Plus heaps of Aussie games were announced at the Aus Indie Showcase and the leaked Pokémon Lego prices are so expensive
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SIFTER is produced by Kyle Pauletto, Fiona Bartholomaeus, Courtney Smith, Adam Christou, Chris Button and Naomi Jackson. Cat Jahne is Social Producer, Mitch Loh is Senior Producer and Gianni Di Giovanni is our Executive Producer. Thanks to Audio Technica Australia and Apple for their support of SIFTER.
NOM: Hi I’m Naomi Jackson
FIONA: and I’m Fiona Bartholomaeus
NOM: Welcome to Walkthrough, SIFTER’s weekly recap on the biggest news in video games.
FIONA: This week we’re packed with Aussie news, Hollow Knight Silksong breaks the internet at launch, Aussie devs group up for a big showcase, and Nuclear Throne’s Rami Ismail is back with a new game called “Australia Did it”
Here is the news for Sunday 7th of September. Let’s go!
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PROMO: Join the SIFTER community on Discord at sifter.com.au/discord
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FIONA: I hope you didn’t stay up late for Silksong like some of the Sifter team did, because Hollow Knight Silksong’s release crashed basically everything the minute it was meant to happen.
Made by a tiny team in Adelaide, the game was due to release on the 4th but demand was so great that players crashed online PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo and PC stores trying to buy it.
There are reports that some stores such as Steam took around 2 hours to recover.
NOM: Interestingly Silksong wasn’t ever put up for pre-order, meaning everyone wanting to buy it had to turn up to stores at the same time, making for inevitable traffic.
I mean if I was releasing a game I’d want it to crash the internet, can’t get better news than that!
After the sites were finally working again, Silksong’s concurrent player numbers skyrocketed to over 500 thousand players on Steam so that gives you an idea of just how many people were queue-ing to buy the long-anticipated game.
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NOM: The Aus Indie Showcase on Friday night was an iconic, hour-long preview of some amazing upcoming Aussie games.
My stand-out pick for the night as a huge brick-building fan was Poly bricks! In Polybricks you build brick sets, brick by brick, it looks super relaxing. You can even design your own brick sets and build sets together with friends online!
FIONA: The upcoming game ‘Trash’ got a brand new trailer - bring trash to life with your friends in this multiplayer game where you can craft different forms and abilities for your trash character to help you explore different procedurally generated zones and cure the land to help let resin life thrive.
NOM: Infernal cleaner was showcased, its a spooky cleaning game that reminds me of powerwashing simulator where you scrub Hell spotless. Blast blood specks off the ancient dungeon walls. Scrub grime off the stairways to torture chambers. There's a type of hell here for everybody...
FIONA: And in Aussie Bogan Hero, Davo, a mullet-wearing, beer-loving legend, battles corporate goons and freaky creatures to reopen his pub and save Dusty Springs. “Cause sometimes, it takes a legend in a singlet to save the day.”
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FIONA: A new bullet hell strategy game is on the way called ‘Australia did it’ and it looks pretty chaotic and fun.
Made by Rami Ismail, developer of Luftrausers and Ridiculous Fishing, the game has almost built a new genre, combining turn-based tower defense gameplay and bullet hell.
They call it tactical reverse bullet hell.
NOM: You play as a mercenary, escorting a train cargo shipment across a dried-out Atlantic Ocean filled with monsters using on-rail combat.
It’s published by a new label called Mystic Forge from founding members of Good Shepherd Entertainment, and focuses on games with unique hooks.
Although us Aussies are still waiting to find out what Australia did as the trailer didn’t give us a hint. WHAT DID WE DO RAMI?!?
Maybe we’re the reason why the water disappeared from the ocean? To be honest, we can’t even win a war against Emus, so what can we do?
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NOM: Stardew fans get ready as it’s been announced that Stardew Valley is getting a 1.7 update.
It was revealed at a Stardew Valley concert the developer, Eric “ConcernedApe” Barone let the cat out of the bag.
It’s quite funny though as only a few months ago he said he didn’t want to just be the Stardew Valley guy
FIONA: I really appreciate how they announced it on social media, just something made in Paint or a similar app saying “There will be a Stardew Valley 1.7 update”. Classic.
He’s said that there isn’t a release date or estimate but it is happening.
In the meantime he’s working on a brand new game called Haunted Chocolatier which is a little more combat-focused. He has said that the 1.7 update won’t massively impact the timeline of his new game as he now has a team that helps with Stardew Valley updates and he’s taken on more of a ‘creative director’ role for this big update.
