It is January 2, 2023 and I am writing this week’s TWIG from the business lounge at Brisbane airport as I make my way home to Melbourne. I don’t know how I got in here. I moved with purpose, and no-one asked any questions. If anyone asks, I’ll lie and say I’m a Liberal voter or something. That should be enough to throw them off the scent.
Being the first week of the year, it’s obviously going to be pretty quiet around the traps. The game release for Q1 aren’t really going to start kicking off until later in the month. There’s a few titles finding their way to market over the next couple of weeks, however, and its these that we’ll be taking a look at today.
Welcome back to This Week In Games Australia for 2023. Huge year ahead. Let’s get into it.
January 2nd
Tuk Tuk Extreme: Real Car Driving Simulator & Parking 2023 Car Games 3D Vehicle (NS)
With a title like that, who are you to refuse? I couldn’t actually find a trailer for this game, a sure sign of its impeccable quality and definitely not the lounge wi-fi declaring the game too extreme. Instead, here is a video of a YouTuber who was given a preview code of Tuk Tuk Extreme becoming increasingly traumatised by the experience of playing it.
Vampire Slayer: The Resurrection (NS)
I don’t actually know what this trailer is about the lounge wi-fi has blocked it and won’t let my delicate eyes witness it. I can only assume it is packed with gore and nudity, and I will thus be declaring it my game of the year only two days into 2023. If the trailer does not contain either of these things, please do not tell me. I believe this one has been available on PC for a little while now.
January 3rd
Clash: Robot Detective
Clash: Robot Detective is a murder mystery visual novel about a robot detective solving a mystery aboard a cruise ship. If you, like a lot of us, watched Glass Onion over the holidays and are excited about murder Christie-style mysteries, here’s one you can hop into on Tuesday.
Revenge on the Streets (PC)
I am once again being stifled by the lounge wi-fi and have not been allowed to view the above trailer. What I can see from the screens is that it is a classic, retro beat-em-up in the vein of Fatal Fury or Streets of Rage. Personally, I am loving the beat-em-up renaissance of the last year. High time the genre returned, and it looks to be in very good hands.
The War Will Win (PC)
After a successful Kickstarter run in November 2021, The War Will Win arrives on Steam this week. A classically-styled turn-based strategy game in the vein of Fire Emblem, but with a deckbuilder mechanic thrown in for good measure.
January 4th
Grammarian Ltd
A visual novel-meets-job-simulator about a world in which poor grammar is punishable by law (aka utopia for the most annoying pedants you’ve ever met). When a clerical error inadvertently puts your character in charge of Grammar Validation, it’s suddenly up to you to make sure people aren’t doing their sentences bad. Grammarian Ltd launched on PC last year, but now comes to the Switch.
January 6th
Scott Pilgrim vs The World: The Game – Complete Edition (PC)
One of the best modern beat-em-ups ever made finally finds its way to Steam this week. After years of confining its library to the Ubisoft Connect app (formerly Uplay), Scott Pilgrim becomes the latest in a slew of Ubi games to return to Steam. If you’ve never played it before, and are a fan of the genre, the film, or the graphic novels it was based on, you’re in for a real treat.
January 7th
Illuminati (PC)
A digital version of the classic Steve Jackson card game from the 1990’s, Illuminati (formerly Illuminati Confirmed) is exactly what it sounds like — a game about asserting secret power and influence upon the world at large. It’s an incredibly weird game, and I include it on this list for that reason. Someone has thought to preserve this oddity for future generations by putting it on Steam.
Next week
Next week, we begin to feel the tremors before the volcanic eruption of February’s launch calendar. We’ll be back next Monday to talk about One Piece Odyssey becoming the first true open-world RPG in the franchise’s history, and Dragon Ball: Kakarot making its way to the PS5.
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