Posted in: Movies, Recent Updates, Video Games | Tagged: Abyss Odyssey, ACE Team, Diablo III, entertainment, FarSight Studios, gaming, Last of Us Remastered, Magic 2015: Duels of the Planeswalkers, neil gaiman, Pinball Arcade, playstation 3, PlayStation Vita, Stainless Games, Steam, The Odd Gentlemen, video games, wayward manor, Xbox Live

Live(ish) From The Games Shop – Wayward Manor, Pinball Arcade Season 3, Abyss Odyssey, Magic 2015

By Jared Cornelius

Welcome back to Live(ish) From The Games Shop.  It's another week of the maddening summer lull and it seems that the major publishers and developers are content to leave money on the table with another blank slate of retail releases.  While the console crowd has mostly left out in the cold this summer, the PC continues to dominate with another week of interesting releases.

If you're like me you want more Neil Gaiman in your video games.  Well my wishes, and by proxy yours too have been answered with Wayward Manor.  From indie developer The Odd Gentlemen in collaboration with Gaiman, Wayward Manor is a puzzle/adventure game placing you in the role of a disgruntled ghost.  Set in the 1920's, a group of horrible people named the "Budds" have moved into your home, the appearance of the Budds has limited your powers and you'll have to solve puzzles and possess objects to scare them away and reclaim your home.  The games capped off with a cartoonish art style contributed by Chuck BB who you might know from Black Metal published by Oni Press.  Developer The Odd Gentlemen also made the indie darling The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom that was a critical success on Xbox Live back in 2010.  With the resume of Chuck BB, The Odd Gentlemen, along with a story by Gaiman, the pedigree on this title is astounding.  Wayward Manor released Tuesday on Steam.

If last week's Supercombo Man left you hungry for more 2D fighting, the guys at ACE Team have got you covered with Abyss Odyssey.  The 2D platformer features procedurally generated levels so every decent is different, and three playable characters that use a robust fighting game level of moves to do battle with enemies.  The games biggest hook is that your character can collect the soul of enemies and transform into that character, even boss monsters.  Each enemy is also purported to have as large a move set as the three playable characters.  Abyss Odyssey has a really cool look, with an Art Nouveau inspired style, co-op gameplay, training mode, and updates that include more items, monsters, and challenges.  ACE Team is another studio with a great history, including the quirky first person brawler Zeno Clash, and literal rock and roll game, Rock of Ages.  Fans' of 2D fighters, and platformers should keep their eyes out for this one.  Abyss Odyssey was released Tuesday on Steam.

In your retro through back for the week, developer FarSight Studios brings you content for the third season of Pinball Arcade.  The pinball wizards at FarSight Studios have successfully and slavishly been recreating some of the best pinball games ever, including Black Knight, Star Trek The Next Generation, and my personal favorite Attack From Mars.  Pinball Arcade is now adding more favorites in its season 3 pack for PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita this week, including Black Knight 2000 and Junk Yard.  Pinball Arcade is no joke and is about the closest thing to playing pinball without actually buying a table.  Individual tables are available for purchase, but FarSight uses a season pass model, and generally releases content steadily over the year.  The base game is available for almost everything under the sun including  PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Steam, I0S, and Android  devices. Even though the PS3 and Vita content arrives this week, for some reason the PS4 version is going to be a week later.

Do you want to play a card game, but lack another willing participant?  Well it's that time of the year again as developer Stainless Games releases the yearly incarnation of Wizards of The Coast's Magic 2015: Duels of The Planeswalkers.  The long running card series made the jump into digital versions a few years ago and has since become a member of the yearly update club along with Madden and WWE games.  It's about what you'd expect for a digital version of the card game, with the computer doing the heavy stat lifting which is great for an individual like myself who's awful at that sort of thing.  Magic 2015 boast a more robust tutorial, options for deck building and customization, and a story mode revolving around the multiverses greatest hunter coming after you.  Magic 2015 releases Wednesday on Steam and is already available on iPad.

Another week in the bucket as we edge ever closer to the fall's huge slate of releases.  I'm ramped up for the end of the month when we'll see the Last of Us Remastered, and shortly after that the console crowd gets Diablo III.  I know I mentioned it last month but it would be great if those releases got bumped up a few weeks, it's not like they have competition in the retail space.  As for me there's a good chance I'll be looking at Wayward Manor for a review, I know I'll be picking up Black Knight 2000 for Pinball Arcade.  I love me some pinball.

In a little housekeeping news, I wrote a review for the first volume of Dark Horse Comic's Captain Midnight.  I'll be giving away the second volume as well as some bundled comics from Dark Horse and Valiant.  If you're interested all you have to do is follow me on Twitter @John_Laryngitis.  Ideally I'd like you to read the review as well, but you can make that call yourself.  You can also check out my other articles like, Typing on The Dead: Bleeding Cool's Walking Dead recap, where I painstakingly tell you about the latest issue.  I also write random articles through the week, like that time Green Lantern Hal Jordan decided it was cool to get down with a 14 year old alien girl.  Until next time, Stay Gold.

Jared Cornelius is some guy from New Jersey's coast who's not so much a pinball wizard, but more a pinball wizard's apprentice.  If you'd like to mix obscure Who references with terrible Nic Cage movies, contact him on Twitter @John_Laryngitis.

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