The Maw: what's new in PC games this week?
Silent Hill 2, Diablo 4 DLC, Metaphor and a handsome bunch of indies
Alas for the Maw. Last week we had a critical mass of people being off sick, away on trips, away on holiday, or locked in the cellar reviewing very long video games. As such, the flow of news to the dark god of video games journalism was sluggish. Thankfully, the Maw seems to have let us off lightly. It could have risen kraken-like from the abyss and swallowed the planet. Instead, it has merely summoned an extra moon. Quickly now, let's run through the week's PC game releases of note and top the Maw up before that bonus satellite does anything unconventional, like growing teeth.
We open Monday 7th October with a trio of indie charmers: stylishly stark detective story Phoenix Springs, epistolary Animal Cross 'em up Kind Words 2, and the latest of many posh, 8 or 16-bit throwback RPGs, Beloved Rapture. On Tuesday 8th, a chorus of sirens as Bloober's Silent Hill 2 remake exits the fog, pursued by Diablo 4's Vessel Of Hatred DLC. If Silent Hill 2's woeful paranorma-burg is too harrowing for you, why not play Townframe instead - it's also about people's memories of weird towns, but in a cuddly way. On Wednesday 9th, you must type to survive waves of evil words in Glyphica, which somehow wasn't made by a games journalist. There's also first-person melee platformer Shady Knight, for people who think the sword is mightier than the pen, actually. On Thursday 10th October, an RPG for the Dreamcast diehards, Sky Oceans: Wings For Hire. Meanwhile, the Overcooked formula has finally come for junkyard management in the shape of Tipston Salvage. And on Friday 11th October, clear some space for highly Personable RPG Metaphor: ReFantazio. Or if that's too ponderous a release to end the week on, Breath of the Wildy platformer Europa.
Enough? Enough, I think. As ever, feel free to share any amazing PC games we've missed and chuck suggestions for stories into the comments. Find our weekly news liveblog below. If you have business outdoors this week, please remember to not look up. Extra moons are like advertising - they go away eventually if you don't encourage them.
Our live coverage of this event has finished.
FEAR THE MOONDAY
And FEED THE MAW343 Industries have rebranded as Halo Studios, and all new Halo games will be made in Unreal Engine 5. Here's the Xbox blog with more.
While we're talking Halo, Halo Infinite is getting an official third-person mode in November.
Diplomacy Is Not An Option - an RTS castle-builder with an emphasis on humongous enemy waves - has reached the big 1.0, adding a new branching campaign. We said nice things about the early access build, though I note with outrage that they're calling us "Rock, Paper And Shotgun" on the Steam page. You can't just choose all three, that's not how roshambo derivatives work!
IT IS NEPTUNESDAY
A shiny doubloon to whoever can name some planets in video games that work as weekday puns! FEED THE MAW.Some music to start the day: a giddy Japanese orchestral number from The Liar Princess And The Blind Prince.
Silent Hill 2's original director Masashi Tsuboyama has expressed enthusiasm for Bloober's remake, and especially its newly manual third-person camera. "To be honest, I'm not satisfied with the playable camera from 23 years ago," he wrote in a TwiX thread. "Depth and angle were limited by the processing load. It was a continuous process of hard work that was not rewarded. But that was the limit. The [remake's] over-the-shoulder view definitely adds to the sense of realism. In other words, it makes me want to try playing the even more immersive remake of Silent Hill 2."
Some additional music to the start the day - a collab between Alien: Isolation and Lofi Girl to celebrate the good news.
Thunderful are having a sale, with chunky discounts on Viewfinder, various Steamworld games, Moonglow Bay, Somerville, Cursed To Golf, Phogs and Planet Of Lana.
A new story trailer for Blops 6.
The Breachway developers are overhauling the game's save system following cases of data corruption. They're also "updating the tutorial, tooltips, and UI to enhance clarity while also simplifying specific mechanics that just added complexity without adding depth". Expect the patch in the next few days.
SeekerX says: A couple weird indies off my wishlist: Tomorrow 10/8, Anthology of the Killer is getting a Steam release containing all 9 entries. Brendan had some bemused but positive things to say about it back when it released on Itch: https://statement.thebloghost.com/dont-worry-im-a-murderer-award-winning-comedy-anthology-of-the-killer-is-out-next-week
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SeekerX says: Tomorrow 10/8 also sees the Pro Philosopher 2: Governments and Grievances finally release, a decade after its predecessor. More Ace Attorney-style debates with famous dead philosophers! It sounds fun, but I'm not too thrilled with the way they're taking a line from Matt's 2023 preview and using it on the Steam page as a review without the context that he was saying "it sounds like it could be..." https://store.steampowered.com/app/2120070/Pro_Philosopher_2_Governments__Grievances/
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Blood Of Mehran is a stealthy-hacky action-adventure set in ancient Mesopotamia, from Turkish developers Permanent Way Games. The cinematic reveal trailer doesn't include any in-game action, from what I can tell, but it seems reminiscent of Assassin's Creed.
Cleared Hot is a Microprose-published comedy homage to EA's old Desert Strike, featuring real-time physics.
