Tycoon Empire

• 07-03

• River Tails: Stronger Together

• 07-04

• Air Hockey: Casual Table Arcade
• Art of Glide 2
• Brain Training!! Number Search
• Choose and Easy NUMBER IQ QUIZ
• Dragon Saikyou Ou Zukan: Battle Colosseum
• Hokkori Nou tore Nyan ko Kaiten Puzzle
• Kurukuru Puzzle Narabete Sengoku Bushou
• Machi Koro
• Missh*tsu Mystery Nichijou ni Kakusa reta Shinjitsu
• Motto Shiritai Heianjidai
• O Juken Quiz mini Nakama Wake
• Oku Dake Study
• Ouchi de Golf Renshuu Putter Kuna~ru!
• Replik Survivors
• Run for Money: The Great Mission
• Scoop it! Goldfish
• Shougakusei no Uchi ni Oboetai Ei Jukugo
• Shouwa no Joushiki O X Quiz
• Taboo Trial
• The Five Covens
• Uphill Stunt Driver: Extreme Racing Simulator

• 07-05

• Bouncy Chicken
• Cats Hidden in Cozy Places
• Cthulhu tower
• Cyber Citizen Shockman Zero
• Highway Zombie Survival - Car Apocalypse
• Sea under the sea under the sea
• Summer Games Beach Volley
• The Legend of Heroes: Trails through Daybreak

• 07-06

• Jetpack Race

• 07-07

• Editor's Hell