The Maw: what’s new in PC games this week?

As New Year’s Day dawns, the bells ring out from the steeples of old London town. The peals of celebration travel outward through our atmosphere, exiting the realm of Earthly sound and resonating with interstellar plasma and detritus to form a delicate ripple of comet flakes and stray photons, expanding far beyond our solar system. Where the ripple encounters larger masses, such as planets, suns and… other things, it rebounds, riding the weft of stardust back down to Earth. As it returns home, the signal is modified. Tinkered with. It acquires unsettling harmonics and a guttural undertow. By the time it re-enters our atmosphere, it has condensed to three words, which descend and shrink and spiral into your ear like an octopus entering a crevice: FEED THE MAW.

We start Monday 6th January with the release of Project Tower, a third-person shooter with a transformation mechanic and probably some towers. Tuesday 7th January brings Pinball Storm: Lokanta, which is one of those Vampire Survivory roguelikes ‘with a twist’ – in this case, all the abilities are pinball-based. It’s accompanied by Chocolate Factory Simulator, which isn’t just a chocolate factory simulator, but a steampunk chocolate factory simulator. On Wednesday 8th January – well, what do you think you do in Builders Of Egypt? On Thursday 9th January, there’s Reviver, a hand-drawn “narrative puzzle game with themes of love, fate and time”, and S4U: CITYPUNK 2011 AND LOVE PUNCH, “a modern adventure of young adults seeking love and meaning”, partly told through a desktop interface. Too much love? Play Cruel instead. It’s a throwback Nuke Duker with chainsaws, vending machines and door-kicking.

This is still the quiet time of year, but there are a few events of note this week. One is the Consumer Electronics Show, aka CES, which kicks off tonight in Las Vegas. A quick glance at the web page reveals an eldritch specimen of air purifier. Perhaps it plays Crysis. There’s also Awesome Games Done Quick, the annual speedrunning tournament – here’s Brendy’s rundown of the saxophone-based wonderment in store. Find our first weekly newsblog of 2025 below, served in the traditional style with a comments thread garnish for your news tips and game recommendations. Hope it’s a good week, wherever you are!