This week in PC games: Run a shady cyberpunk boutique in Probably Stolen, autobattle Viking towns in Northgard Battlegrounds, and trash homophobic robots in Virtue and a Sledgehammer

What we're feeding the Maw

I've been tricked. Deep within the fine print of the Health and Safety and Wild Eldritch Creature Control License Edwin convinced me to apply for is a stipulation that I alternate shifts of Maw care with him. I've unwittingly signed up to cleaning the beast's cage out once a fortnight, bringing you news of upcoming PC games while not hosing down the creature from a distance.

Well, as is my regulatory obligation, here are some of the PC games coming out this week that caught my eye while scrubbing out the the sluices.

Monday, October 26th

• I worry the more Maws I write the clearer it will be that I am just interested in playing around with science equipment I would never normally be allowed to touch. With that, I give you TRAPPIST-1.
• As a city builder sicko I'm intrigued by Cardopolis' deckbuilding take on the genre. I've seen a few of these before, and I always hope they'll be more fun than they are. Perhaps this will be the one.
• Heavy in the Hand tickles the part of my brain forever devoted to memories of Teleglitch, though this top-down shooter also has an excessively manual reloading mechanic that should add to the tension.
• Crack is what Peter Molyneux would have made if friendslop were a thing when he made Curiosity. Team up with friends to smash a big egg with pickaxes.
• Considering how I enjoyed Cat Mail Co. but wished I could snoop into the lives of the feline customers, running Hell's postal service in The Mailroom looks more promising.
• Gun down 8-bit monsters in a haunted house in 10 Hours Before Sunrise.
• Edwin dropped a link to Phantom Line: Prologue in our news chat saying it looks "sort of STALKER meets Trepang meets Control". Do with that what you will.

Tuesday, October 27th

• Emberville looks to be a little bit like Stardew Valley with more creepy monsters. We've seen this blend before, but I can't deny that it's a formula that works for me.
• Deep Frost has worked out my cheat code. Any game that closely resembles The Thing will likely end up selected for The Maw.
• A sci-fi point and click game where you're trying to escape a zombie-filled space base, Infested DX looks like the sort of thing I'd have found hidden on a school computer and played every lunchtime for months.
• In Virtue and a Sledgehammer (pictured) everyone in your hometown has been replaced by robots, and you need to destroy them all with a big hammer. James has a review cooking.
• Northgard Battlegrounds is an autobattler take on the excellent RTS game, plus this spinoff is made by the talented team that made Deep Rock Galactic Survivor. Colour me intrigued.
• The Electorate is a political sim where you're trying to win the Presidency. It looks to have many maps and charts and exactly like the sort of thing Adam (RPS in peace) would have sunk 30 hours into.

Wednesday, October 28th

• Probably Stolen is a cyberpunk shop sim where you run a hole in the wall boutique in an unregulated future. I love the premise, but admit I've been put off playing the demo by its generic title artwork.
• If you're looking for a straightforward zombie shooter (as I often am), ConEx looks to be bloody, simple, and filled with detailed pixel art.
• I've a horrible amount of hours stacked up in Bejewelled and Puzzle Quest, so match-3 game Intergalactic Puzzle Touchdown is likelu the only way I (a non-sports fan) would enjoy American football.

Thursday, October 29th

• Age of Empires IV: Raiders of the North adds Vikings and Scots to Microsoft's RTS game. Considering the deep cuts to developer World's Edge, there may not be many more expansions like this coming.
• Edwin's been playing sci-fi survival game Atmosfar and will have his thoughts on the game later this week.
• The Crimson Desert expansion that lets you explore a crimson desert beyond the current Crimson Desert, Crimson Desert: Charting the Unknown.
• Despite the name, I suspect third-person slash 'em up Phantom Blade Zero will feature at least one phantom blade.

Friday, October 30th

• Automate Death is a tower defense game that puts me in mind of Infested Planet, and any game that does that will also end up on The Maw.
• pnoq is a stylish little puzzler where you overlap colour filters to erase walls.

As the end of the year nears and Horace works his front end* into Father Christmas' sleigh, the team are hard at work scrapping over RPS 100 and Advent Calendar votes.

*While 'front end' may suggest Horace has a rear end, we all know that he is endless.