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I've seen no mention of this game yet. Like a lot of games like this, it was pushed a bit on the Switch store but it's out on pretty much everything. I thought it looked really damn cool so I bought it. So its a platform kind of game but you don't move in the traditional way. You use the analogue stick to point yourself in the way you want to go and you zip there with a direct trajectory. It's a game you have to really learn from scratch as it's not quite like anything else. When combat is introduced it does vaguely (very vaguely) remind me of PN.03 and I'll take anything that gives me the feeling that game did. Your shot can be aimed the same way as the jump but it has a very short range, though it does have a bit of a spread. It means you really have to get in there to defeat enemies and it makes you really learn this kind of movement the hard way. Yeah, the game is pretty hard, babies. It's kinda preposterous with the plot. As it says in the trailer: "explore a directionless world", and a lot of the messaging in the game is this on the nose. So far I've inspired an artist and a musician to help me and their assistance actually moves parts of the world. But its so earnest I love it. And the one boss I've fought is basically M. Bison's (Dictator for our Japanese readers) disembodied head. There so many games like this at the moment so I think its got lost but I would say it's worth trying. It's a cool game.

Crossing Souls is an indie adventure game made in Spain that was kickstarted way back in December 2014. I’ve played about an hour of it so far. The game has a heavy 80s kids-on-an-adventure film feeling, so I think a lot of you would like it. In fact so far it has felt like I’m playing through a film, which is cool. The lovely music helps. You play as a gang of five kids on their summer holidays (in 1986 to be precise). Each kid has unique abilities and you can switch between them on the fly. You start off with just one member of the gang but quickly round up rest as you move through town on your way to meet the final fifth member in the gang’s secret treehouse, which is as far as I’ve played.

I got this a while back and I see no-one else got it so I'll put something here about it. I was always going to get this because frankly it feels kinda tailor made for me. It looks like another pixelated "Metroidvania" but that would actually be fairly inaccurate. While the action looks like it takes inspiration from those kinds of games its actually closer to the Wonder Boy games - or more specifically Monster World IV. This feels like if SEGA published a game to compete against Metroid in the 16bit era and it was made by Treasure. It's that good. So you jump and shoot around (some really nice, tight, satisfying controls), solving some surprisingly clever puzzles and fighting really cool bosses. Whats interesting about the bosses is they nearly always bring a new mechanic with them that you have to learn to use over the fight. Sometimes you even take control of another character entirely that you've not used at this point. It really brings a new panic to the fights, but you have enough life to learn and make a few mistakes without dying and having to start over. It's got a real JRPG scale story as well. You often have party members, there is loads of lore and your antagonists get some JRPG level characterisation as well. It really has more than you'd expect for an action game. I wouldn't say its that good, but I admire the thought. It gives the game a certain personality at least. Like Axiom Verge, it's entirely made by one guy so a certain personality is gonna come out I guess. Early 2018 has been kinda insane for these kinds of games but don't forget this one as well. It's the real deal.

MFGamers Podcast - Hangout October 2017 @Blakey hosts @DANGERMAN, Mark and @radiofloyd to discuss what they have been playing. This podcast was originally recorded live over Google Hangouts in October 2017 and has been heavily edited to remove most of what had dated it like news and new releases. Theme music by Mark, background music and edit by me. Download the episode here. Subscribe to the feed here. https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/mfgamers/id1318429602