As we wrap up week twenty-nine of the 2025 league, I will admit I was expecting the week to bring a few changes to the scoreboard.

We did, after all, have two titles set to launch during the week.  Then, rather than a realignment the week was a bit of a damp squib.  But we’ll get to that.  First the scores as we started the week.

Week 28 Scores

The two titles set to launch during week twenty-nine were Wildgate, listed for the 22nd, and Killing Floor 3, which was slated for the 24th.

Then the 22nd arrived, the Fantasy Critic League Discord bot announced that it had released… and there was no score.

• Fantasy Critic: Wildgate has released!
  • [Picked by Play Forever Mwahahaha (Shintar)]

I dug around a bit and there was a bit of confusion as to when Wildgate might actually be launching, as I found a couple of places that claimed it was actually going live on the 24th.  So I let that one sit.

Then we got a score update for RoboCop.

• RoboCop: Rogue City – Unfinished Business
  • [Picked by Frabjous Day Enterprises (Archey)]
  • Score has gone DOWN from 72.0 to 70.9

We also saw Shadow Labyrinth trend down a bit.

• Shadow Labyrinth
  • [Picked by Play Forever Mwahahaha (Shintar)]
  • Score has gone DOWN from 73.8 to 72.2

Those two and some other minor score changes… too small for the bot to announce… led to some changes on the scoreboard, though no changes in ranking yet.

• Publisher Score Updates
  • Frabjous Day Enterprises (Archey)
    • Score has gone DOWN from 45.0 to 43.9
  • Rusty Shackleford (Shilgrod)
    • Score has gone DOWN from 58.0 to 56.8
  • Play Forever Mwahahaha (Shintar)
    • Score has gone DOWN from 46.5 to 44.9

When we got to the 24th, Killing Floor 3 went live with a modest score.

• Killing Floor 3 has released!
  • [Picked by Slightly Scuffed Studios (Kluwes)]
  • Now has a score of 73

That got a score update but, once again, no change in the rankings.

• Publisher Score Updates
  • Slightly Scuffed Studios (Kluwes)
    • Score has gone UP from 29.7 to 32.7

Then, as more reviews came in, Killing Floor 3 got a bit of a boost in score.

• Killing Floor 3
  • [Picked by Slightly Scuffed Studios (Kluwes)]
  • Score has gone UP from 73.2 to 75.1

That was just enough to trigger a change in the scoreboard rankings, lifting Kluwes up one spot.

• Publisher Score Updates
  • Slightly Scuffed Studios (Kluwes)
    • Score has gone UP from 32.9 to 34.8
    • Moved from 9th place to 8th place
  • Rodent Entertainment (Arhanta)
    • Moved from 8th place to 9th place

That was a bit of a fight for the basement I will admit, though as the person in 10th place, I can’t really throw stones.

Meanwhile, there was no word on Wildgate, which on the league page indicates that it is not linked to a Open Critic score, in part because there is no entry for the game over there.  Over on Metacritic, as of this writing, there is only one review from a Spanish gaming site.

Maybe it will take some time to get noticed, but for the moment Wildgate is a scoreless entry.

All of which left the scoreboard looking like this at the end of the week.

Week 29 Scores

Bhagpuss stayed up in first place, I held out in last place, and not much changed in the middle.

There were also no bids this week, though there were a couple of changes for titles already selected.  Bhagpuss may have a title to drop as the news for 2XKO sounds bad for a full release in 2025.

• 2XKO
  • [Picked by Pretty Blue Fox Games (Bhagpuss)]
  • Estimated release date changed from ‘2025’ to ‘TBA’.
  • Early access release date changed from ‘No Date’ to ‘Tuesday, September 09, 2025’.
  • Note removed: ‘Formally known as Project L (League of Legends Fighting Game)’.
  • Note added: ‘Releasing in a “closed beta,” with the intent of keeping the game online and receiving updates “from here on out”‘.
  • Tags changed from Free to Play, New Game to Free to Play, New Game, Planned for Early Access.

Since the league rules say that Early Access doesn’t count, and since nobody counter picked it, Bhagpuss was free to drop the game, which he did.

Then one of my picks got a date change.

• Dying Light: The Beast
  • [Picked by TAGN HQ (Wilhelm)]
  • Release date changed from ‘Friday, August 22, 2025’ to ‘Friday, September 19, 2025’.

A slip like that always makes me wonder what is up.  Do they feel the game needs a bit more polish, or is it a broken wreck they know needs at least another month before it can stand on its own?  Or is the publisher just trying not to launch straight into the teeth of some other big title.

I guess we’ll see in September.  A lot of my picks are deep in Q3/Q4 it seems.

That leaves us looking at week thirty.

Coming Up for Week 30

We have Tales of the Shire landing on Tuesday for Archey and Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound going live on Thursday of next week for Cyanbane.  Will either shake up the scoreboard?

Related: