Seven games that came out this week that aren't Oblivion

Let's pump some air back into the room!

Originally I was planning to write a post about my complicated feelings about videogame facelifts, in the wake of Bethesda’s shadow dropping of The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion Remastered this week. As in, I’ve got three quarters of the article already written.

But I’ve been thinking a lot about my own responsibilities within this cultural paradigm, and about how we really don’t need any more people sharing their asinine thoughts about big popular releases when there is so much good stuff out there that’s dying of oxygen loss.

So instead, please enjoy a brief overview of some of the cool shit that came out this week, information to do with what you will.

With thanks to everyone online who takes the time to champion the little guy amidst the deafening roar of the megalith’s social engines.

OLD SKIES

Wadjet Eye Games have been quietly drumming away in the background for years, producing old school point and click adventures for the die hards, games that, on the whole, seem very well recieved.

Their latest, a gorgeously animated time travel romp, looks really up to snuff, and judging from reviews, it is. Replacing the pixel art of their previous work with lovely hand painted backgrounds, and hosting a range of inventive temporal conundrums to unpick, all wrapped around a playful but poignant story. It all sounds really good.

DOLLS NEST

‘What if Nippon Ichi Software made an Armored Core set within a brilliantly oppressive megastructure?’

Yeah, that sounds like the business.

This decidedly drastic change of pace offering from studio Nitro Plus (who also released 2D action game Rusty Rabbit this month) has had a generally warm reception from fans of the genre, with those in the know citing the familiar style of the studio’s previous works lying not that far from the surface of this action RPG.

STARLESS ABYSS

A spacefaring roguelike deckbuilder, seemingly a first time release made by two-person studio Konafa games, but published by No More Robots, who generally don’t put money down on a project unless its worth paying attention to.

A really cool eldrich science fiction setting as the backdrop for a tense, hex grid based gaunlet of combat encounters against the stuff of nightmares. Very Slay the Spire. Very FTL. Some stunning pixel art and visceral animations bring the whole thing to life.

CREEPY REDNECK DINOSAUR MANSION 3

Ok, cards on the table, I find Strange Scaffold’s whole schtick a bit hard work (I think i’m the wrong demographic for it), and a lot of their naming conventions are quite annoying, but its undeniable that these games are always bristling with fantastic ideas, this latest being no different.

Match 3 but with extra survival horror bells and whistles, this definitely feels like it was made by developers who grew up playing games like Puzzle Quest. Compelling gameplay loops and galaxy brained narrative ideas, all pulled together with this charming art style.

POST TRAUMA

The fact that we’re getting games that look like this from increasingly smaller and smaller outfits (this was made by a three person team, I think), that is the true test of how valuable an increase in technological power really is.

By all accounts, Post Trauma is a creative, cerebral survival horror that understands the reality of its ambitions and more importantly has a different approach to the standard tropes of the genre.

I’m also really intrigued by the decision to have the protagonist be this out of shape, middle aged man, which as I’ve read in reviews, does impact the way the game is played.

OUT OF HANDS

This hybrid adventure game really stood out to me on account of its incredible art direction. A sort of papercraft, scrapbook design that, despite being tonally very different, reminded me a lot of Tearaway.

I have a feeling, by reading into some of the reviews of this game, that a lot of the creativity and playfulness exist primarily in the aesthetics and storytelling, however from the sounds of things there’s also a solid deckbuilder combat system underpinning the experience.

BEHOLDER: CONDUCTOR

I’m not familiar with the Beholder series, but I was immediately struck by the tone and scope of this latest entry. A sort of point and click adventure game set aboard a passenger train, it looks a bit spooky, a bit macabre, and a bit horny.

Snowpiercer mixed with Papers Please, that’s a winning combination in my eyes. I couldn’t find any reviews for this one online, however it is sitting at Very Positive on Steam, and well liked by fans of the series. That in itself sounds quite promising.

THERE ARE MORE GAMES THAN OBLIVION

This is not even an extensive list of everything of note that came out in the last seven days, and I hadn’t even checked the releases on itch.io while preparing this post (something I’ll likely follow up on at a later date, there’s some really cool stuff going on on that site that’s not available on other platforms/distribution services).

That’s the absurd thing about the way we talk about significant releases. End of year conversations always gravitate towards the same six or seven big games, that’s unavoidable, those things inevitably follow the discourse trail.

With indie releases, however, I’ve always found it bizarre that the same logic applies. Yes Blue Prince is fantastic, a game that I myself am likely to be adding to my GOTY list, but its a high profile title that’s had extensive marketing from Microsoft.

Where’s that energy for Metal Garden? Or Inkle’s latest offering Expelled!? Or even Promise Mascot Agency, a much anticipated release from the creators of Paradise Killer?

I know there’s more work to be done in this regard, even from myself. Just the fact that I was originally writing a long rant about remasters before I came to my senses is testament enough to the allure of discourse and the bandwagon.

This list, instead, feels like a better use of my time, to write, and yours, to read.