This week on Zed Games…  Hazel leads the formidable herd of cats that is Caroline and Peter this week right into the week in #GamingNews talking The Game Awards 2024 controversies, Club Penguin rules coming to Roblox, and Sony reaching for FromSoftware. Rani gets completionist in the cute, cozy, Japanese styled, street sim Minami Lane from Doot and Blibloop. And Paul gets into the retro LCD styling to review Moida Mansion from the famed Lucas Pope.

NOT TO MENTION all the developers who came to our INDIE DEV NIGHT at Netherworld’s Lost Souls Karaoke Bar Thursday November 21st!

OctoKid by AstroFox Studios – VR, single-player
Explore the open ocean as an Octopus in VR. As you journey deeper, the ocean will expand with challenges, platforming puzzles and underwater life. Sharks will hunt you, but there are many creatures that are friendly to help you out. Every dive pushes you further into the unknown in this blend of exploration, survival, and oceanic adventure!

Ragdoll Rumble by Nathan Poulton – PC, multi-player
A chaotic party game where toy wizards unleash wild spells in explosive spellcasting battles. Cast crazy abilities, outsmart your opponents, and prove you are the dominant doll!

A Study in Crime by Caleb Kimmings – PC, single-player
A Murder has been committed under mysterious circumstances within the Belgrave residence, and you are the only able to solve it right now. go around and find clues, talk to suspects and eventually declare who the killer is.

Bumper Bout by Rocco – PC, two-player
A local multiplayer pinball game where your playfields are joined so you can knock balls into each other’s spaces and see who lasts the longest.

Kaamos by Pepperbox Studios – PC, single-player
A turn-based puzzle roguelike game about a knight that tries to survive in a sunless medieval land.

Schrodinger’s Cat Burglar by Abandoned Sheep – PC, two-player
A quantum themed puzzle heist adventure

Momento by Fat Alien Cat x Nomo Studio – PC, single-player
Journey through a life where the objects you choose to keep influence the life you lead. A cozy room decorator with whimsical settings; relaxing gameplay; and charming branching narratives, Momento will be a warm ode to the challenge of following your dreams down the winding road of life.

Pieter Both Village by Generative Arts – PC, single-player
A third-person horror action-adventure game inspired by a Mauritian folktale. The protagonist, upon returning home one day, discovers that the villagers have been infected by flu-like symptoms, which makes them violent on encounter. Battling through a haunting village setting, he must uncover the dark truth behind the outbreak.

Vanguard Exiles by The Tea Division – PC, single-player
A new style of Auto-Battler designed by legendary game designer, Richard Garfield, where each player pits their Squad against their opponent in an ever-changing environment.

The Game Awards 2024 Nominees

The nominees for 2024 have been announced, bringing a bit of discourse over the inclusion of the Elden Ring DLC: Shadow of the Erdtree. Elden Ring previously won game of the year in 2022. There’s a lot of nominees and categories, so here are a few:

Game of the Year

• Astro Bot
• Balatro
• Black Myth: Wukong
• Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree
• Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth
• Metaphor: ReFantazio

Best Art Direction

• Astro Bot
• Black Myth: Wukong
• Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree
• Metaphor: ReFantazio
• Neva

Best Score and Music

• Astro Bot
• Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth
• Metaphor: ReFantazio
• Silent Hill 2
• Stellar Blade

Best Independent Game

• Animal Well
• Balatro
• Lorelei and the Laser Eyes
• Neva
• UFO 50

Roblox Rules

Under 13s are now blocked from directly messaging others on Roblox outside of games or experiences in their latest effort to protect children and reassure parents. Additionally, under 13s will only be able to publicly broadcast messages inside of games, and users under the age of 9 will only be able access experiences rated Minimal or Mild.

Yet Another Consolidation

Sony appears to be gearing up to purchase Kadokawa, a parent to dozens of Japanese entertainment companies. Along with Kadokawa owning Gotcha Gotcha Games (known for RPG Maker) and Acquire (known for Mario & Luigi: Brothership), they also own a majority stake in FromSoftware. It’s unknown what this may mean regarding the company’s ability to collaborate with Nintendo, but a deal could be signed in the coming weeks.

News Nibbles!

Farming Simulator 25 has hit 2 million sales, and peaked at over 125,000 active players on launch day.

In Germany, Steam users have only been able to see games with an age rating since 15th of November. Developers will need to complete a questionnaire to receive a rating before being allowed to release in Germany.

Dungeons & Dragons The Twenty-Sided Tavern is a live, theatrical experience coming to Sydney in December this year, where the audience gets to control the quest and the dice rolls are real, meaning that no show is ever the same. It opens 15th December at the Sydney Opera House.

Upcoming Games

November 21st

• Dungeons of Dreadrock 2: The Dead King’s Secret – PC
• Star Wars Outlaws – PC
• On Your Tail  – PC, Switch
• Loco Motive – PC, Switch
• Servonauts – PC

November 22nd

• Marvel vs Capcom Fighting Collection (physical) – PS5, Switch
• Spirit Mancer – PS5, Switch, PC

If you’d rather listen to this review than read it, check out this recent podcast episode.

