Videogames. Gosh there are a lot of them. We’re not even into the hell month of September – where every major developer besides Rockstar seems to be releasing their big games of the year – and we’re looking at a packed week.

Below you will find the whittled down pickings that stood out to me, but head over to Steam and you will find ten times more. It’s a good time for wishlisting, if nothing else.

Monday 17th August

• While horror games toting ’90s era 3D graphics are all the rage right now, I do like the premise of Feed it. You’re living in a house with a hungry monster whose appetite is always growing. Yet, you must also feed yourself, so eventually there won’t be enough for the creature. Can you find a way out of the house before it sees you for the tasty walking meal that you are?
• Cosy puzzle game Tukoni: Forest Keepers looks to fall in an enviable spot within the overlap of Amanita Design and Might & Delight’s sensibilities.
• While ARCWATT: Power Empire doesn’t look to be a very fleshed-out city builder, I do like its focus on simulating the technical realities of building a power grid for fickle humans who change their electrical demands throughout the day.
• A puzzle game where you place jump pads to ping lunar landers around a space mine, Mothership Down gives me strong ‘the only shareware game installed on the school computer’ vibes.

Tuesday 18th August

• Beastlink (pictured) is a multiplayer shooter set in a world where multiple kaiju are battling it out in a fully destructible city. Each team is linked to a monster, and earning points mid-match will strengthen your beast. It looks like a lot of high-octane silliness.
• I’ve not got in for any desktop companion games as I suspect they would attract my undivided attention, and crater my working day. That said, running a small video rental shop in Tiny Tape Store does look like a delightful distraction.
• MMORPG Stars Reach is a bit Minecraft, a bit No Man’s Sky, and it’s made by Ralph Koster, the director of Star Wars Galaxies. Read our chunky interview to see if it might be for you.
• As Edwin described it (positively), turn-based RPG Entropy is “a world abandoned by the gods that looks like a PS1 game fished from a toilet.”
• Frogwares’ tilts into survival horror with The Sinking City 2. After playing it at preview, Jeremy said “maybe we’ll finally have a good Cthulhu game that can stand up to the likes of what Pyramid Head and Nemesis have given genre enthusiasts.”
• Anime life sim Starsand Island is leaving early access, where its blend of Stardew Valley and skateboarding has picked up a lot of positive reviews.

Wednesday 19th August

• Control a killer android in an ASCII world in Blood in the Panopticon. I’m a sucker fo ASCII environments at the best of times, and I can’t resist a punchy title.
• STEINS;GATE RE:BOOT sees the much-loved visual novel, in which you discover the tech that can send texts into the past to change the future, remade with much-improved art and an additional storyline.
• While I’ve little time for actual sports, I do appreciate made-up ones with super powers (see: Blood Bowl), so the turn-based SFTP – Super Football Tactics Pro ticks all my boxes.

Thursday 20th August

Friday 21st August

• And finally, rounding out the busy week is, Chef’s Dogma, a turn-based battler where you lead a team of food items through the seven layers of culinary hell.

As for what’s going on around the Treehouse this week. Things are a little stressed as we are one week out from Gamescom and I’ve only just learned the Dusseldorf to Cologne trainline is running a reduced service. Adding to the stress is that several major games are sending through review code this week and James has decided to take a holiday, abandoning us in our time of need.