Now Playing at SUPERJUMP, Issue 31

We're back with a brand new Now Playing! So many people are enjoying spring gaming right now, with the usual eclectic tastes of our team keeping things lively, thus we've got a big boat of games for you to enjoy this issue!

James Burns - Editor-in-Chief

Atomfall

I have been intrigued by this game ever since it was announced and I've now spent about 20 hours in it. It is always tempting to use short-hand to quickly convey something important about the experience; this short-hand usually involves comparison to other games/franchises. While it might be tempting to compare Atomfall to Fallout, I actually think the experience is far closer to Elden Ring.

Atomfall is, more than anything else, a post-apocalyptic detective story. You're trapped in England's Cumberland region after some sort of nuclear disaster without any idea why or how you got there. You'll visit several different locales within the region during the game; each one is populated with a wide range of unique characters and stories that weave together in often unexpected ways.

While there is an overarching story and a fundamental mystery to solve, you won't find yourself pursuing a linear quest chain. Instead, as you explore and speak to people, you'll uncover "leads", which are less like linear quest steps and more like nodes in a larger interconnected web. This means that the way each player progresses through the game will be completely different, and it means you have enormous agency around how and where you choose to focus your time.

There's an emphasis on survival and combat, although neither of these elements are especially deep. While combat encounters are often best avoided (it's easy to become quickly overwhelmed by very powerful enemies), it's also true that the stealth system is highly rudimentary, so you'll find yourself leaning into stealth largely to avoid combat (as opposed to choosing stealth because it involves engaging mechanics).

There's also really nothing in the way of significant RPG mechanics here. Yes, you'll acquire new abilities, but you won't be leveling up a range of attributes on a character sheet.

Where Atomfall surprised me was actually through its dialogue system. It's not that the system is particularly deep (there are no skill checks or anything of that nature), however, conversations themselves have a nice sense of give-and-take based on what you say and when you say it. What I mean is that you aren't simply selecting the obviously "correct" options just to reach a pre-determined conclusion. Rather, you actually have to pay attention to conversations with other characters - you might let slip too much information too early, for example, which results in a character freaking out and not trusting you. Or you might pry a little too much too soon, resulting in a character becoming annoyed. This system is enhanced greatly by the generally high standard of dialogue throughout the experience; these are characters who feel very grounded in the world and who are all notably distinct from each other, with different personalities, experiences, and motivations.

I haven't yet finished Atomfall, but I'm really enjoying it so far. It's not the deepest experience out there, but it's not going for that. It's a game that has chosen to emphasise certain particular elements (characterisation especially) to great effect. It's a refreshingly different post-apocalypse and one I urge you to check out for yourself.

C.S. Voll

Steins;Gate: My Darling's Embrace

This is one of the few games I've replayed to get all the achievements. Its story consists of various timelines, so you have to visit each one and change your choices to get different outcomes. Despite the repetition, it doesn't feel like a slog because you uncover little nuggets of information each time; when you steer a phone conversation in a different direction, you learn something new about one of the eccentric characters. As a result, this game feels like a beautiful gift, a story that explores more of the universe without taking away anything from the mainline series. None of the routes felt less important to me, either. My only complaint was that there was no Daru route! Maybe the next entry will address that oversight.

Steins;Gate: Linear Bounded Phenogram

Whereas My Darling's Embrace deals with love stories, Linear Bounded Phenogram deals with weird stories; I don't know what other word I can use other than "weird". You get to learn more about Alpacaman — a parody of the Dreamcast's Seaman video game — in the first story, for example. The vibes are similar to those of an experimental short story collection, wherein the contributing writers remove all their shackles and just let their mind transport them (and us) to the most outlandish concepts and storylines. When that works, it's a wild ride. Judging from my time with it thus far, it works in Linear Bounded Phenogram too, because the games have always been seeded with wacky references, and it doesn't feel unusual to explore that side of Steins;Gate. I can also say I had to pause the game a few times to laugh at the scenarios, and for that alone, I give it a thumbs up, because we all need some laughter in our lives, right?

Jake Lang

NHL 25 – Sticking With It

I haven’t played as much NHL 25 this year as I have in the past—too much going on—but it’s still my go-to console game. Maybe it’s also because the Rangers haven’t been great, but they’re still fun to play with online, so I keep coming back. Even if I’m not sinking hours into franchise mode like I used to, it’s still the best way to get a quick hockey fix.

