Maw Archives

AppWizard

March 23, 2026

This week in PC games: a new Hooded Horse city-builder, some PS2-style horror, a school-day RPG and an absolutely tremendous catfish

The atmosphere in gaming is currently lacking excitement due to a lull with no major releases. Notable upcoming games include: - Journey of the Garden Rose: An adventure game featuring a princess battling insects in a low-poly palace. - Frog Holm: A bar-running game that combines cocktail mixing with Tetris mechanics. - No Vacation for an Executioner: An action-horror game with a PS2 style and intricately designed monsters. - Come Again, Chachii?: A game where players help quirky aliens find jobs by deciphering their speech. - Roombattle: A top-down multiplayer game featuring competing vacuums. - Mado Monogatari: Fia and the Wondrous Academy: A dungeon-crawling RPG with cheerful characters and perilous elements. - Beast Breaker: A tactical pinball game where players launch a mouse at kaiju. - Nova Roma: An early access city-builder focusing on water management. - Damon and Baby: An action-adventure game featuring a baby and a demon king. - Screamer: A cyberpunk racing game known for its colorful mechanics. - Project Songbird: A game about overcoming writer's block while battling tree monsters. - EverSiege: Untold Ages: An action-strategy game from the creators of Aliens: Dark Descent. Additional activities include capturing images of mushrooms in Rova, constructing a mycelial web in ChloroLink, battling vintage supervillains in Marvel Maximum Collection, searching for a sister in Too Well Hidden, harvesting fuel in Venus in Transit, and transforming clouds into sea creatures in The Wide Open Sky is Running out of Catfish. The Treehouse is working on guides for Crimson Desert, evaluating Slay The Spire 2, assessing hardware, and participating in a preview event.

AppWizard

March 16, 2026

This week in PC games: Crimson Desert and Death Stranding 2 plus frogs, cubes and one amazingly menacing chicken

The Maw consumed the narrator but they have returned to the waking world. The narrator successfully escaped through one of the Maw's mouths. New PC games highlighted include: - Bonnie Bear Saves Frogtime: A strategy game with grid-based battles alongside frogs. - Deadline Delivery: A fast-paced adventure involving errant apes and exploding mail trucks. - Starship Troopers: Ultimate Bug War: Players embody bugs to understand and combat foes. - The Ratline: A game about tracking Nazi fugitives in the 1970s. - Everwind: An early access first-person survival RPG set in a world of floating islands. - Opus Magnum DLC: A new addition to an engineering sim with fresh content. - Crawling Angels: A game where players navigate a carnival to satisfy a character's whims. - The Cube, Save Us: An early access melee extraction game focused on loot in a sky cube. - In Their Shoes: A slice-of-life game reimagining visual novel mechanics. - Death Stranding 2: On The Beach: Now available on PC. - Crimson Desert: An action-RPG from the creators of Black Desert Online. - Briar Flame: A 2D dark fantasy action-platformer. The team is currently engaged with Crimson Desert and reflecting on classic games, while also dealing with cooking and food-related thoughts.

AppWizard

February 14, 2026

I can’t recognize my favorite League of Legends champions anymore, and I’m sick of it

The author discusses the lack of clarity in champion skins in League of Legends, particularly highlighting the recent Love Confession skin for Riven, which deviates significantly from her established identity. The skin's design lacks the defining features of Riven, such as her rugged femininity and signature markings, leading to community backlash and comparisons to unrelated aesthetics. The author notes a broader trend of champions becoming unrecognizable, raising concerns about Riot's understanding of its characters. This shift reflects a larger identity crisis within the game, as it attempts to attract new fans while straying from its original character-driven appeal. The author expresses disappointment in their changing gaming habits and the game's current direction.

AppWizard

January 18, 2026

Sci-fi survival game Once Human’s got a new set of dangerous creatures, and one will haunt my nightmares for weeks

Once Human is a free-to-play sci-fi survival game that has introduced a new update featuring three new adversaries: the Devourer, the Hoarder, and the Sonivore. The Devourer is a 45-meter-long creature that resembles a subway train and consumes Stardust-enriched ores. It can be interacted with by feeding it minerals, but if players fail to satisfy it, it may burrow underground with valuable materials. The Hoarder is a creature that resembles a shopping cart on legs, collecting items and leading players to its nest, which can be raided at a risk. The Sonivore is a gel-like entity that targets sound and high-value supplies, requiring players to use distractions to escape. The update also includes two new weapons, the EBR-14 rifle and the TEC-9, along with a new gear set and the Deviant Sprout upgrade path. The update is set to launch on January 21.