I set out with the intention of limiting comparisons between Frostpunk 2 and the original, which is one of my favourite games. Because a game should be able to stand on its own after all. But that’s not going to happen because it turns out Frostpunk 2’s biggest issue is that it lives in the shadow of its predecessor.

The developers, 11-bit studios, were open from the start that they didn’t want to make a copy of the original, but instead a game that expands upon the world of Frostpunk in new and daring ways. What’s not to love about that?  Surely it’s can’t be that different anyway right? Well…

Frostpunk 2 takes place 30 years after the original and is bigger in almost every way. The resilient New London settlement has grown into a thriving metropolis and you, as the steward, are responsible for guiding its tens of thousands of citizens.

With so many people in one place, it’s unsurprising they’ve splintered into factions with different values and ideas about the city’s future. In the council hall, representatives of these factions vote on every law you want to enact in the city, and you need a majority to pass. You can win votes with promises and privileges, but the more you favour one faction, the more discontent grows within the others.

It might seem easier to cater to everyone and strive for balance, but you’ll end up with a stagnant city and no friends to rely on. Eventually you need to choose allies who can back you up when hard choices need to be made. Choose wisely.

This political management is the centerpiece of Frostpunk 2, and 11-bit studios pulled it of incredibly well.

But it’s not all political! What about the survival? What about the city building?!

Here’s where things get complicated for me. 11-bit studios put so much into this game that it can at points detract from the experience.

For example, you no longer worry about individual buildings and individual people, instead you’re building districts and managing entire workforces. This makes sense for a city that’s a lot older and bigger than the first game, but it removed the satisfying sensation of clicking things into place around your city ring. A more genuine issue was that the bigger population, and continuous population growth, made it harder to care about people.

In the first game every time someone got sick or died, there was a direct impact. In this game people got sick by the hundreds, and they were healed in the background while I was trying to de-tangle everything else in the game. And if they did end up dying? Oh well! We’ll recover within a few months. I understand why it’s done like this, and I don’t really know how it could be done differently with such a large scope, but it removed a huge part of the weight from the moral choices Frostpunk usually centres.

While the mechanics don’t quite deliver, Frostpunk 2 does do any amazing job at capturing and improving upon the vibes of the original game. New London is a beautiful looking city with multiple layers dug into the earth. I love the design of the buildings, they look futuristic in the Frostpunk setting, but also grimy and gritty from their decades of use. Also, the soundtrack, by Piotr Musiał, captures the tense, unforgiving, but sometimes hopeful world that New London rests in.

While there are some genuine flaws with this game, a lot of my issues came down to disappointment that it was different than the first. So strangely enough, I think people who haven’t played the first Frostpunk would enjoy this game more than people who have. But I played both and I enjoyed both and honestly I respect what 11-bit studios did. Would it have been easy to churn out a copy of the first game with some different scenarios and slightly tweaked graphics? Yeah. I probably would have bought it too.

But they made a game that feels unique, not just in comparison to its predecessor but to any other city-building games.

Paul, Peter, and Maylee get sticky and show the making of the sausage while introducing the BRAND NEW #GamingNews format and LIVE chat politics, patents, original overwatch, and upcoming games. Paul embraces the chaos and raves about visor and text based PROXIMATE from Cain Maddox. Then Rani returns to review the overwhelming but addictive isometric shooter Kill Knight from Playside Studios. And lastly the team returns to remind us of the INDIE DEV NIGHT happening NEXT THURSDAY (Nov 17th 6-9pm) at Netherworld’s Lost Souls Karaoke.

This week in gaming news…

(more…)

This week on ZedGames: Special Guest Tom from Netherworld/ZedGames joins Maylee and Paul as they talk Gaming News, Reviews, Community, and Culture. Maylee injects news into your ear holes and then the team discusses the exciting topics – Nintendo game sales, horror visor game Proximate from Cain Maddox, and SAVE&SOUND. Paul gets guilty in the “not a hardcore nunnery RPG” Indika from Odd Meter Games, and Maylee reviews Frostpunk 2 – a different game living in the shadow of the original – from 11 Bit Studios.

Zahra, Hazel, and returning Special Guest Tom from Netherworld coming spookily at you this week from Zed Towers. This week Paul screams the weeks #GamingNews into the void of space, and then the team talks Borderlands Beneficence and upcoming events at Netherworld:

• – Nov 4 – Extra Lives (the world’s first Audience ARPG)
• – Nov 21 – Indie Dev Night @ Lost Souls Karaoke

Then Special Guest Tom from Netherworld spookily reviews the re-release Silent Hill 2: RENEW, and the team plays some spooky Gamer Focused True or False.

In this week’s terrifying gaming news

Spooky Games

Dread XP hosted the Indie Horror Showcase featuring 60 indie horror games. Including a frightening typing game called Blood Typers, a game where you play a peeping tom called Tom the Postgirl and a deck building card game where everything is made out of hands called… Out of Hands.

Several hours after the presentation Moya Horror and Haunted PS1 announced that their yearly fright fest Eek3 would be airing withing the week but spookily it has been delayed due to technical issues.

