Ghostrunner 2 is free on Epic

Monday, there was a showcase of the FM26 match engine and system requirements, while Star Garden hit $100K in just 24 hours. Tuesday, nothing happened because half the world collapsed politically, and everyone wants to point fingers, so go check out what is on Prime Gaming and Humble Choice this month. Wednesday, Pacific Drive is to get DLC, and Mage Food Truck is releasing this month. Thursday, after writing up a match report on a game played in Europe, I got really excited about playing European football soon, as Football Manager 26 has a November release and a UI showcase.

“Celebrated strategy game The Battle of Polytopia is calling all mobile and desktop players aged 18 and over to join the Polytopia World Championship 2025, an inclusive esports event with a $10,000 prize pool,” I like it when my emails tell me not to care about certain games. Yes, on this Epic Games Store this week, we get to talk about The Battle of Polytopia, which, if you tortured me for six months, I couldn’t have told you that it was an “eSport.” Basically, My First (turn-based) Age of Empires, The Battle of Polytopia is trying to be a big 4X piece, even having this World Championships thing, but I need to ask, what is the appeal?

I don’t always do this, and I usually try to maintain equal numbers of paragraphs for each game when I do Epic, but I think some of this is important. Starting on Saturday, the 13th of September, The Battle of Polytopia will have the “Imperius Bardur” qualifier tournament for this World Championship, according to the press release I was sent. Does it explain the game beyond one sentence reading: “The Battle of Polytopia reinvents the typically complex ‘4X’ video game genre, delivering a game that is straightforward, welcoming, yet packed with immense strategic depth?” No, no, it does not.

The press release shares that there are two-day qualifiers every week until the 16th of November, with notes that the winner will get $4,000, the runner-up $2,000, third and fourth getting $1,500, and fifth and sixth getting $500. However, what makes me actually hate this Playmobil version of a much better game is the part of the press release that reads, “with notable fans including Mr Beast and Google DeepMind founder and Nobel Prize winner Demis Hassabis.”

Oh well, now you say it, I’ll blindly follow whatever the man who locks people in a room to fight over money and the man forcing AI-generated tripe into your Google searches has to say. In fact, no, I won’t, because I have an IQ above that of the room temperature of the Antarctic. I mean the outside bit! If you’re going to use this type of thing to promote your game, at least introduce it, explain it, give it something exciting to grab my attention, then sell me your crap. Just don’t try to do it by saying useless people like it.

Moving on to something that I understand a little more and is also available this week on the mobile version of the Epic Games Store for Android worldwide and iOS in the EU, Monument Valley II. I think I made it clear last week that I don’t have the instant “I must play this” thing that I’ll sometimes get, especially when covering the Epic Games Store or Prime Gaming. With the sequel from UsTwo Games, that’s still the case as it is still a game about shifting geometry to move through a beautiful world, but this time you are sometimes doing this as a mother-daughter duo.

The third and final offering this week is a bit more exciting in a broad appeal way, with One More Level’s 2023 title, Ghostrunner 2. The sequel to the 2020 high-speed cyberpunk-infused action-platformer, with a couple more notable mechanics and a continuation of the fall of a dictator story. This time showing that toppling mega-techno Hitler doesn’t result in sunshine and rainbows right after, as you run, jump, slide, slice, and on occasion, shoot from your new motorbike. Heavily favored by most, the “hardcore FPP slasher” isn’t everyone’s cup of tea but is more exciting than some I could mention.

All this week, you can pick up Ghostrunner 2, The Battle of Polytopia, and Monument Valley 2 on the Epic Games Store for PC, with the latter two also available on mobile. Moving on to next week’s double bill, it is interesting but not in a good way. Released in 2019, Other Ocean Interactive’s Project Winter is an online-only co-op/PVP survival game, which sounds as appealing as standing on an upturned UK plug. If that makes me sound really happy, then I’ll have Amanita Design’s 2005 point-and-click puzzle adventure Samorost 2 as a chaser.