AppWizard

January 12, 2026

This week in PC games: Hytale, Quarantine Zone, a weird Batman sim, and a fresh batch of RPGs and shooters

The Maw can manifest in various forms, including a blinking cursor or unreturned messages. New PC game releases include: - Big Hops: A 3D platformer featuring a frog with jumping and tongue skills. - Confidential Killings: A detective game that could use a more imaginative name. - Quarantine Zone: The Last Check: Players act as a border guard during a zombie apocalypse, exploring moral dilemmas. - Hytale: A sandbox building RPG now in early access, developed by Hypixel Studios. - Hank: Drowning on Dry Land: A whimsical narrative game featuring a drunken, time-traveling character. - Cassette Boy: An action RPG puzzler with retro visuals and themes of object permanence. - Streetdog BMX: A game with children performing stunts on bicycles across colorful maps. - The Legend of Heroes: Trails Beyond the Horizon: The thirteenth installment in an RPG series. - Tabulo: A roguelite chess game. - Craftlings: A blend of Lemmings and colony-building elements. - The Fortress: A first-person turn-based dungeon-crawling RPG. - NEUROXUS: A fast-paced mech shooter with a neon aesthetic. - Moving Simulator: A game reflecting the moving experience. - Lunar Ascendant: Players become the first mayor of the Moon, navigating social media and factions. James and Julian will attend preview events, while Mark and Ollie are excited about Hytale's launch. A review for Pathologic 3 is being crafted.

AppWizard

January 7, 2026

Coming to Xbox Game Pass: Star Wars Outlaws, Resident Evil Village, and More

Brews & Bastards is available on Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X|S with Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, and PC Game Pass. Little Nightmares Enhanced Edition can be played on Cloud, Handheld, PC, and Xbox Series X|S, also available with Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, and PC Game Pass. Atomfall will be available on January 7 for Cloud, Console, Handheld, and PC with Game Pass Premium. Lost in Random: The Eternal Die, Rematch, and Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine – Master Crafted Edition will also be available on January 7 with Game Pass Premium. Final Fantasy will be available on January 8 for Cloud, Xbox Series X|S, and PC with Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, and PC Game Pass. Star Wars Outlaws will be released on January 13 for Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X|S with Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass. My Little Pony: A Zephyr Heights Mystery will be available on January 15 for Cloud, Console, Handheld, and PC with Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, and PC Game Pass. Resident Evil Village will be available on January 20 for Cloud, Console, and PC with Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, and PC Game Pass. MIO: Memories in Orbit will also be available on January 20 for Cloud, Handheld, PC, and Xbox Series X|S on day one with Game Pass. Titles leaving the Game Pass library on January 15 include Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn, Neon White, Road 96, The Ascent, and The Grinch Christmas Adventures.

AppWizard

January 5, 2026

This week in PC games: Pathologic 3, a fresh Pokémon rival, a mind-bending FPS and some crablike base building

A hiatus in coverage occurred last December due to seasonal content preparation and personal challenges. New game releases include: - Dunecrawl: A cooperative game allowing up to four players to traverse a desert landscape on weaponized crabs. - Feed The Reactor: An incremental clicker game where players feed fuels into a cosmic vortex, unlocking narratives in a bizarre galaxy. - StarRupture: An early access title where players construct outposts on alien planets while fending off crab-like monsters. - Death Machine: A pixel-art metroidvania featuring 19 bosses, including at least one eight-legged invertebrate. - Oddcore: A first-person shooter set in a theme park with bizarre spaces and corporate satire, lacking crab references. - EvoCreo: A creature-collecting game with over 170 creatures, reminiscent of classic Game Boy Advance titles. - Ancient Farm: A farming game set in ancient Egypt, featuring historical landscapes and the Acanthothelphusa niloticus. - Pathologic 3: A narrative-driven game where players have 12 days to save a town from disease, involving quarantines. The CES hardware tradeshow is currently taking place in Las Vegas, focusing on GPU and RAM prices, new screen technologies, and novelty gadgets.

AppWizard

December 8, 2025

This week in PC games: a skating demon tries to eat the moon and Terminator game appropriately rewrites history

Edwin has been consumed by The Maw after leaning in due to its deceptive sounds. New safety measures were instituted, including a no-petting policy and using a six-foot news pole for feeding. Mark performed The Last Post on his kazoo, and the 'Days since last accident' whiteboard was updated from '56' to '0'. Upcoming game releases include Skate Story, Yakuza 0 Director's Cut, Cat Named Mojave, Liminal City, Death Howl, Milano's Odd Job Collection, Unbeatable, Anxiety Puppy, Ashes of Creation, and Terminator 2D: No Fate.