Happy Labor Day Weekend to all of you! The unofficial end of summer is upon us, and with it comes the end of our small summer release schedule. The 1^st half of August was relatively quiet, but the 2^nd half of August saw a few higher profile releases, which kind of acts as a precursor to what we can expect in September. But before we get to that, let’s see how we are all doing on the big leaderboard.

The D.C.L. Standings as of August 31st:

These were the six (6) games released in August:

• “Mafia: The Old Country” Ranch Walker (4.2 pts)
• “Inkshade” Crystal Cross Games (-no score yet-)
• “Sword of the Sea” Dougsvest Digital (16.6 pts)
• “Metal Gear Solid ∆: Snake Eater” Suladin Software Ltd. (16.8 pts)
• “Lost Soul Aside” Frozen Headlights Studios (-6.7 pts)
• “Shinobi: Art of Vengeance” Bearded Brethren (17.5 pts)

Ranch Walker (Marshall) probably isn’t as happy to see that the reception for “Mafia: The Old Country” (4.2 pts) is relatively mixed. No one thinks that it’s a bad game by any means, but there is not the level of praise that I think most of us would have expected for a new game in the Mafia franchise. It seems that a beautifully crafted, well-acted, well written, but fairly linear cover shooter isn’t enough to overly impress many of the critics out there.

“Inkshade” (?) unfortunately has suffered the same fate as many under publicized indie-games. There aren’t enough reviews right now on OpenCritic or even Metacritic and until some start to show up, we will have to give Crystal Cross Games (Eddie) 0 pts.

The first stand out game of the month belonged to “Sword of the Sea” (16.6 pts) and Dougsvest Digital (Micah). I’m really glad that reviewers have enjoyed this game to the extent that they have. While they acknowledge its brief length and repetitive puzzles, most reviewers seemed too enthralled by the ambience, the visuals, the atmosphere, the music, and the enjoyable sword-surfing to take many points away from it. This is one I’m personally looking forward to experiencing.

The last week of August brought us the ‘heavy hitters’ starting with “Metal Gear Solid ∆: Snake Eater” (16.8 pts). Suladin Software Ltd (Jeff) was smart to pick up this Konami classic with his Flex pick. Reviewers seemed happy to once again relive the joys of crawling through jungles and taking out Soviet enemies during the Cold War. The PS2 original was an instant classic and it seems that this game did not take away from that legacy. The second ‘heavy hitter’ released this past week is Sega & Lizardcube’s “Shinobi: Art of Vengeance” (17.5 pts). From the developers that brought us 2020’s excellent Streets of Rage 4, we get Joe Musashi’s vengeful return to 2D action prominence! According to reviewers, the beautifully drawn art and animations aren’t there as simply a distraction but rather to enhance a well-performed and good-feeling action platforming game. (writer’s note: YAY!) And the last of our ‘heavy hitters’ this past week in August was the long-awaited China Hero Project game, “Lost Soul Aside” (-6.7 pts) from Ultizero Games. Frozen Headlights Studios (Nate) took a chance that this game would not only release in 2025, but that it would satisfy the audience (and critics) that have been waiting for it all these years. Unfortunately, it seems that good combat mechanics in an action game aren’t enough to get around a lack-luster story, characters, & voice-over work. Combine that with PS4-Era corridors to explore and some less impressive graphics than critics are used to in a triple-A game, and you get the scores that we see so far.

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Now we look ahead to the games of September. -Yikes!- It looks like there will be twelve (12) new games this month as we step into the “Fall Season”. They are:

• “Hollow Knight: Silksong” Bearded Brethren (Sep 4^th)
• “Hell is Us” Dougsvest Digital (Sep 4^th)
• “Cronos: The New Dawn” Dougsvest Digital (Sep 5^th)
• “Borderlands 4” Agon Analytics (Sep 12^th)
• “Dying Light: The Beast” Frozen Headlights Studios (Sep 19^th)
• “Trails in the Sky 1^st Chapter” PixelPioneer Studios (Sep 19^th)
• “Baby Steps” Frozen Headlights Studios (Sep 23^rd)
• “Silent Hill f” Bearded Brethren (Sep 25^th)
• “Sonic Racing: Crossworlds” Iota Strain (Sep 25^th)
• “Atelier Resleriana: The Crimson Alchemist & the White Guardian” PixelPioneer Studios (Sep 26^th)
• “LEGO Party!” Bearded Brethren (Sep 30^th)
• “Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles” Agon Analytics (Sep 30^th)

For this look ahead, instead of calling out 3 or 4 games that I am interested in, I want to highlight some of the Players/Publishers that will have significant contributions in September. Out of the twelve (12) games coming out this month, only six (6) players/publishers will be affected, but almost all of them with multiple games each!

Bearded Brethren (Adam) has 3 games coming out this month: “Hollow Knight: Silksong”, “Silfent Hill f”, & “LEGO Party!”.  I can easily see Adam picking up 40 – 46 points this month from these three games.

Agon Analytics (Leiuna) has 2 games coming out this month: “Borderlands 4” & “Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles”.  I’m thinking that Elizabeth could see about 24 – 30 points from these two games.

Frozen Headlights Studios (Nate) is an interesting one because I’m not really sure what to expect from the 2 games that will be coming out this month for him: “Dying Light: The Beast” & “Baby Steps”.  I will venture a guess that neither game will score above an 80, but to be honest, I have no idea. Let’s say, 15 – 19 points.

Lastly, I’m looking at PixelPioneer Studios (Alex [me]) which has 2 games coming out this month also: “Trails in the Sky 1^st Chapter” & “Atelier Resleriana: The Crimson Alchemist & The White Guardian”.  Both of these have high potential, but I’m not really sure about these titles either.  I will be hopeful and say that I’ll receive 20 – 26 points.

Good luck to Iota Strain (Luke) & Dougsvest Digital (Micah) as well.  I would try to wager a guess as to your scores, but I really don’t have a prognosis that I could believe in…

Okay – that’ll do it for me this month.  “Happy Fall Y’all” and all that good stuff.  I really can’t wait to see what the standings look like by the end of the month.  It could be similar, OR it could be VERY different!

Take care & God Bless,

Alex C.

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UP TO DATE – DCL 2025 Round 1 Draft Choices:

1. Bearded Brethren – “Grand Theft Auto VI” DELAYED TO 2026
2. Iota Strain – “Fable” DELAYED TO 2026
3. PixelPioneer Studios – “Metroid Prime 4: Beyond”
4. Dougsvest Digital – “Unannounced Mainline 3D Mario Platformer”
5. Crystal Cross Games – “Ghost of Yotei”
6. Suladin Software Ltd – “Death Stranding 2: On the Beach” [90.4]
7. Ranch Walker – “Elden Ring: Nightreign” [80]
8. Frozen Headlights Studios – “Mario Kart World” [86.3]
9. Agon Analytics – “Avowed” [81]