Three Quarters of 2024 is ‘in the books’ if you could even believe it, and we are in the thick of the fall release schedule! We only have 10 weeks or so to go until “The Game Awards 2024”, the end of our game release schedule, and the crowning of a new (or repeat?) Deer Critics League champion!

Let’s take a quick look back at how September shook out and look forward to the end of this post for the updated cumulative stats as of Q3 2024.

In this past month of September, we had 11 games released in the League:

• Star Trucker – Crystal Cross Games (-0.4 pts)
• Astro Bot – Dougsvest Digital (29.7 pts)
• Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 – Crystal Cross Games (11.3 pts)
• Test Drive Unlimited: Solar Crown – Crystal Cross Games (-11.9 pts)
• Wild Bastards – Vapor-Wares (2.7 pts)
• The Plucky Squire – Homie Don’t Play Games (12.7 pts)
• UFO 50 – SadDadBod Dev (19.8 pts)
• Frostpunk 2 – Wolfpack Games (15.4 pts)
• Ara: History Untold – Jersey-Rican Productions (4.4 pts)
• Bloomtown: A Different Story – Jersey-Rican Productions (6.7 pts)
• The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom – Dougsvest Digital (16.1 pts)

And with that, this is how the league is shaping up (as of October 2^nd):

What is this I see?! A new leader for the Deer Critics League?! YES – with the historic / monumental / outstanding release of Asobo Studio’s Astro Bot (29.7 pts), Micah Hendrick is now sitting pretty in 1^st place! I think there were a few of us who were excited to see Astro Bot come out and we were pretty sure it would score well, but I do not know if anyone was ready for the 95 Open Critic score that it received. As far as I’m aware, having listened to several reviews and discussions on the game, it’s a well-deserved score so congratulations to the team and to all the people who are getting to enjoy the game. Micah [Dougsvest Digital] also greeted the release of The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom last week for a more than solid (16.1 pts).

Astro’s meteoric success has probably overshadowed all the other surprising releases in September, but I just wanted to take a few lines here to recognize some of the other impressive games this month. Nate [SadDadBod Dev] had UFO 50 (19.8 pts) come out just a couple of weeks ago and it garnered almost 20 points of its own. I love the premise of UFO 50, and I am looking forward to when it releases on consoles. Also, the long-awaited release of Frostpunk 2 (15.4 pts) for Jeff [Wolfpack Games] happened on September 20^th, Josh [Homie Don’t Play Games] enjoyed the successful release of The Plucky Squire (12.7 pts), and Eddie [Crystal Cross Games] tried his best to enjoy the surprise hit of Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 (11.3 pts).

I say that Eddie tried his best because unfortunately Crystal Cross Games also received the two worst reviewed games of the month in Star Trucker (-0.4 pts) & Test Drive Unlimited: Solar Crown (-11.9 pts), totally negating any positive progress his publisher was making this month.

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This upcoming month of October will bring 10 more games to the Deer Critics League as we continue our fall gauntlet of games! The games are (in release order):

• Mech Warrior 5: Clans – Lambda Strain Games (10/03)
• Silent Hill 2 remake – Dougsvest Digital (10/08)
• Metaphor ReFantasio – Jersey-Rican Productions (10/11)
• Dragon Ball Z: Sparking! ZERO – Jersey-Rican Productions (10/11)
• Europa – Ranch Walker Inc (10/11)
• NEVA – Dougsvest Digital (10/15)
• Super Mario Party Jamboree – Bearded Champions (09/17)
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants Unleashed – Crystal Cross Games (09/18)
• Batman: Arkham Shadow – Vapor-Wares (10/22)
• Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 – Jersey-Rican Productions (10/25)

I look forward to seeing how the standings change as more games come out! Personally, I’m hoping that my two games this month score a whole lot better than the ones that released in September. Let’s all hope to give Micah a run for his money, okay?

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Lastly, let’s take a look at the updated cumulative statistics as of Q3 2024:

That’s all I got for this month!

Take care & God Bless,

Alex C. #LetsGoMets