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.
Key points- 07:49 am 10/11/2024 FRIODAY AT LAST
- 08:15 am 10/10/2024 JUPITHURSDAY
- 08:05 am 10/09/2024 WEDURANUSDAY DAWNS
- 08:06 am 10/08/2024 IT IS NEPTUNESDAY
- 08:27 am 10/07/2024 FEAR THE MOONDAY
FEAR THE MOONDAY
And FEED THE MAW Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 08:52 am UTC That sausage museum game is "an ontological exploration of verticality, as embodied by the oblong protagonist", according to the venerable critic Frankfurter von Wurstheim - and who am I to disagree with Professor Wurstheim, whose momentous work "The Ontology of the Encased: A Treatise on Cylindrical Forms and Their Transcendence" has been such an influence on my taste in wonky physics platformers. Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 08:54 am UTC343 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.
A New Dawn | Halo Studios Watch on YouTube Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 08:56 am UTCWhile we're talking Halo, Halo Infinite is getting an official third-person mode in November.
Experience a new way to play!
3rd Person Mode is coming to Halo Infinite this November 🔥 pic.twitter.com/WkDkGLx8fF
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!
Diplomacy is Not an Option Out Today Watch on YouTube Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 15:54 pm UTC Alien Isolation sequel, anyone? Nic Reuben 08:06 am UTCIT IS NEPTUNESDAY
A shiny doubloon to whoever can name some planets in video games that work as weekday puns! FEED THE MAW. Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 08:08 am UTCSome music to start the day: a giddy Japanese orchestral number from The Liar Princess And The Blind Prince.
01 Akiko Shikata - Moonlit Night Concert / 志方あきこ - 月夜の音楽会 Watch on YouTube Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 08:20 am UTCSilent 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."
Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 08:23 am UTCSome additional music to the start the day - a collab between Alien: Isolation and Lofi Girl to celebrate the good news.
Alien: Isolation x Lofi Girl | Lofi Beats to Get Chills to Watch on YouTube Nic Reuben 08:24 am UTCThunderful are having a sale, with chunky discounts on Viewfinder, various Steamworld games, Moonglow Bay, Somerville, Cursed To Golf, Phogs and Planet Of Lana.
Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 08:29 am UTCA new story trailer for Blops 6.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 - Global Launch Gameplay Trailer Watch on YouTube Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 08:31 am UTCThe 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.
Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 08:35 am UTC Kind Words 2 is out, if you need an "anti-social network" to console you in these times of Zuckerbergian squalor and Musky enshittification. Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 08:41 am UTC Traveller's Hymn is a free open-world grid-based RPG with a gorgeous tileset. Why is it free? "This is only our first attempt at gamedev, and we've only spent 4 months on it because it started as an experimental project," the devs explain on Tw@tter. "We felt the results were good enough to publish, though the contents are a bit lacking (only ~4-5hrs), and no where near what we're fully capable of." Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 08:42 am UTCSeekerX 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://www.rockpapershotgun.com/dont-worry-im-a-murderer-award-winning-comedy-anthology-of-the-killer-is-out-next-week
pointing upward emote
Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 08:42 am UTCSeekerX 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/
still pointing upward emote
Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 08:52 am UTCBlood 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.
Blood of Mehran - Coming Soon! | Reveal Trailer Watch on YouTube Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 11:14 am UTCCleared Hot is a Microprose-published comedy homage to EA's old Desert Strike, featuring real-time physics.
Cleared Hot – Publishing Announcement Trailer Watch on YouTube Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 13:24 pm UTCOoh, 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!
Beaming Stingray - Announcement Trailer | Steam Watch on YouTube Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 15:02 pm UTC Rime developers Tequila have cancelled an unannounced game and made a "small" number of layoffs, as revealed on LinkedIn. Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 08:05 am UTCWEDURANUSDAY DAWNS
The Maw is attempting to flank us through various parallel dimensions. Take up shields and form a Freemish crate! FEED IT. Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 08:11 am UTCMiniMatt 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.
Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 08:18 am UTC Financial research group Hindenberg Research have published a withering report on Roblox, accusing the platform of being a "pedophile hellscape" and of "inflating key metrics for Wall Street". There's a lot in there. It's worth noting that by their own admission, Hindenberg "have taken a short position in shares of Roblox Corporation" after "extensive research". As such they stand to profit from any impact their report makes on Roblox's share price. Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 08:25 am UTCAs 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.
Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 08:32 am UTCI 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.
Beautiful Light - Environment & Ambiance showcase (Alpha) Watch on YouTube Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 08:35 am UTC Eldritch post-apocalyptic 4X Zephon has a release date - November 8th. It's from the developers of Warhammer 40,000: Gladius. Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 08:47 am UTCJazz 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.
Hi, Twitter.
Meet my game! 🎷🥃 https://t.co/CgCr5U9D35 pic.twitter.com/sLUJNEbssH
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!
Brendan Caldwell 12:35 pm UTC Several former Humble Games staff have founded a new publisher, Good Games Group, as reported by Eurogamer. This follows the dismissal of the entire Humble Games publishing team in July. Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 14:33 pm UTCThe Steam page for Red Dead Redemption is live with the PC port's system requirements.
Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 08:15 am UTCJUPITHURSDAY
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. Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 08:27 am UTCThe 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?
Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 08:30 am UTCA 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).
Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 08:34 am UTCShady Knight is out. Look at 'im go!
Shady Knight – OUT NOW! Watch on YouTube Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 08:42 am UTCSteel 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?
Undisputed Launch Trailer (ESRB) Watch on YouTube Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 09:04 am UTCOverthrown 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.
Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 09:06 am UTCYou can also throw things in Stratagem Lost, a "twilight punk" 2D tactics game.
Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 09:36 am UTCGoat 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.
James Archer 15:46 pm UTCThis 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.
The Sirena Expedition - Release Trailer Watch on YouTube Nic Reuben 07:49 am UTCFRIODAY AT LAST
Start with a moon, end with a moon, is my motto. FEED THE MAW. Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 07:52 am UTCThe 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.
We have decided to push the launch of Brighter Shores back to the 6th Nov, because apparently there is some sort of election thingy on the 5th - who knew?!
— Andrew Gower (@AndrewCGower) October 9, 2024 To see this content please enable targeting cookies. Manage cookie settings Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 07:53 am UTC Via PCGamer, Satisfactory's community mod manager has been updated to support the 1.0 version. Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 07:55 am UTC Last Time I Saw You launched this week. It's a magic realist coming-of-age adventure set in late 80s Japan, featuring action-platformer bits and a haunted wood. Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 07:56 am UTCFachewachewa 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.
Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 07:56 am UTCSeekerX 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!
The Rise of the Golden Idol - Official Release Date Trailer Watch on YouTube Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 07:57 am UTC Thanks to you lovely readers, the loveliest of readers, for feeding the Maw. Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 08:05 am UTCEverholm 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.
Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 08:08 am UTCSpirit X Strike also has a demo. This one's a frantic 3D beat 'em up that reminds me a tiny bit of Godhand.
Spirit X Strike Steam Next Fest Trailer Watch on YouTube Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 08:13 am UTCstellarNULL 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.
The Simpsons - Moe Teaches Breakdance! Watch on YouTube Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 08:43 am UTC A "spiritual successor" to Disco Elysium is in the works at a new studio, and some folk from the cancelled sequel are involved. Nic Reuben 11:16 am UTCKeep Driving is a road trip RPG from the devs of the excellent Post Void.
Keep Driving - Reveal Trailer Watch on YouTube Nic Reuben Load more comments Loading
