Dave Ozzy

There are few more notorious serial murderers than the Zodiac Killer. Active in North America in the late ‘60s to early ‘70s, the Zodiac was never identified, having killed 37 people (going by The Zodiac’s own tally), or five known deaths according to official records. You might recognise the signature symbol and cryptograms he would write and send to law enforcement, journalists or even leave at crime scenes. This brazenness has made the Zodiac Killer a darkly attractive figure for movies, with the Mindhunter TV series and Zodiac - the 2007 David Fincher movie - all being recent examples. So, we come to This is the Zodiac Speaking, which is looking to bring the Zodiac cases to gaming. It launches today on Xbox One, PS4, PC and Switch.

Easily mistaken for that other cyberpunk adventure launching in the tail-end of 2020, Cloudpunk actually shares more of its DNA with a AAA title from 2019. This is a story that explores what it’s like to be a postwoman of the future, so the premise hews closer to Death Stranding - although, without the foetal lifesacks. Cloudpunk launches today on Xbox One, PS4 and Switch.

Another two games are spooping up the Xbox One Games with Gold scheme, well in time for Halloween. The freshly released Maid of Sker and the Double Fine classic Costume Quest are now both available for free to anyone with Xbox Live Gold or Game Pass subscriptions.

Holy-moley, the insult-fighting in The Secret of Monkey Island deserves the praise it gets. Anyone who’s played it can probably recite an insult from memory. The Dairy Farmer line would be in danger of being worn out, but, like most of the lines in Monty Python’s Holy Grail, the purity of its genius will always be there.

If you’re a turn-based strategy fan, you’ve had a hell of a few months. Wasteland 3, Immortal Realms, X-Com Chimera Squad, Wintermoor Tactics Club, Othercide, Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance coming to Game Pass... there’s an isometric boatload of them. And they’re not small either, taking up more time than this particular fan can manage. Onto that growing backlog you can now lug Tears of Avia and - would you believe it - it looks slick as anything. As the saying goes, you complain about a lack of turn-based strategy games, and then a dozen turn up at once.

You have to wonder how many people have been giggling along to Quiplash, Fibbage and Drawful during the pandemic. The Jackbox Party Games are the perfect antidote to these locked down times, and they’re made for wedging into the middle of a video conference call. Into all of this comes The Jackbox Party Pack 7, perfectly placed to capitalise on households who just need a good laugh. The Jackbox Party Pack 7 launches today on Xbox One, PS4, Switch and PC via Steam.

This is what we’re talking about! We’ve had a fair few local party games on Xbox One over the past months, but none of them understand fun as much as Cake Bash. When you’ve got the lockdown blues and the colour is ebbing away, boot up Cake Bash and thwack your loved ones over the head with a lollipop! Cake Bash launches today on Xbox One, PS4, Switch, Stadia and PC via Steam.

There’s no two ways about it: Two Parsecs from Earth is yet another Metroidvania, when we could probably do with having one or two fewer each week. But let’s stow away our assumptions, as Two Parsecs from Earth has real ideas. Two Parsecs from Earth launches today on Xbox One. It is already out on PS4, and will be available on Switch and PC via Steam on the 16th October.

Foregone on Xbox One will make you feel like you’re God’s gift to gaming - a cartwheel of bullets and blades. By the time you reach the end, you might even have earned it. Don’t give in to the easy comparisons with Dead Cells - this is a sumptuous, furious and rock-hard romp that’s better seen as a partner to that brilliant game.

We’re not sure if there’s a game genre that Nexoria: Dungeon Rogue Heroes doesn’t claim to be. Check the official Xbox page: we have a ‘dungeon exploration, RPG, turn-based tactics and collectible card game’ on our hands here. For the sake of brevity, let’s call it a ‘fusion RPG’, and see what it has to offer. Nexoria: Dungeon Rogue Heroes launches today on Xbox One.

Now this is how you make a sequel. Don’t rest on your laurels and churn out yet another iteration: take your successful cult hit, fast forward to 2042, and set it in a war-torn, apocalyptic America of gangs, rebellion and robotic enslavery. Are you listening FIFA? This is what the people want! Cook, Serve, Delicious! 3?! brings all the punctuation it can to Xbox One, PS4, Switch and PC today, so go get.

Whether it’s the train puzzle from Resident Evil 3 or the subway of Left 4 Dead’s Blood Harvest, there’s always been a place for trains in horror games. Now you can add Re:Turn - One Way Trip to the list, as it pulls into the station well in time for Halloween. Re:Turn - One Way Trip is out today on Xbox One, Switch, PS4 and PC via Steam.

Ah, that classic faux pas: what Americans call billiards, we call pool (or American pool). Rather than update the title to avoid the confusion, Brunswick have flicked the bird, told us to get with the program and brought us Brunswick Pro Billiards regardless. Imagine the disappointment on the faces of the carambole billiards crowd (not something we write everyday). Brunswick Pro Billiards cues off today on Xbox One, Switch and PC via Steam.

Moments like Foregone make this games journalism lark a real joy. It’s a game that has come out of absolutely nowhere, whacking us round the face with its originality and pure style. We hadn’t heard too much about Foregone, but one look at the trailer and you can see its class. So much of that comes from its animation. The way the character moves reminds of Another World and Prince of Persia, and in recent times Dead Cells. It’s wonderfully slick, and has immediately put it to the top of our backlog.

It warms the cockles that games like G.I. Joe: Operation Blackout are still getting made. Back on the Xbox 360 we would get licence after licence, with big budget takes on Captain America, Family Guy, Hellboy, etc. Now? Eh, not so much. G.I. Joe: Operation Blackout lines up for duty today on the Xbox One, PS4, Switch and PC.