Image: Ludogram & Shochiku

The sale is over, and the floodgates re-open. It's been a relatively quiet week for game releases, but the moment the discounts ended, the Next Fest demos started pouring in, along with both the Triple-I and Convergence showcases, each featuring a barrel of announcements. We've managed to keep on top of most of the notable releases this week, but some good stuff is launching all the way up until the weekend, so here we go again, with a round-up of everything we didn't have time for a full article on these past five days.

To help you sort through it all, we've got demos and updates at the top, and then all the week's other releases in alphabetical order. I think it's time we blow this scene. Get everybody and the stuff together, okay - 3, 2, 1, LET'S JAM:

Demo: Dandelion Void - Project zomboid-inspired space horror sim

One I've had an eye on for a while, now with a juicy demo to dig into. Similar to Project Zomboid, it's a simulation-heavy survival sandbox, but this time set aboard an overgrown space vessel, rich with plant life of both the regular and ambulatory, carnivorous kind They're trying to eat you, and you get to do farming to eat them. It's the circle of life!.

Demo: Militsioner - Stealthy immersive sim under a giant cop's view

One I'll definitely be playing over the weekend. Militsioner has appeared in just about every indie showcase for years now, teasing a surreal, paranoid world about being a regular-sized person committing crimes and trying to escape a town under the watchful eye of a colossal kaiju-sized policeman. Deus Ex by way of Franz Kafka.

Out Now: Aion 2 - Korean action-MMO sequel

Wonky reviews and reports of the game leaning heavily on AI-generated art and design hasn't stopped this free-to-play sequel being a major hit. Sequel to one of the more popular older Korean MMOs, with a cast of winged and very pretty people fighting monsters across a web of floating islands. Also as is Korean MMO standard, there's lots of booster items sold for premium currency.

Out Now: Beat, Heart, Beat - Grungy emo rhythm action

So many rhythm games are either electronica, dance, K-Pop or J-Pop. This one is going in a funky, fresh direction - Grungy midwest emo/punk, with two-button gameplay and set in a psychedelic world of weird papercraft people and photo-collage strangeness. This is just an early access release, with the full game not available for another year, but it does, very importantly, include a level editor.

Out Now: Car Park Capital - Transport Tycoon, but all about parking

One I've been looking forward to for a while, and it launched into early access just as I started writing this roundup. An old-school management sim riffing heavily off Transport and Rollercoaster Tycoon, and all about the absurdity of tearing down building and redesigning urban centers just to make more (and increasingly expensive) parking options. Lots of initial user reviews so far, and almost all positive.

Out Now: Cyan Heart - Puzzle adventure from a selfie perspective

An exploration puzzle adventure like nothing I've ever seen. You help guide a girl through a strange high-tech labyrinth, her camera continually pointed inwards, so while you can see the map of where she's going, you can never quite see what's directly in front of her. One that I definitely want to explore soon, and the initial few user reviews are positive.

Out Now: Devil Peach Soda - Roguelike puzzle-fighter hybrid

Devil Peach Soda Screenshot

An intriguing-looking spin on the arcade puzzler genre, reminding me a little of the Magical Drop series, but packed with roguelite RPG mechanics. As well as worrying about the puzzle board above, bosses can attack your character directly, forcing you to skitter around the bottom of the screen, dodging and parrying oncoming projectiles. This one just rolled out into early access and the initial reviews are mostly positive.

Out Now: Forever Ago - Maudlin road-trip narrative adventure

Another heartstring-tugger published by Annapurna. A narrative adventure about an old man on a long road-trip in his janky old RV, meeting folks along the way, snapping photos and creating memories on the way to a final encounter at the end. This one also launched on Game Pass, so XBox people might want to consider trying it there.

Out Now: Invokyr - Six-player co-op Jumanji

Launched just yesterday, Invokyr is unquestionably a Jumanji game in all but official license and name, and by all accounts, a pretty dang good one, with a strong round of initial reviews. Co-op horror about playing a haunted board game, each roll of the dice throwing players into a new, dangerous situation to survive around the house, throwing players into minigames, physical challenges, puzzles and other shenanigans.

Out Now: Mycopsychosys: Project Jupiter - Plague investigation RPG

Sequel to last year's visual novel Mycopsychosis: Remastered, this second game looks to be significantly more involved, mechanically, as you play as a scientist trying to stop a deadly fungal plague. Proper detective adventure stuff. The initial early access release here includes the first of either three or four planned chapters, with a very loose estimate on the full game being out sometime between 2027 and 2029. Still, initial reviews are positive, so here's wishing them luck and solid sales.

