Over the last few weeks we at the RPS Electronic Wireless Show podcast have noticed a slight resurgence in a trend we thought was basically over. That’s right: video game tie-ins to films! There used to be loads of them, and now there aren’t. Except there are again, culminating in Renfield (of all movies) having a Vampire Survivorslike you can actually buy on actual Steam. What’s going on? Is this marking the start of something new? What are some of our favourite game tie ins?
Plus we put the boot in on a couple of Tweets about the Mario movie, because why not, frankly.
Spooky supernatural sequel Oxenfree 2: Lost Signals is launching on July 12th, developer Night School have announced. Just like the first Oxenfree, there’ll be plenty of flexible walking and talking where you’ll be able to interrupt conversations at any time, or just stay silent throughout, which would be creepily on-brand for a series about ghostly rifts and unsettling radio frequencies.
A lot of RPGs with stats and dialogue options don’t actually give you options. Sometimes you’re presented with a skill check and if one of your stats isn’t an arbitrary number like, I dunno, seven, then whoever it is you spoke with (a king, a bard, an elf) might shutter their mouths forever.
Betrayal At Club Low is a CRPG that we’re playing for our Game Club this month, and which understands the unpredictability of a face-to-face wobble of the lips, and how befriending or swindling or aggravating someone is determined by so much more than a single seven. And when all seems lost, how visiting a puddle can turn your entire evening around.
Developer The Game Kitchen first stealth-announced the sequel to their hard as nails Metroid-like Blasphemous back in 2021 to coincide with a free update for the original game. Now, though, after a long wait, we have the first proper trailer for Blasphemous 2 showing off tons of platforming action, unholy Catholic iconography, and other such sinful stuff. Take a look below, if you dare.
After a slight delay, the cel-shaded platformer Bomb Rush Cyberfunk finally has a release date: August 18th. It’s been a long wait for Cyberfunk after it was first announced in 2020, and to make the wait even more excruciating, the game is a spiritual successor to the dormant Jet Set Radio series. As such, you’ll be skating, dancing, and graffitiing across a colourful 3D city with a style to die for.
Post-apocalyptic survival is an enduring theme in city builder games. In Oxygen Earth has, once again, experienced an environmental disaster with the help of human beings. The Earth’s crust has cracked, releasing toxic gas that has spread globally with the wind, and nly a little oxygen is left. Unfortunately it’s also me who again decided to take on the responsibility of leading the survivors, to guide them to build a city in this dire situation. This is the destiny of a city builder lover.
After bingeing the Netflix show Arcane and getting hooked on the world of League Of Legends, I was disappointed to find there weren’t too many single-player games for those who aren’t the MOBA-type of keyboard mashers. The top-down action RPG The Mageseeker: A League Of Legends Story is looking to fix that, though, letting you play as the ex-convict and buff mage Sylas while he’s busy running a revolution. It comes from the developers behind the Zelda-like shop roguelite Moonlighter, and it’s out now.
Back in the mists of time (January 2020), I was absolutely transfixed by a Japanese novel called Before The Coffee Gets Cold. It’s about a small, cosy café where customers can travel back in time by sitting in a very particular chair, for the length of time it takes for a cup of coffee to go cold. It’s not long by any means, but it affords its cast of regulars the chance to get some closure on an issue that’s often been plaguing them throughout their lives. It’s heart-warming, soppy stuff, but very feel-good. That January was also about the same time I slurped up every last episode of Midnight Diner on Netflix, where a chill Japanese man known only as The Master serves up delicious looking dishes in a tiny, 10-person izakaya from midnight onwards. Put these two things together, and it’s probably no surprise that I liked the original Coffee Talk more than most.
Coffee Talk Episode 2: Hibiscus & Butterfly is a continuation of that story, set three years later in the same, alternate version of Seattle where elves, werewolves, orcs, mermaids and other fantastical creatures all rub shoulders as city-dwelling citizens in need of a good cuppa. Once again, you play as the owner of the titular late-night coffee shop, brewing up a multitude of exotic hot drinks that you’ll need to match to each customer’s request that night as they tell you their woes.
Limited Run Games have announced they’re bringing back the 1992 Game Boy game Trip World, a charming Kirby-esque platformer whose flowery monochrome world had, until recently, been more or less lost to time. Thankfully, Limited Run are collaborating with the original developers at Sunsoft, including the game’s director Yuichi Ueda, to bring the forgotten game back to PC and consoles (including the original Game Boy Color, of all things) in the form of Trip World DX.
The Lamplighters League is the next turn-based strategy game from the team behind Battletech and Shadowrun, but it’s also the name of the ragtag group of scoundrels you’ll be fighting with across this pulp adventure. Katharine got to see three of those characters in action during her preview – where she walked away very excited about the game’s emergent chaos – and now developer Harebrained Schemes have revealed all ten playable agents. Oh boy, do they look stylish.
