The Maw: what's new in PC games this week?
Stormgate, The Garden Path and World of Goo 2, plus: more
Live
Happy this week! I return from holiday to find that Nic, James and the others have been experimenting with the use of Maw-shaped sock puppets to feed the Maw, in the hope that the Maw might form a filial bond with our news-wranglers. Unfortunately, we've learned in the process that anything that resembles the Maw behaves like the Maw. The sockpuppets were last seen tunnelling towards Los Angeles, like the sandworms in Dune. Sorry, America! Anyway, let's have a looksie at the PC game release sheets.
On Monday 29th July, there is nothing but sadness and desolation and desperate SOS messages from Los Angeles. On Tuesday 30th July, there's The Garden Path, an autumnal horticulture sim whose demo Alice B (RPS in peace) enjoyed, and Space For Sale, in which you build domed houses on unreceptive planets. Also on 30th July, the turn-based Neon Evangelism of Arc Seed, and the early access launch of free-to-play Blizzardy RTS Stormgate. Wednesday 31st July has us managing planes in Mini Airways, organising frog toes in Tidy Cauldron, and breaking bad in Drug Lord Tycoon (See also: Nic's recent piece on Dope Wars 98). On Thursday 1st August, the chance to play travelling salesman in Thank Goodness You're Here, from the Untitled Goose Game devs. Alternatively, you could try free-to-play tactics RPG Sword of Convallaria, which appears to be Final Fantasy Tactics plus an undetermined quantity of gacha. And on Friday 2nd August: Motördoom, a horde shooter which is also a Tony Hawk game, Deviator, a metroidvania out to steal Hollow Knight's lunch, and World of Goo 2, sequel to the Prometheus of indie physics puzzlers, which came out shortly before I got into james gournalism 16 years ago. Time for more sadness and desolation!
It's possible these are not the week's best and most interesting games. It's possible I'm lying, plying the readership with talk of indie comebacks, while quietly sliding a copy of Half-Life 3 into my trenchcoat. Only you, the intrepid gourmand of interactive entertainments, can set me straight. Let us know about any games we've missed in the comments, and find our weekly news liveblog below. Have a good one.
A message from Esko Maijala of One Trick Entertainment: "Reaching out to you really quick to mention that while your article in Rock, Paper, Shotgun about Metsänpeitto was really great and I'm a fan of my country-men Remedy and Alan Wake 2 - I felt the urgent need to mention that before Alan Wake 2 was released our company released a game focusing SOLELY on surviving in Metsänpeitto - forest's cover." My god, he's right. Steam link here.
MiniMatt says: if the thousands of hours spent in various Civilization games had been directed toward actual world domination you lot would be in serious trouble. Yet even I am not so excited by the prospect of "20 minutes of Civ 7 gameplay footage at 1:30pm pacific on the 20th August on FiraxisGames twitch" that I'd put it in the diary and stay up way past my bedtime. Dedicated Maw correspondents are made of sterner stuff however...
I'm always up for a gargantuan CivStream. You can watch it on Youtube or Twitch.
According to Game File's anonymous Bungie sources, the Destiny studio has long needed to make significant layoffs, regardless of the fortunes of Destiny 2: The Final Shape. Also according to Game File, the alternative to making cuts was insolvency.
GET THE HELL IN HERE, FRIDAY
The Maw nears full dilation. Onward, onward! FEED IT.Here are Nic's thoughts on a gameplay overview vid for Planet Coaster 2.
I played the demo for isometric city-builder Metropolis 1998 this morning, while awaiting the caffeine spike that signals the beginning of the workday. It's pretty WIP, but seems jolly. I made a hospital with no doors and caused a massive traffic jam.
The Western port for lovely-seeming Japanese slice-of-lifer Shin-chan: Shiro and the Coal Town is coming to Steam on 24th October.
GET A ROOM, THURSDAY
Once again we must dip our fingers, arms and faces into the internet's bottomless chumbucket. FEED THE MAW.Kaizen Game Works are hosting a live premiere for their hard-to-summarise open world lark Promise Mascot Agency. It's still going as I write this, but you should be able to watch the full thing back later via the below embed.
Mortal Kombat's licensing partners are more "protective" of how their characters kill in the game than how they die, according to series godfather Ed Boon.
I feel like this might have been covered while I was off in holiday-land, but Trepang2 has some Bladekisser DLC. I don't see much kissing in that trailer.
GET A LIFE, WEDNESDAY
The Maw the merrier. FEED IT.Devolver have shared some extra details of the next Cult Of The Lamb update, Unholy Alliance, over on the PlayStation blog. It adds local co-op and arrives on Steam on August... 12th? 13th? I'm unsure.
Star Wars Outlaws previews are flooding the net and there's twenty minutes of no-commentary playthrough to watch if you're so inclined:
Hytale, the long in-development craft 'em up, has posted a summer 2024 development update with glimpses of their new engine.
I've been catching up with Neverness To Everness, an open world free-to-play anime city RPG with driving, interdimensional dungeons and an exorbitant catgirl component. Persona meets Yakuza? Zenless Zone Zero meets Scarlet Nexus? Here's a 13 minute walkthrough trailer.
Cleanfall is a squirming 2D roguelike with a surprise tower defence element in which you burrow to the planet's centre - it's got a demo, too.
Hitman World Of Assassination Part 1 is currently 90% off on Steam, if you've been feeling the urge to murder somebody while dressed as a chef.
There's a Steam demo out for Square Enix's Visions Of Mana.
GET A CLUE, TUESDAY
The acrid acres of whitespace beckon. The cursor monotones. FEED THE MAW.Enshrouded has been updated with new difficulty settings and cosmetic features - read more here.
Blizzard are toying with the idea of 6v6 in Overwatch again. I approve.
Via VGC, Bethesda have registered a trademark for something called Starborn - a reference, probably, to Starfield's endgame, and as such, possibly the name of a new DLC expansion of some kind.
Via The Verge, Intel’s 13th and 14th Gen CPUs have proven prone to crash bugs due to some kind of voltage issue. If you're affected, this can't apparently be fixed via software update - any damage is permanent. Intel are, at least, "confident" that patching will keep the crash bug from happening in the first place.
Double Fine have released a bonus episode in their PsychOdyssey studio self-profile. It's billed as part reflection on the studio's history, part "looking to the future and a return to smaller projects".
Those wily Unknown Worlds people have been roadtesting images of Subnautica 2 in Subnautica 1. According to one of the subreddit moderators: "Yes, this is real. There may or may not be others to find".
A time capsule with a screenshot featuring some rather interesting creatures. #PEEPERSRULE
byu/nomorefunnynumber insubnautica
GET STUFFED MONDAY
Ladies and gentlemen, let us video game. FEED THE MAW.