Can’t wait to see what that the content will look when it hits Stardew Valley.
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FIONA: A charity bundle containing 382 games for just 8 American dollars, has been released on Itch.io in support of Palestine.
Titled ‘Play For Peace -Games For Palestine Charity’ the bundle has already raised over 40 thousand dollars american for UNRWA, also known as The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees
NOM: From cozy narrative sims to action games and even an RPG about being a cow, this bundle contains it all. Even things like visual novel tools, tabletop experiences and a remake of Pictochat for windows are there too.
You can grab the bundle on itch.io until the 22nd of September.
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NOM: More details about the upcoming Lego Pokémon collaboration was leaked this week and boy do I wish I had the money.
In a post on the Legoleak reddit page, there will be 3 different figures with a very big jump between them all when it comes to pieces and prices.
The 587 piece Lego will reportedly be $60 which we’re assuming to be USD. The 2,050 piece set will be $200 and the 6,838 piece set lego will be $650 or about $1000 AUD.
Wow.
FIONA: We have seen some photos of a Lego Charizard, Mewtwo and Snorlax floating around but nothing has been confirmed just yet.
The reddit page also reported that the sets will go on sale on the 1st March next year with a special 27th Feb pre-release for Insiders.
And as people online have noticed, the 27th of Feb is when the first Pokémon game was released and next year will be their 30th anniversary.
Can’t wait to see what Pokémon officially get announced for the Lego.
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NOM: Massive Monster, the developers behind Cult Of The Lamb have commissioned a Cult of the Lamb PUPPET SHOW during Melbourne Games Week.
Hosted at the historic Abbotsford Convent by the company Golden Scissors Puppets, they say it will be an evening of visual thrills, eerie sensations, and strange delights.
FIONA: The Cult Of The Lamb Puppet Show plans to reinvent the game in puppetry, shadow, light, and sound with a unique twist of the grotesque and macabre - from the beginning of the Lands of the Old Faith to the rise of the Lamb, it’ll be Cult of the Lamb as you’ve never seen it before.
Tickets are limited so make sure you book early!
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NOM: That’s it for the headlines…Here are the games coming out this week.
FIONA: Out on the 10th is Machick 2, a magical chaotic roguelike-survivor game where you play as a chicken. Craft your wand and develop your own magical build to become the most chaotic chicken on the battlefield, battling against hordes of hungry frogs. That’s out on PC on Wednesday.
NOM: Also out on the 10th is ‘Bubsy in: The Purrfect Collection’, if you are a feline nostalgic for some truly terrible games, this series explores the franchise's ‘troubled history and enduring popularity’. A playable history that includes games, artifacts and interviews, what could possibly go wrong? Get it on PC, Switch, PS5 and Xbox series X and S on Wednesday
FIONA: The highly-anticipated Borderlands 4 is finally here, releasing on Friday. Get ready to break free and wreak havoc on the dangerous new planet in this mayhem-fueled looter shooter. It looks to be as chaotic and intense as ever. That’s out on PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and Nintendo Switch 2 on the 12th.
NOM: And Garfield Kart 2: All You Can Drift is out on the 11th, play as one of 8 Garfield characters including Nermal :( as you race through an unhinged universe with different themed courses such as pirate, western and detective. That’s arriving on PC, Switch, PS5 and Xbox series X and S on Thursday.
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PROMO: Articles to read, videos to watch and podcasts to listen to on sifter.com.au
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FIONA: This has been Walkthrough by SIFTER, my name is Fiona Bartholomaeus
NOM: And my name is Naomi Jackson, thank you so much for listening.
FIONA: If you like your videos vertical we’ve been putting heaps up on our Instagram, YouTube and TikTok, it’s a really quick way to grab the top stories if you are already scrolling through. If you see them there, feel free to give us a heart and a follow! We’re @ sifterHQ on all those platforms!
NOM: SIFTER is produced by myself, Fiona Bartholomaeus, Cat Jahne, Kyle Pauletto, Adam Christou and Chris Button. Mitch Loh is Senior Producer and Gianni Di Giovanni is SIFTER’s Executive Producer, and script editor.
FIONA: Thanks to Brian Fairbanks from Salty Dog Sounds for composing the Walkthrough theme tune, and Audio Technica Australia and Apple for their support of SIFTER’s podcasts.
NOM: We’ll be back with more news next Sunday, see you then.
