The Maw: what's new in PC games this week?
Civilization 7, Afterlove EP and a touch of city-building and rogueliting
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This week is the week of Valentine's Day, and therefore theoretically the most romantic week of the year even though it's still winter here and the drizzle feels like it's falling inside my bones and the thought of another human's touch makes me want to wipe myself with sandpaper.
Some trivia from a person who's been in a relationship for decades: Valentine's Day comes less than a month after "Blue Monday", the most depressing day of the year according to a random travel company, and you know, I think we need more time to, as it were, switch between varieties of blueness. My picks for this week's new PC games likely won't help, assuming you aren't especially turned on by the thought of Harriet Tubman being queen of Carthage. Ah well. Let's commence feeding the Maw and hope that we strike a few sparks of amore from the creature's heaving flanks.
On 10th February 2025, a choice of two space-me-dos: Reality Break, a roguelite starfight 'em up in which you can "rewrite the universe", aka pick from a spread of game modifiers, and Astronomics, in which you stripmine procedurally generated asteroids as they tumble through your claim. On 11th February, it's time to recolonise the chronology in Civilization 7 - our review is on the way. On 12th February, some episodic pixelart psychic detective work care of Urban Myth Dissolution Center. On 13th February, it's time to harvest some adjacency bonuses in lightweight survival city-builder Dawnfolk. And on 14th February, a choice of decreasingly iconic grave-robbing in Tomb Raider IV-VI Remastered, or getting the band back together post-bereavement in visual novel Afterlove EP.
On dreary days like these I take comfort not in romantic poetry, but the Good Book. Here is John 15:13 - "greater love hath no one than this: that they post any hot new PC games we've missed in the comments thread". Find our weekly news liveblog below. I wish you a week filled with both saucy shenanigans and embiggening gaming experiences.
As reported by the Iron Lords podcast, Compulsion's magic swamp extravaganza South Of Midnight will be a relatively trim and tidy 10-12 hours long. That rattling you hear is a hundred overloaded freelance writers trying to land a review commission.
WEDNESDAY MORNING 3AM
Please somebody suggest some day-themed Valentine-appropriate songs in the comments because otherwise I'm going to bust out the Dad Rock again. We've already lost Wednesday to Simon and Garfunkel. FEED THE MAW.Civilization 7 has been patched to fix the camera, UI, naval combat and age progression, amongst other bits and bobs.
Marvel Rivals players are getting their ranks reset for the second half of the game's first season. "Based on your standing at the end of the first half of Season 1, prepare for a drop of four divisions," explain NetEase. "For example, if you ended the first half of Season 1 at Diamond I, you'll start the second half at Platinum II."
IT TAKES TUESDAY
Is love in the air yet? I have consulted our Geiger counters and tricorders and there's definitely something in the air. Best not think about it. FEED THE MAW.Spec-ops keyhole-ignorer Door Kickers 2 has released today in 1.Out now
Nested Lands, meanwhile, is about building towns for 'orrible plague-ridden medieval peasants.
Town To City is a gentle cubular town-builder with 19th century Mediterrean aesthetics. Smell those sunsets!
Fachewachewa says: There's also the early access release of Jump King Quest in two days. It's a sequel to the foddian platformer Jump King, which adds combat and multiplayer. Sounds pretty ambitious, with an interconnected world, and seamless multiplayer with "invading" players which could either be friends or foes. https://store.steampowered.com/app/2317640/JUMP_KING_QUEST/
I'm interested in this, though the Steam page's mention of a "smoking hot babe" at the top of the world makes me wince a bit.
Hooded Horse have announced that they're publishing Chronocle's He Is Coming, a roguelike 80s autobattler in which you have to fight a different dark minion every three in-game days.
Great Scott! Back To The Future co-writer Bob Gale claims that a new video game adaptation is being made. "I don't want to tell you any more than that because I'm not allowed to, but this is something I've wanted to do for a long time," he told Cleveland.com. "Knock on wood that it will happen. Of course, 2025 is the 40th anniversary of the original movie. We're planning on some events, plus there's a documentary that's in post-production now about the making of the musical."
Bloomberg have a report on goings-on at Warner Bros. Allegedly, Monolith's Wonder Woman game is "struggling to coalesce" with $100 million already spent, and is "years" from release. Warner Bros Montreal are now said to be helping Monolith with development after Warner Bros scrapped their unannounced adaptation of The Flash in response to the disappointing financial performance of the 2023 movie.
PSN had a massive outage over the weekend. It's apparently been fixed now. PlayStation Plus subs will get five days of service free as compensation.
IN THE MOOD FOR MONDAY
It's getting hot in here, because I've just turned on my small fan heater that is my best friend in the world. FEED THE MAW.