The Maw has once again eaten Edwin. After spending a few days in the news beast’s digestive tract back in October, Edwin did implement fresh safety protocols. No petting The Maw. Only feed The Maw using a standard issue six foot news pole. All teeth cleaning must be performed by a qualified animal dentist with a certificate in eldritch care. Sadly, the CCTV camera shows Edwin was fooled by The Maw’s gurgles, which sounded suspiciously like ‘Can I tell you a secret?’. Edwin proffered his ear, and the cost of his curiosity was to be swallowed whole. We believe he will climb out of the creature’s gullet in time to cover The Game Awards on Thursday.
Don’t worry, the proper traditions were observed. Mark played The Last Post on his kazoo, James wiped out the ’56’ on the ‘Days since last accident’ whiteboard in the coffee room, and wrote in a ‘0’. There was a respectful silence, only interrupted by the microwave ping when my porridge was done.
Things should be quietening down as we approach Christmas. That said, there are still some great games on the docket this week.
Monday
- Skate Story sees you trying to earn your freedom from the Underworld by skating all the way to the moon. The main issue is you’re made of glass, any slips on the way are mighty deadly.
- Yakuza 0 Director’s Cut is the fleshed out and expanded version of the prequel to Ryu Ga Gotoku Studios infamous Yakuza series. First released on PC in 2018, this embiggened version includes a Red Light Raid multiplayer mode.
- Cat Named Mojave is ideal for anyone who spent last week playing Horses and decided they need a touch more animal-headed, human-bodied horror in their lives.
- Liminal City is for people who played Horses and thought, I would like a nice horror game with no people in at all, please-and-thank-you. (Spider-like creatures that chase you through car parks are, however, in attendance.)
Tuesday
- Death Howl is leaning hard into its deck-building, soulslike genre blending, even putting a chart on its Steam Page detailing how it satisfies the criteria of both. Buzz words aside, it looks to be a stylish descent into a wasteland filled with eldritch horrors.
- Milano’s Odd Job Collection is the localised release of Milano no Arubaito, first released in Japan in 1999. If you ever wanted to recreate the experience of childhood labour exploitation, you can earn summer money as a 11-year-old Milano as she steps into the shoes of a fruit picker, nurse, and delivery driver.
- Set in a world where music is outlawed, Unbeatable is a rhythm action game where you put on illegal gigs and smash the state. We’ll have a review later this week.
Wednesday
Anxiety Puppy is a visual novel about dealing with the mounting daily anxieties of living in a city. I’m not sure about the developers’ claim that this is a unique theme in gaming, but I’m all for people looking for ways to represent mental health.
Thursday
Ashes of Creation will be opening its MMO world up to early access players this week. The developers are stressing that it will be an alpha world and expect frequent, significant changes to its world. Still, with the ambition to create a world where you can trade, capture, or defend player-developed settlements, it could be a good game to explore in its early days.
Friday
In an appropriate disregard for canonical history, Terminator 2D: No Fate is a pixel-art game set in and around the events of Terminator 2: Judgement Day which ignores the 8-bit movie tie-in game released on the NES and Master System in 1992. Still, 90s game never came to PC, so it may as well not exist – as much fun as riding a motorbike through the LA canals and shooting locks off chainlink gates may have been. The new game recreates scenes from the film and invents new events that took place in the margins of the action. It’s basically the Terminator equivalent of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead.
While this is a comparatively quiet week for releases. If you’re a news glutton similar to our fine Maw, look forward to a veritable feast of stories from tomorrow’s Wholesome Snack and Thursday night’s Game Awards.