Disney Speedstorm - TRON Pulled Me Back In

I hadn’t played Disney Speedstorm in months, but with Season 12 adding TRON, I had to jump back in. I’m not grinding through it too hard, but if you’ve never played, there’s a lot of fun to be had. You just have to wade through some of the constant promotions and an upgrade system that feels a little more complex than it needs to be.

Alexander Joy

Supermarket Together

Every simulation game presents players with a single fundamental choice: whether to approach things sensibly and strive for success, or pursue the most ludicrous strategies imaginable and see how far it takes you. To my dismay, Supermarket Together could not be persuaded to let my friends and I sustain the latter. It turns out that selling only energy drinks – while also building shelves that conveniently obstruct all customer entrances and exits – will soon plunge you into bankruptcy. Alas!

Luckily, for those of us who crave a hefty dose of nonsense with their simulations, Supermarket Together offers a decent serving. You can fight your customers – and other players – with brooms, sending them flailing and ragdolling each time you land a hit. There's a cat you can pet (albeit only a few times per day), and a Steam achievement for petting it an absurd number of times. Your heroic NPC employees will willingly endure 14.5-hour shifts. And the paychecks you issue all have weeping birds on them. Does the iconography suggest that I, the proprietor, am sad to pay my workers? Or that my loyal underlings are sadly underpaid...? Supermarket Together is odd. It's multiplayer. It's free. And it seems to hate work as much as you do. Give it a go!

Leah Isobel

I've been pretty busy lately so i've needed to play games out and about, in between tasks - meaning i've picked up my Nintendo 3DS again. I love this thing! Mostly I've been fitting sessions of Radiant Historia: Perfect Chronology into my days. This game has been on my backlog for ages, and I wanted to finally finish it. I think it gets talked up as a hidden masterpiece in a way that does the game a disservice; i've seen comparisons to Chrono Trigger because they're both time travel stories, but Radiant Historia isn't nearly as graceful. The dialogue and storytelling are frequently a little bit slack, and I think the battle system - while very cool and fun - can make regular encounters a bit of a chore, but I'm enjoying it! It really oozes charm, and has one of Yoko Shimomura's best soundtracks. i wouldn't say it's a particularly progressive game, but rather a big helping of JRPG comfort food.

When I'm not in the mood for that, I've been playing Style Savvy: Styling Star. This is the last game in the series, but the first one i've played; it is... so addictive that I actually think this style of game design is a little bit evil. It feels like a mobile game and I love it! It's so cozy and sweet, like consumerist heaven.

Cat Webling

Bloody Good Time in Barony

My partner introduced me recently to Barony, a pixelated dungeon crawler that encourages teamwork and yelling at your computer because skeletons shouldn't be that powerful. It's so much fun! The game features explorable randomly-generated floors full of coins, loot, and monsters, operated by a mysterious voice that sometimes sends big baddies after you and your friends. I love the classic RPG classes available as well as the more unique species you can play as (my partner's go-to is an insectoid wizard). The loot identification system is also interesting, as it's time-based rather than requiring a special class feature (though some classes are better and faster at it than others). I'm absolutely terrible at the game and have died about five different times before we even made it to level three. Can't recommend it enough!

PJ Walerysiak

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered

I heard the rumors like everyone else in the gaming sphere, and I hoped beyond hope that they were true – that Bethesda was going to shadow drop a remaster of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Through space and time I connected with my 16-year-old self who bought an Xbox 360 solely for the purpose of playing the original TES4: Oblivion, and together we hoped some more. I’m just so happy. It was true, and I imagined high-fiving teenage PJ as they gawked at the far-improved visuals of Oblivion Remastered. I’ll echo what I’ve seen others post about the graphics – it’s exactly as my younger self imagined it.

The remastered visuals are eons better than the original, but it still captures that exact same vibe that I remember from almost 20 years ago. And yet the graphics, to me, are the least important part in this experience. I craved to jump back into a game that I thoroughly loved as a teenager. To rediscover all the people, places and things… nouns… that I once knew like the back of my hand. It has certainly been long enough that I no longer consider the game as “fresh” in my mind. I haven’t played Oblivion since high school, so it’s easily been at least 16 years since my last playthrough.

