Gday folks, and welcome back to This Week In Games Australia. Its another week of very strong AA and indie titles, as the mid-year AAA dry spell stretches on. This week, we’ve got vampires, we’ve got witches, we’ve got gibbons, and we’ve got Kirby (again).
May 17
Little Witch in the Woods (PC)
Little Witch in the Woods is going into Early Access on Steam this week! It’s a cozy RPG/life sim about a young witch named Ellie who resembles (but is legally distinct from) one Hermione Granger. You play as Ellie in her day-to-day life, running errands, learning spells, mixing potions, and growing her powers as she progresses through Witch School to become a formal (and presumably accredited) witch.
One More Island (PC)
One More Island is a Prison Simulator style 2D colony builder. Not only will have build the foundation of your monarch’s latest territorial expansion, you’ll need to construct the supply lines that will be its lifeblood. Games like these are always deceptively complex. They hide how challenging they are behind cutesy 2D graphics and a sense of humour. You don’t notice that you’re entire colony is in deep shit because you’ve bene vibing when you should be coming up with a plan.
Sifu: Vengeance Edition (PS5, PS4) *Retail*
If you’d like a boxed copy of Sifu, you can now buy one at retail in Australia. Comes with a few extra goodies in the box.
Spacemancer (PC)
Spacemancer is a puzzle game about colour. You start aboard a monochromatic space station and, to work your way through it and escape, you will need to use colour in creative ways. Each colour — red, green and blue — constitute different dimensions, and you’ll need to combine all three in clever ways to proceed. Best of all, Spacemancer is free. You can check it out on Steam.
V Rising (PC)
V Rising is a game about playing a nasty, naughty, bitey vampire on a quest to build a dark fiefdom over which they can assert dominion. D&D fans are nodding their heads and saying “Curse of Strahd prequel simulator, then?” and yeah, that seems pretty accurate. You’ll need to survive, feed, and conquer, which all sounds like a fun time for a vampire. I’m actually keen to check this one out, it’s going on the weekend list for sure.
May 18
Gibbon: Beyond the Trees (NS, PC)
Gibbon: Beyond the Trees is leaping off the mobile game vine and arriving on both the Nintendo Switch and PC this week. If you’ve not heard about Gibbon before now, here’s Ruby to tell you why you should play it.
May 19
Deadcraft (PS5, XSX, NS, PC, PS4, XBO)
A twinstick shooter that carries on the do-it-yourself spirit of games like Dead Rising, Deadcraft is exactly what it says on the tin: there’s zombies around and you have a vast array of design options at your fingertips for creating horrific weapons. This one looks like fun, especially with friends.
Vampire the Masquerade: Swansong (PS5, XSX, PS4, XBO)
An adventure mystery game set in the Vampire the Masquerade universe, and our second game about vamps this week. The Prince of Boston faces an existential threat to the Masquerade when a surprise attack from a mysterious group leaves scores dead or missing. The Prince turns to the only vampires she can trust, and it’s over to you (and them) to unravel the mystery of how the attack happened and who exactly was behind it.
May 20
Dolmen (PS5, XSX, PS4, XBO)
Dolmen is a third-person shooter about exploring alien worlds and blowing up everything you find there. There’s also some Soulsy combat in there too, if you prefer a bit of melee. This one is exactly the kind of AA Weird Shit that I feel like the industry has kind of come to lack. It’s the kind of game that wouldn’t sell a lot of copies or get a huge marketing push behind it, but you’d hear about it from a friend and be impressed with it.
Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards (NS)
I’m sure you thought that once Ruby’s coverage of Kirby and the Forgotten Land was out the door, you wouldn’t hear from us on it again. WRONG. The sun never sets on Kirbtaku. Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards drops on the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack library this week, and you can bet that Ruby will be writing about it.
They Always Run (NS, PS4, XBO)
I am obsessed with the art direction in action platformer They Always Run. Honestly, watch the trailer above. I don’t know what kind of Faustian bargain developer Alawar Premium had to make to secure an art style this striking and gorgeous, but I’d like to assure them it was worth it. They Always Run has been out on PC for a while, but is coming to consoles this week.
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