DNA detectives, sea battles, and Heroes of Hammerwatch II

Happy Friday everyone! I am currently running of little sleep due to my son’s current bout of sleep regression, however that also meant that I was awake when the folks at Nintendo dropped the worst kept secret in games, the Nintendo Switch 2 reveal. It’s pretty much what was expected - a similar form factor, with a bigger screen, some sturdier Joycons, and the secret button that everyone is losing their mind over because well… we already know pretty much everything else about this console. It’s more of the same, and that’s actually a good thing. There might be some nifty little gimmicks waiting for us when it comes to the OS, and the persistent rumour that these Joycons are secret mice. But overall it’s an iteration, something that Nintendo hasn’t really done since the SNES, and I am here for it.

The big question I am now asking myself however is, do I need to play the new Mario Kart on day one? Probably not. When the original Switch was released, the drive to buy it was having this great portable gaming system that could be docked. I could play massive adventures from Nintendo, but also carry around my favorite indies to and from the office, and play them however I liked. That was super appealing back in 2017, but in 2025… maybe not so much?

I work from home now. I rarely leave the house. But I also have a Steam Deck that plays all of my AAA and indie games, and also docks to my TV. The Switch 2 is not going to be bringing anything new to the table outside of Nintendo’s first-party offering, which is kinda working in my favour. I can sit back and wait for a new 3D Mario, or Splatoon, and then take the plunge. I say this now, but chances are I will regret this line of thinking and want to grab myself one as soon as possible because, well, because I am a tragic early adopter.

And the smile from my face at 4AM was wiped clean off when I woke back up around 7AM to find out that David Lynch had passed away. Even if you were not a huge fan of his work, his unique command of surrealist storytelling has had a huge impact on games. Alan Wake is essentially a love letter to Twin Peaks, not to mention Deadly Premoniton from the weirdly wonderful Swery65. Time for me to begin the bi-annual rewatch of Twin Peaks I guess.

And what games came out this week?

Age of Darkness: Final Stand

Developer: PlaySide
Steam rating: Very Positive
Store page

The folks over at PlaySide have been working on Age of Darkness: Final Stand for a while now, and after a stint in Early Access it has reached 1.0 this week. If you liked They Are Billions, then you may want to pay attention to this one.

A dark fantasy survival RTS where you need to build up defenses and hold off the hordes in the darkness. There’s a single-player campaign for those solo commanders, but co-op multiplayer seems to be the big draw from my perspective. Oh, and the game can render over 70,000 enemies on screen at once… so I guess it’s going to feel pretty dire at times.

The Roottrees are Dead

Developer: Robin Ward
Steam rating: Positive
Store page

Okay, so it looks like this one started out as a free detective game on itch.io a while ago, but has since had an extra layer of polish and an entirely new mystery added for this week’s Steam release. It’s 1998. A private jet carrying the filthy rich Roottree family crashes, leaving their fortune to be distributed to their blood relatives. That’s the problem. Where there’s money, there’s dodgy “family” members who come out of the woodwork. You need to work out the family tree and see that their wealth is given away fairly.

Kick the dial-up modem into high gear as you scour the net for evidence to see who are the true beneficiaries. As you start to fill out the evidence, it will become harder and harder to solve as the connections become more blurred and convoluted.

I am super into this whole detective / deduction genre. While this doesn’t look super polished like Curse of the Golden Idol, it seems to have the DNA that I am looking for, so onto the wishlist it goes.

Heroes of Hammerwatch II

Developer: Crackshell
Steam rating: Very Positive
Store page

Weirdly I mentioned Heroes of Hammerwatch in a piece on the site earlier this week, and a few days later Mesmaa on our Discord messaged me to let me know that the sequel has arrived. I didn’t even know there was one in the works!

If you haven’t played the original, Heroes of Hammerwatch is a top-down pixel ARPG mixed with a Roguelite where you dive into the dungeons, get loot, and try to complete a run. Some gear and stats are permanent, which will set you up for success on subsequent runs. The dungeons themselves are randomly generated too, which keeps things interesting. There’s a whole mechanic where you rebuild and upgrade your town to unlock new starting gear and character upgrades, and that seems to have been expanded meaningfully here in the sequel.

