Felix “Absurdist Preferences” Threepaper
Welcome folks, and happy “436th Anniversary of the beginning of the defeat of the Spanish Armada” week!
On 31 July 1588, the English navy won the first skirmishes in a series of naval battles that resulted in its famous defeat of the Spanish Armada. The stakes were high, as the Armada was looking to secure the English Channel to send over a massive invasion force. The English used their longer-range cannons to pick off the Spanish fleet before it could draw close and use its numerical advantage. You may all celebrate by playing a game where you wait until you have ranged units that can shoot over an extra tile before you attack your opponents.
Star Wars: Bounty Hunter Remaster is timed to build some hype for Star Wars Outlaws in a month. Aspyr has remastered a bunch of old Star Wars titles over the years and has done a similar job here, with upgraded textures, a new lick of paint, and improved lighting effects to make the game look more colourful and less gloomy. The PS5 version will also have some DualSense features. As fans have long wanted, you’ll be able to play as Boba Fett, but only after you finish the main campaign.
Another remaster is Aero The Acro-Bat, a 2D mascot platformer from 1993 that was notable for coming out on both Genesis and Super NES. Its level design is also quite sprawling for its time, with puzzles and secrets aplenty, if you can get the hang of the acro-bat’s strange diagonal attack.
Rounding out the remasters is Tomba! Special Edition, a re-release of a 1997 PS1 game. It’s a mostly-2D platformer with open world and RPG elements. It’s not so much a remaster as a basic emulation of the original game; the bare minimum has been done to make it run on modern consoles. The “Special Edition”-ness of it all comes from special features outside the game: a gallery of original promotional art and extra music.
Sword and Fairy Inn 2 is a port of a mobile cozy game. Despite the nice graphics, the mobile idle clicker and cooldown mechanics drag it down—there are plenty of better cozy games out there.
Asphalt Legends Unite is a PC/Xbox ‘sclusy, which means it’s also out on Switch. It’s techno-Burnout: you’ll be drifting, boosting and jumping your car through neon levels to a pumping soundtrack. It’s free-to-play with microtransactions, though, which may make progression too grindy without them.
MARS 2120 has a slick sci fi aesthetic that makes it feel like a 2D Castlevanioid version of Mass Effect. The powers you get, and the way you combine them, reminds me of the power detonation system from ME2 onwards. The music even sounds like Mass Effect music. For me, that’s a plus—it’s crisp decor for your supertrooper to double-jump and blast her way through, on the way to the giant bosses.
The Mortuary Assistant is a horror game. The first bullet point on its Steam page says ”perform embalming tasks while keeping demonic forces at bay”. It’s FNAF-style gameplay, but more gruesome: big jump scares mixed with creepy corpse tampering.
On a brighter note, Thank Goodness You're Here! is a cartoony, shenanigans-based game like Untitled Goose Game. You wander around the town of Barnworth, meeting characters and getting into absurd, comedic encounters. Your primary action is to slap—if you want to speak to people, you have to walk up and slap them, so every interaction starts off on a silly note. Oh, and it features the vocal stylings of Matt Berry, although he is not the main character.
It’s genuinely hard to pick this week. I like MARS 2120 for its Mass Effect vibe and Thank Goodness You’re Here! for its Matt Berry vibe. While MARS 2120 looks like a solid game in a well-trodden genre, I’m just more curious about Thank Goodness You’re Here!. Not only is it the first game to feature Matt Berry since 2012's Worms: Revolution, it also offers a silly, fun hangout experience that won’t overstay its welcome.
GWJ Word of the Week
Grind: the name for a pattern of gameplay that involves completing a number of repetitive in-game tasks to power up your character. This can range from collecting resources, like punching trees for wood in Minecraft, or fighting lots of relatively weak enemies to earn experience and gear components, like in Diablo. ‘Grind’ is a double-edged term that can be a compliment or a deal-breaker. If you enjoy the cycle of tasks and find the rewards worthwhile, it can be testament to how engaging a game feels, but if it feels too time-consuming or unrewarding, (or in the case of mobile games, like an incentive to pay to speed your progress), it’s a reason to put a game down.
Here's the list, in release-date AND alphabetical order!
PC
-
07-30
- Apple Run
- BirdLingo: A birdsong learning game
- Blu-Dude In The Quest for Chocolate Milk
- Bug.Splash TD
- Bunny Alice in Wonderland
- CUBE (UnHappyDev)
- Doomsday cycle
- Espionage Activity
- Extirpate
- Flappy Alien
- Furriend
- Grove Grown Guardians
- Hadley's Run: A Starship Saga
- Heavy Storm Shadow (SMOKING BEAR)
- Hitobashira - Human Suika
- Jigsaw Island
- Kappa's Asylum
- Made in Tower
- Mini Airways
- No Return
- Penalty Challenge
- Puzzle Masters
- SatelliTV
- Scent of Greed
- Silent Threat
- Songs Of Death
- Space for Sale
- Spin or Die
- Super Sus
- The Demon Slayer!! Aim to be the second Momotaro!
- The Garden Path
- The Gravedigger
- The Whisper of the Abyss: Echo of Eden
- Thebes
- Time Is Honey
- Vanilla Brulee & The Rose Bandit
-
07-31
- 101 Cats Hidden in Las Vegas
- 3D PUZZLE - Bedroom
- 5 Crowns
- Abyss Survivors
- Achieve-Its
- Alone in the School
- Aquario
- Baby Blues Nightmares - Chapter 1 Prologue
- Back
- ball
- Ball Control
- Bean (T.G.)
- Berry Hunt Survivors
- Bitsy Bits: The Secret of Magic
- Boyce the Voice
- Brucie's Arcade
- Bussy Master: CLUB LEATHER
- Calm3D
- Chaos Magus
- City Turn
- Containment Breach (Sam Effa)
- Corrupted Spirits
- Crazy Captain Cannon - Mission: Billionaire Buster
- Cucumber
- Dawnmaker
- Devil Road Run!
- Dinos
- Dogs
- Doomsday (forgetmenotdevs)
- Dungeon Dot Ruby
- Dungeon Tycoon: Prologue
- Echoes from Another World: A Thousand Snow Songs
- Escape from exit 7 of the theater
- Exploding Pandas
- Farmer's Shop Simulator: Prologue
- Final Night
- Five Gods of Kung Fu
- Flong: Directors Cut
- Fly Me To The Home!
- Forgotten Bunker 1939
- Fragment: A Story in Growing
- Glitch World
- Gold Mine Dash
- HachikanShogi Matta Ari
- Humay
- I Got Isekai'd Into a Shmup
- Ice Run
- Idle Run Aya
- Innsmouth Nightmare
- It's Kooky - Land of Aotearoa
- Legends of Savvarah: Time of Pariah
- Lift Attendant
- LoveAndComplex
- Magman
- Make Your Country Great Again
- Malware
- Manatee
- Marfa
- Marketplace
- Master Blaster
- Meat
- Melody's Melon Mania
- Merge Mango
- Minds Beneath Us
- Mira's Mirage Mirror
- MiuSa
- MOANera
- Monster 3
- Mysterious Voyage
- Odinochestvo Skufa
- On Track
- One Long Night with the Circleheads
- OveRRooT
- PARADISE CLEANING - Variantverse -
- paranormal power:The Prequel
- Pineapple
- Planet of Carrots
- Power of Petanque
- Prison of Nightmare
- Project Evolve
- Protect My Komayama
- Pug and Seek
- Reimu Needs Help! Aunn-chan to the Rescue!
- Relaxing Drift
- Saint Ceri
- Scavenged By Sunset
- Sellsword Saga
- Shadow Falls
- Shepherds
- Shoot Shoot Cowboy!
- Smashing Simulator Idle
- Solar Sweets
- Sprite's Honor!
- Squared Adventure
- Stellar Return
- Street Flicker
- Strider-X
- Summon: Joint escape
- Sword of Convallaria: For This World of Peace
- Tapybara
- Terrestrial
- The Concentration of Lust
- The Last Ramparts
- The old man and his cat
- The Shadows Within: Nightmare's Games
- The Slayer:Rebirth
- The tree of immortality
- Tidy Cauldron
- Time Turned
- TobPaCharge
- Ultimate Jigsaw Puzzle Challenge
- UnderKingdom
- UnHolY JaiL TRPG
- Unsought
- Virtual Fight World
- Warcrow Adventures
- Warden of Time
- Wuilsafe
- Yatsumeguri
- You Want to Watch the World Burn
- Young Detectives: Farm
- Young Detectives: Space
- Young Detectives: Undersea
- Young Detectives:School
- Zombie GO Remastered
-
08-01
- 50 Pinch Barrage!!
- Bare Butt Boxing
- Box Zombies
- Bubble Troops
- Butterfly//Circuit
- CHROMA (Dragonfly Games)
- Circus Night
- Darkly Darkness
- Escape Gaia:Departure
- ff link
- Hello Cruel World
- INSOMNIA
- Japanese House Exploration
- Journey to Monolith
- Kitsune Tails
- Lift: The Last Days of The Westwind
- Lootbawx
- Lot Lizard
- MARS 2120
- OMUSUBI
- Project Stack
- Sift Heads - Reborn
- Sift Heads Rush
- Sniper 3D
- Snowsquall Grip
- TacticsLand
- Thank Goodness You're Here!
