🕹️ Ghosts & pits

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🆕 On the Shelves

🪖 Battlefield 6

EA

The ultimate all-out warfare experience. In a war of tanks, fighter jets, and massive combat arsenals, your squad is the deadliest weapon.

I have yet to play a Battlefield game, and this one will not be my first. Fair play to those that like it (and can afford it...!).

👻 Ghost of Yotei

Sucker Punch Productions

Set 300 years after the critically acclaimed Ghost of Tsushima, Ghost of Yōtei is a standalone experience set in 1600s rural Japan. The story follows a haunted, lone mercenary named Atsu. Thirsty for revenge, she travels through the beautiful, rugged landscapes of northern Japan, hunting those who killed her family many years earlier. Sixteen years after her family’s death, Atsu's quest across Ezo brings her to unexplored lands in search of a gang of six outlaws, but she finds much more than vengeance. Throughout her journey, Atsu will discover unlikely allies, and greater bonds than she could have imagined.

As a Japan-dweller, you’d think I’d be all about this game, but that’s not my character. It might be a good game for Japanese studies or other such classes, though (like how Assassin's Creed was for Italian)

🪩 Once Upon a KATAMARI

Bandai Namco Entertainment Inc.

Once upon a time a katamari rolled through both past and present. In this story across time, the adage endures: Let The Good Times Roll! Now onward through new worlds to roll up thy heart's desires and to restore the stars!

I was a big fan of the original, which I played on the PS2, but I’ve not really had the urge to pick one up since. I'm not sure how much of a milking of the first game it is, but for over ¥5000 ($32), I’ll keep this one on my wishlist and wait to see if the price comes down.

🕳️ Ball x Pit

Developer: Kenny Sun

Publisher: Devolver Digital

BALL x PIT is a brick-breaking, ball-fusing, base-building survival roguelite. Batter hordes of enemies with ricocheting balls and gather the riches of the pit to expand your homestead, generate resources and recruit unique heroes.

This is exactly my kinda game, if I’m honest. Roguelike, action, dungeon crawler? Yes, please!

I haven't picked it up yet, but watched a Northernlion video of it being played here:

🎰 CloverPit

Developer: Panik Arcade

Publisher: Future Friends Games

A rogue-lite slot machine nightmare. Gamble for your life in a never-ending debt simulator!

As Polygon says, “CloverPit is Balatro’s spooky cousin with immaculate Halloween vibes.”

My students are all playing this, so I guess I should check it out too. I like the PS1 aesthetics (which are also present in Mouthwashing below), and it has been likened to Inscryption, which I also really enjoyed.

🎮 In Rotation

👄 Mouthwashing

Developer: Wrong Organ

Publisher: Critical Reflex - link

The five crew members of the Tulpar are stranded in the empty reaches of space, shrouded in perpetual sunset. God is not watching.

Odd, terrifying, bizarre—another banger from Critical Reflex.

If you enjoy horror, this one really packs a punch for its short length. From body horror to intense psychological horror, there really is a lot in this one. (That’s all I’ll say on the subject at this time.)

Wait... from a review on Steam:

Mouthwashing isn’t just Psychological Horror writ in death and blood. It’s rot and regret made playable — a story that seeps into you, rusts your bones, and won’t wash off for days. 10/10 psychological breakdown. Would suffer again.

🤓 Outer Wilds

Developer: Mobius Digital

Publisher: Annapurna Interactive

Named Game of the Year 2019 by Giant Bomb, Polygon, Eurogamer, and The Guardian, Outer Wilds is a critically-acclaimed and award-winning open world mystery about a solar system trapped in an endless time loop.

I’ve been meaning to play this for a while, and finally started now that I have a Steam Deck. Honestly, I don’t really know what’s going on other than I am exploring a little solar system, and I end up dying every time I go out exploring..!

There are lots of mysteries and puzzles to figure out, and they are all stored on the ship’s log, so at least I know what I need to look into. I just wonder if I’ll be able to figure any of them out.

It’s October 30th, and I finally finished this game after about 18 hours (I got lost a lot). It was a gratifying experience overall. The atmosphere was spooky and, at times, downright scary. There are these things called quantum rocks which disappear when you’re not looking at them, so they can just suddenly appear right in front of you, which, although they are just a stone, is actually quite scary. There are also a ton of actual scary things, like the angler fish, which charge at you if you make a sound (spoiler) and swallow you whole.

The puzzles were challenging, but not too hard. The ship log is your friend and points you in the right direction for where you should explore next, where the fruits of one exploratory trip lead you to the next. (A bit like Resident Evil, but with puzzles rather than items.)

The ending was bizarre, but for a strange game, sure, why not..!