River City Girls 2 is Free on Epic

Monday, there is a closed beta test for a new Avatar fighting game to register for. Tuesday, the 2.5D puzzle platformer set around Arabian culture, Nightscape, got a new trailer. On Wednesday, there was a Splatoon-themed Nintendo Direct, Nivalis was renamed and finally given a release date, and Guns of Eschaton was announced. Thursday, and for the psychos who like Mario Kart World, there are new “knockout tour routes,” for whatever that means. I am tired, busy, and I don’t care; take it up with the Mario Kart hater police.

Moving on to the Epic Games Store, it is a triple bill of “can we move on to next week already?” We’ll start with the Star Trek writer’s game, Harlan Ellison’s I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream, released in 1995 for MS-DOS. It is based on Ellison’s 1967 short story of the same name. Don’t worry, it is ADHD friendly at only 13 pages. In I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream, a military AI called “AM” has taken over and wiped out all of humanity in its uprising, but spared five people to torture for decades.

The mobile offering this week is Memo Gago’s 2024 release, Sophia the Traveler. A Where’s Wally (it is in the description; I’ll hit you otherwise) game where you are trying to find people, but also the occasional items. The main positive is that the vivid townscapes are beautifully hand-painted and try to depict a real-ish Venice. Plus, for mobile users, you can also zoom in to see the three pixels become vaguely human-shaped.

The third offering is one that I just don’t get, simply because the gameplay rarely feels as rewarding or impactful for the work put in. I am talking about WayForward’s 2022 release, River City Girls 2, a side-scrolling action beat ’em up adventure focused on co-op play. It is not River City Girls 2‘s problem itself; it looks nice, but I don’t love beat ’em ups as much as seemingly everyone else does.

All this week, you can pick up Harlan Ellison’s I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream and River City Girls 2 on the Epic Games Store for PC, with Sophia The Traveler for mobile until the 9th of July. Moving on to next week, it is once again another double bill at least, but one that I’ve got slightly more interest in as both games have been on my wishlist: BEHEMUTT’s 2023 automation base builder Nova Lands, and CrazyBunch’s 2025 tycoon game about running a tattoo shop, Tattoo Tycoon. Points for naming, I guess, but I’d also like a tycoon game on a cultural festival at Edinburgh Castle in August.