Ooh, I like the cut of Beaming Stingray's gib. It's a beginner-friendly top-down shooter in which fight alongside past versions of yourself care of a time-rewind mechanic. It's hecking abstract, with levels that look like sliding block puzzles, and it's set inside somebody's mind. There's also a save-the-animals element tethered to a secret level. A fancy mocktail indeed!
WEDURANUSDAY DAWNS
The Maw is attempting to flank us through various parallel dimensions. Take up shields and form a Freemish crate! FEED IT.MiniMatt says: the verge have a story up about itch.io (and other .io) domains being at risk after the agreement to hand the chagos islands - home of the .io domain - to mauritius (/ht the fontgeek.io forum where rps forum dwellers largely landed after daddy reedpop handed our forum home over to the maw and oblivion)
We've been looking at the report in question, and I'm going to ask Itch.io for comment today.
As passed on by charming RPS asset flip PCGamer, Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza In Hawaii was almost about Kazuma Kiryu being a tuna fisherman. "Long story short, it never came to fruition, but keywords like “ship,” “sea,” and “fighting,” which had since then been engraved in my head, evolved into the concept of pirates," RGG studio director Masayoshi Yokoyama told the PSblog.
I randomly watched some pre-release streams for Beautiful Light last night. It's an extraction shooter where several teams of three players compete to retrieve horrible artefacts from near-future quarantine zones. Hunt Showdown but more Jeff Vandemeer, I guess, though the obvious comparison is STALKER. I'm not massively drawn to the premise but it's certainly pretty.
Jazz Bar Souls is, seemingly, about going to a jazz bar, playing neat records, drinking too much, and getting kicked out. The barkeep is already a modern icon, imo. It's the work of Bren Sutton, a creative tech artist at 2K Games. No release or platform info yet.
Criminally good platter of bloodied vol-au-vents Anthology Of The Killer is now available on Steam, says master word summoner Stephen "thecatamites" Gillmurphy. Will the killer ever be found, you ask? Stop asking stupid questions!
The Steam page for Red Dead Redemption is live with the PC port's system requirements.
JUPITHURSDAY
Thursday was genuinely Jupiter's day according to the Roman calendar back in 4th AD, though most of us now know it as Thor's Day. Thor didn't manage to get a planet named after him, though, so he can get stuffed. FEED THE MAW.The Call Of Duty people have been blogging about Black Ops 6's campaign. It's got another one of those upgradeable safehouses in it, with an evidence board. I think that setup dates back to... Cold War?
A blog from the Nivalis crew about some of the people you'll meet touring this cyberpunk slice-of-life sim. It's a slice-of-life because they cut it with a blade (runner).
Shady Knight is out. Look at 'im go!
Steel City's licensed boxing game Undisputed has left early access. It's been a million years since I last played a boxing game, so I'm including this mostly out of punchdrunk nostalgia. Does Gang Beasts count as a boxing game?
Overthrown is both a city-builder and the action genre's vengeance on city-builders, in that you can pick whole sawmills up, speed through the woods with them Naruto-style, and hurl them at a chicken.
You can also throw things in Stratagem Lost, a "twilight punk" 2D tactics game.
Goat Simulator Remastered has had its first real public showing. I had a little play of it at Gamescom, and it's an unexpectedly straight-faced rework by Goat Sim standards, with only modestly updated visuals.
This one actually came out last October, but it's my first time encountering it. Just pretend it got stuck between the Maw's gnashers for a year, decomposing in the briney depths before the delicious fermented scent finally caught the beast's attention. The Sirena Expedition is a short PSX style horror about a dude in an old timey diving suit i.e one the best genres. It's still got a demo available.
FRIODAY AT LAST
Start with a moon, end with a moon, is my motto. FEED THE MAW.The early access release of Brighter Shores has been pushed back by exactly one day, because you cavalier Yankees had to go and elect a new president.
Fachewachewa says: Diceomancer came out today, I loved that demo in the feb. Steam Fest. It's a wild deckbuilder where you have the power to roll a dice that can change values on cards, or even enemies' health bar.
This does look good. It's still got a demo, too.
SeekerX says: Aah-- the Case of the Golden Idol Redux update launch today was also an occasion for them to give a release date for Rise of the Golden Idol -- just one month out, coming November 12th. And there's a new trailer!
Everholm is an isometric open-ended RPG which mixes a bit of gardening and home improvement with a missing person storyline, procedurally generated dungeons, and a promise to not be "too cosy". It's out 11th November - there's a demo.
Spirit X Strike also has a demo. This one's a frantic 3D beat 'em up that reminds me a tiny bit of Godhand.
stellarNULL have just announced Mentari, in which you are a magical girl trying to restore a petrified world through the power of non-lethal dance. "As a young dancer, our heroine starts with a limited number of dances," the blurb explains. "As she travels and grows, so does her knowledge, allowing you to create your own choreography, with hundreds of possible combinations!" I can't find a Youtube trailer for this, so instead, here's Moe Szyslak.
Keep Driving is a road trip RPG from the devs of the excellent Post Void.
