Is there a new masterpiece in town?

“The highest score we’ve given a game in 16 years”

August 18, 2023

In partnership with

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Although Gran Turismo, last week’s big game-to-movie release, seems to have come and gone without causing much of a stir, thankfully the same certainly can’t be said for last week’s big game release; Baldur’s Gate 3.

It may have released last week, but it’s been hard to avoid the near-unanimous praise that’s been flying around for it since. Both critics and gamers seem to agree that it’s something a little bit special, with PC Gamer bestowing it with the highest score they’ve given a game in 16 years.

Yep, it seems Baldur’s Gate is the latest big thing. Arriving right before the next big thing; Starfield, which is due in less than three weeks’ time. You’ve cleared your backlog in preparation for that one, right?

I’m sad to say I have zero experience with the Baldur’s Gate series, but with the glowing reception it’s received and upcoming console versions just around the corner my interest is certainly piqued. If you’re currently playing it, please get in touch and let me know what you think of it so far.

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As always, thank you so much for reading. I hope you have a great weekend and enjoy your games. See you next week!

Jeff

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THE WEEK IN GAMES

The week’s best news and content

NEWS

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MORE!

Edge Magazine’s Top 100 Games

Later this year, Edge magazine celebrates its 30th Anniversary. And as part of the celebrations, its creators are compiling a list of the top 100 games released during Edge’s lifetime. And they want your help.

The goal of the list is “to create an account that acknowledges achievement in quality and innovation across 30 years of video game history”, meaning impactful games of their time are more than welcome, not just the best games to play right now. Any game released after October 01, 1993, is eligible.

To get involved, email your top 20 list to [email protected] before August 31st. Whether you want to explain your choices or not is entirely up to you.

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Game Not Over Kickstarter

“Game Not Over - those systems to play before it is too late!” is the latest book to hit Kickstarter that’s worth your consideration.

The book is described as “the culmination of years of organising Revival Retro Events and collecting unusual systems” and promises 160 pages of “expertly shot close-ups of all the systems featured, genuine captures of unemulated systems, mini-reviews of notable games to play on them, and contributions from other collectors and Fusion Retro Books staff”.

The campaign ends on Monday, August 21st, so if you want to grab one, head over to the official Kickstarter page before then.

INDIE SPOTLIGHT

Shining a light on noteworthy indies

Islands & Trains

Release: TBA
Platforms: PC
Developer: Akos Makovics / Fabian Smith

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These days, indie games tend to fall into one of two camps; hardcore, or cosy. Intense roguelikes and bullet-hell shooters that want nothing more than to make you suffer, or nice, relaxing time sinks that would prefer to make you a nice cuppa and wrap you in a warm blanket.

Islands & Trains is very much the latter. A sandbox game where you place terrain, buildings, animals and foliage to create your own little island paradise, before building your own railroad on top of it.

Described by its two-person dev team as having “no goals, no timer, no stress”, and where you just “build, relax, enjoy”, Islands & Trains looks like the perfect game to settle into as your stresses wash away. There’s no solid release date yet, but if you want a little taste of it, there’s a Steam demo available now.

You can find out more and check out the demo right here.

NEW RELEASES

The big releases for this week and next

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OUT NEXT WEEK:

A new Armored Core! Out next week!

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…and that’s it for this week!

If you have any comments or suggestions, or if you just fancy talking about games, simply reply to this email directly or catch me over on Twitter. I’d love to hear from you! If you’d like to advertise your product or game to The Week in Games’ readers, click here.

Thanks again, and see you next week!

Jeff

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