Time for our regular roundup of the mostly (but not strictly) retro-interest games releases on the way for the coming month, with trailers for everything and a few of my own thoughts too! Predictably though, given the time of year, there’s not a huge amount to report on this time but it’s not a bad bunch and I hope you enjoy what I’ve got here all the same!

I bought Batman: Arkham Trilogy in an Xbox sale for next to nothing a couple of years ago but if you fancy spending what will no doubt be a lot more than that on a Nintendo Switch version then you’ll be able to do so on December 1st! You’ll be facing off against The Joker, Scarecrow and Poison Ivy in the incredible Batman: Arkham Asylum, then you’ll step into the shadows of Batman: Arkham City’s open world, the new maximum security home for thugs, gangsters and criminal masterminds, and finally, in Batman: Arkham Knight, you’ll tear through the streets of Gotham in that dreadful Batmobile and take on the ultimate threat… Unnecessary vehicles aside, they’re all great though, and if this is the only way you’ve got to play, then I’m sure it will be worth every penny.

I believe Steamworld Build is the series’ first foray into building, after digging your way through several metroidvanias and a couple of card-based RPG and tactics games, although with half the action taking place underground it seems to be in familiar territory! Up top it’s regular fantasy steam-city-building, while in your mines below you’ll be digging for resources and looking for ancient spaceship parts that will help you escape the world, which seems to be your ultimate goal for some reason. And you’ll also be fending off all sorts of subterranean nasties while you’re down there! Looks cool if that’s your thing, and comes to everything (quite possibly including Game Pass) on December 1st too.

Apple Arcade was great when it first arrived and possibly even better a year or so later (when my next three month trial came along!) and I found all sorts of cool new stuff to play through on there. A couple of years later and I had another go (free with my next phone) and unfortunately by then it was all rehashes of old mobile stuff with the free-to-play jank that had been previously introduced at some point removed again, or just new free-to-play games that had the jank removed before release. Anyway, until another trial comes along there’s no way I’ll be back, so will have to wait to play Apple Arcade exclusive, Sonic Dream Team, which arrives on the 5th. It’s a 3D Sonic the Hedgehog running fast game that looks mighty polished if you are on there though!

The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria is already out on PC and brings its procedurally-generated survival-crafting to PS5 as well on 5th December, with Xbox still to follow early in 2024; not sure what it is about Xbox and these big nerd-fests of late – always last to the party! Stupid Series S, I expect, but in this case I don’t really care because as much as I love my Tolkien, I can’t think of anything worse unfortunately! Anyway, if you fancy taking a bunch of Dwarves into the depths of the Misty Mountains to reclaim their old stuff, make new stuff and, no doubt, fight nasty stuff, then this might be the PS5 release you’ve been waiting for. Credit to GameSpot for the trailer.

Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader comes to PC, Xbox and PlayStation on December 7th, and it looks like a very old-school RPG with turn-based combat, big decisions to make and big consequences for someone to no doubt suffer as you create your own destiny with your own party of companions across the dark fantasy galaxy, exploring, fighting and making money however you see fit. I seem to remember a board game of this a very long time ago when I was into this stuff and that’s kind of how it comes across, albeit in a very next-gen video gamey skin!

And that is everything that’s jumping out at me for this time, although it’s more than I originally anticipated! I will be kicking off the new year with the regular On The Retro Radar feature for January on the 2nd but also look out for a similar special feature on the 4th where I’ll be looking forward to the rest of 2024 and making some game of the year predictions on top! And in the meantime, look out for this year’s Retro Arcadia Game of the Year Top Ten Countdown the week before Christmas, as well as all the usual weekly features and a few more end of year specials besides! See you around!