Out Now: Neon Abyss 2 - Platform roguelike sequel with online co-op

Emerging out of early access, this is a sequel to Veewo Games' scrappy, chaotic platform shooter roguelike Neon Abyss. While the first game was single player only, this one adds online multiplayer to the mix, which is potentially very messy given how spammy player builds can become in games like this. Not had a chance to play it yet, but it looks like good fun - Enter The Gungeon's side-scrolling cousin.

Out Now: Order of the Sinking Star - Open-world puzzle medley

An intriguing project. The work of multiple famous puzzle game developers, licensed to be remixed and combined into a gestalt whole with meta-puzzles, progression and a linked overworld. Unfortunately the person organizing and remixing it all is Jonathan Blow, lead developer on Braid and The Witness, who has made news recently for spiraling into right-wing crankery. This has led many of the developers who previously signed agreements to make a public statement on social media denouncing him and his politics, while hoping that something good can still come from the project. Oof.

Out Now: PAPERHEAD - High-speed FPS in a cardboard world

Launching right as we tap out for the weekend. Paperhead has been on our wishlist for a long time. A fast, twitchy, cartoonishly violent FPS where everything is made of paper, card and pencil scribbles. It looks like really goofy fun with highly mobile air-dashing combat and big explosions. Hopefully we'll be able to try it soon!

Out Now: Permafrost - Story-driven co-op survival sandbox

Another week, another survival crafting sandbox. This one's heavily focused on not freezing to death, while fighting post-apocalyptic jerks in a chilly wasteland world where the moon has exploded. It's in early access now, with at least another year of development planned. Initial reviews have been middling. While it doesn't look bad at all, it's up against some fierce competition in the genre.

Out Now: Risk of Rain 2: Hallowed Concepts - Halloweeny DLC

High-speed buildcrafting 3D shooter roguelike Risk Of Rain 2 has seen some real highs and lows over the past few years, but we're happy to see it having really found its footing again. Hallowed Concepts is the fourth expansion, adding two new player classes (the riot-shielded Enforcer and the mystical native Acolyte), seven new environment types with enemies to match, and a bunch of new items. And because this is Risk of Rain, there's going to be some DEEP secrets to uncover.

Out Now: Sealed Fortress - Old-school & stylish dungeon crawl RPG

Another launched just as we were writing this, and one I'm probably going to be playing some of this weekend. The first commercial game from musician/DJ turned game developer MinaSheep, it's a very retro, story-led dungeon crawler about a trio of heroes trying to lift the fae curse on a haunted castle. The music (as you'd expect from a musician) is great, the art is fantastic, and the enemy designs are highly creative. This one just looks cool.

Out Now: The Second Reality Room: Unspoken Truths - Chuuni therapy sim

Another early access release - a conversation heavy mystery/visual novel hybrid about sitting down to talk things out with a bunch of chuunibyo - teens that have retreated into fantasies and delusions. Between conversation and mind-reading, you've got to figure out their deals, and fill in the keywords to build a profile on them to help them straighten out their realities. Fascinating concept, and the early access version is the first two thirds of the game, with the final segment due out in around two months.

Out Now: Truckful - Delivery driving adventure on haunted backroads

Yet another last-minute release, and a fun-looking one. Your pickup truck is a lifeline for people scattered around the backwoods. The roads look tricky enough to drive at the best of times, and times can get much worse when there's a smoke-belching, glowing truck patrolling the backroads, seemingly hungry for motor oil. Looks like good Halloweeny fun.

Out Now: Uppercute - High-speed 3D platforming and brawling

And our final last-second release of the week. Uppercute looks fascinating - an ultra-high agility 3D platformer where you spend as much time zipping through the air as running, and occasionally brawling through enemies on the way, as the heroine smashes her way through surreal urban dreamscapes with giant gauntlets. Nice to see a high-speed 3D platformer that doesn't seem to be drawing many inspirations from Sonic. There's a demo, too - perhaps one to investigate more next week!

And that's it for another week in PC gaming! I'll be back on Tuesday (leaving you in Damien & Noah's capable hands on Monday), hopefully with some thoughts on all the things I played over the long weekend. Until then, be nice to each other. Video games are cool and emotionally impervious - take your frustrations out on them, not other people.