There’s a lot of discussion and debate going on about Oblivion Remastered right now, and perhaps I’ll dive into it further through an article here one day, but for what I was hoping for – it’s perfect. I wanted to stealthily follow a target to their living quarters, only to see the target get stuck behind an open door that they can’t figure out how to get around, so I have to come back days later. I wanted to wait for 17 hours in the middle of the Imperial City street, and to see upon waking from my catatonia that 11 townsfolk all left their buildings at the exact same moment and initiated conversation with each other simultaneously. I wanted the absolute jank that Oblivion had, and it delivered! It’s simply a blast to experience again. I keep smiling as I see things that I had long forgotten. Playing Oblivion Remastered very much feels like hanging out with an old friend, someone that you considered a best friend once upon a time, and discovering that you’re still just as close after all this time.

Nathaniel Kelly

I went on a Steam Deck odyssey this last month. Discovering some ways to get good performance out of games that I had frankly given up on. All of these were 4X strategy games, admittedly, and playing almost every 4X in my Steam library gave me some insights to what I like and dislike about the genre.

Endless Legend

The sequel is closer than ever so it was time to revisit the game that got me into the genre. I knew this one would run flawlessly on Steam Deck and I played a game to discover that it's still royalty in the genre. I love this game to death and if it wasn't for its simple combat I'd still be playing it. In some minor ways it just shows its age compared to modern titles. If this was the only 4X game, I'd be happy. But bigger and better things exist.

Humankind

The most modern iteration of the Endless Legend game rules before the new game comes out. And, it just wasn't the same;' stripped of it's original setting and aesthetics it just lacks that certain something that makes this developer shine. It makes me so excited that they are returning to Auriga because the endless setting just does it for me, or maybe I'm just a fantasy nerd. Outside of this, the game rocks. A pretty historical 4X that I would still pick over Civilization any day with fun combat and intuitive management that you can't get from any other developer right now.

Spellforce: Conquest of Eo

I bought this on a sale a while back because it was cheap and I am impulsive and I really didn't expect a whole lot out of it. I don't really like regular Spellforce and I didn't expect a spin off to change that. But this game surprised me in every way possible. The high fantasy setting introduces really fun and interesting units that all have their unique functions. While on the outside this game presents as a 4X game, it's actually a role playing game with a huge dose of overlord style management. It's an incredibly fun twist on the regular formula and I'd be playing right now if it weren't for the last game I played.

Age of Wonders 4

It just doesn't get better than this. A fun customizable setting that makes me feel like I am creating the lore of the game each time I play a round. Making heroes that fight to join your pantheon of gods; they could be anything from Evil Druid Moles to Religious Imperial Orcs. I found a way to make this game very PASSABLE on Steam Deck with FSR, dropping to 20 frames per second in combat. And it's STILL my first pick whenever I want to play a 4X game. This game has the best display of information and data sheets of any I've mentioned here and I feel like a genius tactician when I take 5 minutes to research my enemies weaknesses before attacking. I truly believe that's all I (and probably many others) want out of a strategy game after all of my soul searching; to be given 20 diverse warriors with their own stat blocks and abilities lined up on a field with terrain that also has stat blocks and abilities and be the genius that finds out how to win the day.

Jahan Khan

Venus Vacation Prism: Dead or Alive Xtreme

I've been on vacation lately, a working holiday if you will, on Venus Island. It's not on Google Maps, but it is definitely a place.

I somehow became the manager of the premier resort there, wearing many hats but mostly a social media manager and publicist for aspiring supermodels. Drawing the line between professional and friendship got a little tricky when managing my relationship with these budding starlets, as on most days I felt like I was living in a reality TV show, almost like Love Island and The Bachelor wrapped into one romantically-charged existential crisis. To make matters more complicated, I had mounting responsibilities. The story wasn't who I would give the rose to, but whether I would even have a job by the end of the season. I needed to build an audience for the organisation, and also help the models build their own niche and dedicated fan followings, all while preparing to put on a major production for a major festival at the end of the season.

The job required daily tasks of report writing and lots of photography, all of which had to be of the highest standard. Meanwhile I was being micro-managed by the head office.

It's been stressful, but I suppose stress is less stressful when you're in a sun-kissed paradise.

A big thank you to our writers for dropping by and to all our loyal fans for being here to check it out! Be sure to tell us what you're playing in the comments and check back next month for more of what our team is getting into.