- Tomba! Special Edition
- Too Angry To Die
- UFO Taxi
- Weather Dominance
- Xetanon
Xbox Series X
-
07-31
- Asphalt Legends Unite
- Deadlink
- Roots of Pacha
- Sword and Fairy Inn 2
-
08-01
- AirportSim
- Beastie Bay DX
- Forest Camp Story
- MARS 2120
- Quriocity
- Star Wars: Bounty Hunter Remaster
-
08-02
- Aero The Acro-Bat
- Cilla
- Closer the Distance
- The Mortuary Assistant
Xbox One
-
07-31
- Asphalt Legends Unite
- Roots of Pacha
- Sword and Fairy Inn 2
-
08-01
- Beastie Bay DX
- Forest Camp Story
- MARS 2120
- Quriocity
- Star Wars: Bounty Hunter Remaster
- TENSEI
-
08-02
- Aero The Acro-Bat
- Cilla
- Sugar Tanks 2
- The Mortuary Assistant
PlayStation 5
-
07-30
- Bitmap Bureau Collection
- Deadlink
-
07-31
- Sword and Fairy Inn 2
-
08-01
- MARS 2120
- Star Wars: Bounty Hunter Remaster
- Thank Goodness You're Here!
- Tomba! Special Edition
-
08-02
- Aero The Acro-Bat
- Closer the Distance
- The Mortuary Assistant
PlayStation 4
-
07-31
- Sword and Fairy Inn 2
-
08-01
- MARS 2120
- Star Wars: Bounty Hunter Remaster
- Thank Goodness You're Here!
-
08-02
- Aero The Acro-Bat
- The Mortuary Assistant
Nintendo Switch
-
07-30
- Bitmap Bureau Collection
- The Garden Path
-
07-31
- Asphalt Legends Unite
- Death Noodle Delivery
- Moonstone Island: Chef's Kiss DLC Pack
- Pinball Quest
- Summer In Trigue
-
08-01
- 4-Taku Quiz: Shougakusei de Shiritai Genso ~ Quiz de Kantan Genso Gakushuu Kyouyou Benkyou Game ~
- 4-Taku Quiz: Shougakusei de Shiritai Kabutomushi ~ Quiz de Kantan Gakushuu Kyouyou Benkyou Game ~
- Apathy: Narugami Gakuen Nana Fushigi + Kiken'na Tenkousei
- Bare Butt Boxing
- Bikkuri! Odoroki! Doubutsu Zatsugaku Quiz 4-Taku Quiz de Manabu Doubutsu Kyouou Game
- Chef Chen
- Dokapon! Ikari no Tetsuken Remaster
- Farlands Journey
- Find the cat
- Hakuoki: Chronicles of Wind and Blossom
- Hiiro no Kakera
- Kurukuru Study: Doujini Manaberu 3 Gengo Deutch-go France-go Italia-go Narabete Kantan Jitan de Gogaku Benkyou Gakushuu Kyouyou Puzzle
- Landnama
- MARS 2120
- Motto Shiritai Koubutsu Houseki Game de Tanoshiku Rika Gakushuu Zatsugaku Kyouyou Benkyou Quiz
- Nou o Kitaeru! Nihon Fuukei de Machigaisagashi! ~ Nihon no zekkei de NouTore Machigaisagashi Game ~
- Operation: Tango
- Ryourichou Chin
- SAME BREAK GAME
- Star Wars: Bounty Hunter Remaster
- Super kawaii! Finding mistakes in panda photos
- Synaxarion Christian Stories: Holy Martyr Savvas the Goth
- TENSEI
- Thank Goodness You're Here!
- Tokyo Chronos & ALTDEUS: Beyond Chronos Twin Pack
- Tomba! Special Edition
- Toy Car Extreme Racing: RC Driver Simulator
- Train Your Brain! Spot the Difference with Animal Kids Photos
- Treasure Hunt on a World Trip
- Trinity Fusion
- Werewolf Goldfish
- Yatsumeguri
- Zumba Marble Blast
-
08-02
- Aero The Acro-Bat
- Animal Hunting 3D
- Babba Yagga: Woodboy
- Bedrotting
- Cilla
- EvoMon
- Galaxy Mania
- King 'n Knight
- Rejoinder - Procedural Roguelite
- Shopping Mall Girl
- World of Goo 2
-
08-03
- Bot Shot
-
08-04
- Metroplex Zero Sci-Fi Card Battler
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