本周 PC 游戏精选：操控外星人类吞噬 Katamari、接管《Planet Zoo 2》自然保护区、迎战《Valor Mortis》拿破仑式肉体恐怖

What we're feeding the Maw

Edwin came up the ladder to my office last week to remind me that my quarterly Maw Safety Certification was up for renewal. Without an in date health and safety and wild eldritch creature control license, I'm not allowed to remain in the Treehouse and we have to shut down the site. So, today I'm down in the Maw's chamber coaxing it to hock up some globules of games.

Edwin's here, of course, though he seems pretty smug to be on the other side of the plexiglass for a change. I wouldn't mind if he weren't also inciting the Maw with lurid hand gestures.

Here's what I've managed to separate out from the Maw's phlegmy spit up so far.

Monday 12th October

• Spy Drops Gaiden is a top-down stealth game that would give off all the vibes of the original MSX2 Metal Gear if it weren't too sneaky to emanate something so detectable by guards.
• Battleplan is a strategy game for all the people that like to draw out their plans on a map. Personally, I can't bring myself to deface cartography, let alone write notes in the margins of books, so you won't catch me doing such a thing.
• Hubert is the sheep herding game keeping my fires stoked while I wait for word on The Free Shepherd, the flock wrangling game that takes place on a sci-fi brutalist landscape.

Tuesday 13th October

• Planet Zoo 2 (pictured) will let you leave the commercial animal gathering business behind and instead run a nature reserve, as well as letting you build aquariums and aviaries for your resident creatures.
• Bio-Submariner DX is an undersea side-scrolling shooter where you take the fight to the dastardly fish that think they own the sea. It looks like the sort of game your mate would be playing on Game Boy Advance SP during lunchtime. You know, the one they wouldn't let you play "because it only has one save" but they'd let you watch, like a primordial version of Twitch.
• Rolla makes this list because I was playing Carrion last night and there needs to be more games that cast you as a malevolent human-eating goop. In this case, you're a ball of tentacles rolling about a city like a Katamari.
• For the Total War players who pine for the days when Creative Assembly didn't get invested in the heroics of super-powered generals, Total War: Shogun 2 - Compete is a remaster of their fondly-remembered (by me) historical game. Though it now has fancier graphics and 50 new minor factions.
• Set in the Napoleonic-era, if there was also a lot of body horror going on, Valor Mortis is a first-person take on the soulslike formula. Look out for James' review later today.
• Legion casts you as a face-changing super spy trying to smuggle their way into hostile company. Memorise as much of the case file as you can before heading into a job because say the wrong thing and your marks will kill you faster than you can say double oh no.

Wednesday 14th October

• Double Fine's first game since regaining its independence from Xbox, Thank You Bus Driver gives you the vital job of managing a rule-abiding bus. If the sign says no phone calls then if you see a passenger yabbing away while you drive them from Point A to Point B, you best give them a slap. I'm sure we can all sympathise.
• When it comes to space games, I love UIs and consoles that aim for verisimilitude. Screen Burn (née No Code) did this excellently in Observation. So I am ready to eat up Signal Lost, a game that locks you into a crashing drop pod and you have to operate command line interfaces to save yourself.
• Over The Hill is for the SnowRunner players looking for a chill outdoor adventure. Mark and I will have thoughts on this later this week.
• Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun 2 continues the 90s style first-person shootery of the first game with one important addendum: a rotating fleshmetal puzzle map.

Thursday 15th October

• Castlevania: Belmont's Curse is the latest game from Evil Empire, them what took over development of Dead Cells and made The Rogue Prince of Persia. Ashley really liked what she played at Gamescom.
• Meat and Flowers made the cut, I'll admit, mainly because of its name. How could I not investigate this first-person horror walk-a-thon set on a world of flora and flesh?

Friday 16th October

• Dreadline Express is set on a train hurtling along a track under a foreboding alien sun. You discover cards which you can then use to interrogate the other passengers and learn what is going on. It was my favourite game at Gamescom and I cannot wait to get to the end of its story.
• Tenebris Somnia blends 2D pixel art horror with live-action cutscenes. I've no idea if it will come out in the wash, but it does make for an interesting trailer.
• From the makers of Before We Leave, Beyond These Stars is a non-violent city builder where you travel through the galaxy on the back of a space whale. Keep the whale sweet and it will go where you want. Anger it and, well, it might take a detour through an asteroid belt.

As for what we're up to this week, I'm wrangling the RPS 100 into shape (you won't believe what's number 87!), Mark is wrangling his thoughts on Over The Hill, Edwin is wrangling a big feature series we're planning, and James is wrangling news to help everyone else who is wrangling away.