The real fun is the 4-player co-op which just makes the runs utterly ridiculous as various skills and spells are bouncing off the walls every few seconds. That’s my favourite way to play Heroes of Hammerwatch, and I can’t wait to get that fix again in a brand new adventure.

Clear your schedules Blue and Snark!

Age of Water

Developer: Three Whales Studio
Steam rating: Mostly Positive
Store page

If Skull and Bones didn’t scratch that itch for you last year, you may want to check out Age of Water which has rolled out their v1.0 update this week. This is an online PvP/PvE crafting survival game on the high seas, where you build and upgrade ships made out of discarded parts and explore the sunken depths of cities that have been swallowed up whole by the ocean.

It has a pretty neat art style that strikes the line between Fortnite-chiq and rusty apocalyptic grunge. It’s been out for a while on consoles and Steam in Early Access but I have never heard of this one. Reviews seem pretty positive, and the thought of grabbing some friends and doing some scavenging does sound like a pretty good time.

Blade Chimera

Developer: Team Ladybug, WSS playground
Steam rating: Very Positive
Store page

Cyberpunk meets the ocult in Blade Chimera, a search action game set in a demon-infested Osaka as you try to uncover the truth about your shrouded past.

I am typically not a fan of the genre, but there is something about the weighty movement of the demon hunter Shin that is super appealing. The crunchy art too, it just really calls my name a bit. 2024 was the year I got into JRPGs, maybe 2025 I can finally embrace the Search Action genre?

Metroidvania aficianados, please report back to me your thoughts on this one!

The joy of hidden gems in your backlog

This week Blue and I started a new series. Due to my working schedule and being a new dad, our plans to bring back the podcast for real this year were kinda put on the back burner. That’s when I was inspired by the letter series over on Remap Radio, and I thought that Blue and I could try our hand at turning some of what would normally be podcast conversations, into some longer form writing.

Our first is something I am sure many of you can relate to - the drive to buy new games, the ever growing backlog, and whether you find gems waiting for you years after the fact. Here’s an excerpt from Blue.

The impulsive urge to buy a new game gets fewer and further in between for me these days. And I think the reasoning for that is pretty simple; I am more in tune with what I want out of games and what marketing chooses to showcase than ever before. I think the adage "don't judge a book by its cover" is often slightly misconstrued. Media literacy involves knowing how to look at the way a product presents itself to get an initial idea of what experience is waiting for you if you take the plunge. The final judgement should be delayed until after you've dived in, but covers and trailers are how we decide what to give a chance in the first place.

You can read the piece here. Ko-Fi subscribers will get access to these letter series a few days early, and have a chance to ask their own questions to be considered for future editions.

We are doing a Citizen Sleeper Game Club!

I keep mentioning the Discord, but I really do think it’s a great little community we have going there. J mentioned that they were wanting to play Citizen Sleeper, and a few other folks also had it on their backlog. So we decided to make it a thing! We are going to collectively play and discuss Citizen Sleeper, aiming to finish it by the end of Feb and be ready for the sequel!

So if you want to talk about all things Citizen Sleeper, or want to play along with us, join the thread on our discussion section.

A very good Batman Forever: The Arcade Game speed run

Blue is very into the AGDQ. I know next to nothing about AGDQ. But he and Snark were posting constantly on Discord and they were very excited about people playing games, I assume, very quickly. So I am going to throw this one over to him!

Awesome Games Done Quick (AGDQ) 2025 has just passed us by. For those unfamiliar, this is a weeklong 24 hour charity event that raises money for the Prevent Cancer Foundation. Think of it as the modern day telethon that managed to raise over 2.5 million USD. In a herculean effort of scheduling, hundreds of speedrunners go up on stage on the twitch stream to perform runs for the viewing audience. Interested in a taste of what this looks like? Each run is uploaded to the gamesdonequick youtube channel as individual videos, but if you're interested in one of the zanier games on display check out this run of Batman Forever: The Arcade Game by LRock617. It's a fast paced beat 'em up based on the movie of the same name. It's full of high energy roars from the commentators and audience, and chock full of "what am I watching?" moments.

That’s all folks!

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