That didn’t stop other horror games being announced though including a Death Note game with an Among Us social deduction vibe which is coming out next month and will be released day one Playstation Plus.

Concord Gone For Good

This year’s unprecedented disaster Concord, by developer Firewalk Studios has been quietly updating itself on steam ever since it was removed for sale. This led to speculation that the multiplayer character shooter was prepping to try again. These hopes have been smashed however as Sony has now officially shuttered the studio. Also in the firing line was Neon Koi who Sony acquired in 2022 to develop a mobile action title.

210 developers will be affected by the closures.

Nintendo’s Online Services Rise Again

Animal Crossing Pocket Camp is dead! Long live Animal Crossing Pocket Camp complete! A paid version of the online app will release on December 3rd and allow existing players to transfer their camps as well as new players to experience the game without microtransactions and other online features. The game will launch at $10 AUD but will increase its price on the 31st of January to $20.
Keeping the spotlight on themselves Nintendo also launched Nintendo Music a phone app that allows users of Nintendo’s Online Subscription to listen to soundtracks from their favourite games.

Playdate Dock Dead?

The little yellow handheld that could, the Playdate was originally announced to have a dock which would act as a speaker and a pen holder! After years of waiting the dock is not coming any time soon as Panic have been unable to find an acceptable manufacturer. At this point the products future is… uncertain!

New Ubisoft Games

Ever with their finger on the pulse, Ubisoft have released an NFT game. Champions Tactics is a web 3.0 game that will allow players to purchase champions for real money. The most expensive being $63K USD.

Ubisoft have also confirmed they are in the early stages of a new Rayman game with the series’ original creator Michel Ancel.

Upcoming Game Releases

Clock Tower: Rewind (PS5, PS4, Switch), Dragon Age: The Veilguard (PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC), Horizon Zero Dawn – Remastered (PS5, PC), Shadows of the Damned: Hell Remastered (PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Switch, PC) – – November 1
Metal Slug Tactics (PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Switch, PC) – November 6
Planet Coaster 2 (PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC) – November 7

This week on Zed Games Hazel and Zahra with special guests Tex and Mars from Owl Machine talk the week in Gaming News from Caroline. The team then chats with Tex Barnes and Mars Bleach about their upcoming game Key Fairy. Paul then manages to pitch to Jackbox Games CCO, Allard Laban at this year’s PAX and interview them about the upcoming Jackbox game Survey Scramble.
And mixed in are some promos from Ascending Inferno from Oppolyon Studios and Fishbowl from Imissmyfriends.studio.

This week in gaming news…

Studio infamous for delays; delays game.

Cloud Imperium Games, the developers behind the perpetually delayed Star Citizen have announced that its spin-off single player game Squadron 42 (which was announced to be apparently feature complete last year) has been delayed until 2026.  The game was originally announced as a part of Star Citizen but has since been turned into a standalone project.

The game’s prologue was demoed at CitizenCon in Manchester, England (which apparently suffered from an assortment of bugs, glitches and crashes).

Cloud Imperium Games has in the over 12 years since its initial crowdfunding campaign made over 729 million dollars with still no release in sight for Star Citizen.

Ubisoft France Staff Strike

The STJV (Syndicat des Travailleurs et Travailleuses du Jeu Vidéo), an independent union that defends the moral and economical interests of workers in the video games industry (as described by their website) called for a three day strike from October 15 to the 17th over Ubisoft’s home working policy and pay.  The STJV’s site says as follows:

“Management just announced its decision to impose a return to offices for 3 days per week for all employees. This announcement was made without any tangible justification or any consultation with the workers’ representatives.

…

This decision is announced immediately after the failure of the profit-sharing negotiations. Exactly like previous salary negociations: management’s proposals were innaceptable, the negociations’ timetable was appalling, and management was deaf to the proposals of the various Employee representatives.”

News Nibbles!

Telltale has come out to confirm that the Wolf Among Us 2 is not canceled after rumors that the game was on the chopping block circulated.

Netflix has shut down one of their AAA games studios, known as team Blue, which had some pretty big names attached to it such as former Overwatch executive producer Chacko Sonn, head of creative on Halo Infinite Joseph Staten and God of War’s art director Rafael Grassetti.

Vampire Survivors is getting some spooky Castlevania DLC for Halloween! Ode to Castlevania will add over 20 characters and weapons and at least 10 hours of gameplay to the already stuffed to the brim game.

Valve has said they won’t be releasing a new Steam Deck console every year just for a small improvement.  Instead, to be fair to their customers, they want to “wait for a generational leap in compute without sacrificing battery life before [they] ship the real second generation of Steam Deck.”

Game releases!

October 25

Sonic X Shadow Generations (Playstation, Xbox, PC & Switch

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 (Playstation, Xbox, PC)

October 29

Life is Strange: Double Exposure (PS5, Xbox, PC)

Red Dead Redemption (PC)

Monster High: Skulltimate Secrets (Playstation, Xbox, PC, Switch

And that’s it for the news this week!