I'll admit I've been a bit sceptical of Loco Motive since it was first announced a little while ago. Any point and click adventure game that makes a bid trying to be funny like the good old days has a very real chance of being painfully un>funny in my experience (looking at you, Deponia), and I was worried that Loco Motive would fall into the same try-hard pile as other so-called comedy adventures that have come out recently (see also Turnip Boy - yeah, I went there, fight me). But having played a timed 20-minute demo of it at this year's EGX, I'll hold my hands up and say, yep, I'm the one who's been slapped in the face with a giant custard pie here, as Loco Motive is genuinely really quite good, folks, and I'm pleased to report the good old days are still very much alive and kicking. Well, except poor old Lady Unterwald, who carks it within seconds of the game starting, and whose murder you end up getting framed for.

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Ever since rocks and sticks formed the first proto-drumkits, mankind has understood the uplifting power of a good bop. So too does Billie Bust Up, an upcoming 3D platformer that’s just as much of a Disney-style cartoon musical.

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When I see dirt, I know what I must do: clean. Whether it's in my own, real-life home or in a game, I am compelled to scrub, wipe and tidy - and the oily, purple globs of gunk clogging up Loddlenaut's appropriately named region of Flotsam Flats are just begging to be zapped by my little diver's handy laser gun. With just a single squeeze of the trigger, he sets to work, moving his arm automatically to neatly attack each neighbouring blob without any further prompting or manual aiming. All I need to focus on is getting him close enough to the gunge and he'll take care of the rest. Sure, it's perhaps not quite as involved as your PowerWash Sims and other polish em ups, but the combination of Loddlenaut's lo-fi visuals, comforting score and surprisingly soothing controller rumble all work to give it its own kind of zen-like charm - and it was enough to make me forget the surrounding din of the EGX Rezzed Zone for a very enjoyable 20 minutes or so.

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Sometimes, the ability to push over a tree was inside you all along. Retrieving woodland traversal skills from the depths of memory is key to Pine Hearts, an easygoing adventure/exploration game that I've spent a very relaxing half-hour with in the EGX 2023 Rezzed Zone.

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Sundays are for trying to identify beige biscuit crumbs on an oat-coloured carpet. Before you squint, let's read this week's best writing about games (and game related things).

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Pitched as "a racing game for people who don’t like racing games," Resistor shows an immediate disinterest in tracks, time trials, or even really the cars themselves. This> racing game, I’m told as I sit down to play a demo in the EGX 2023’s Rezzed Zone, cares about the person behind the wheel – and their burgeoning camaraderie with a roughneck pit crew.

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No chit-chat. This is serious. If you survived Friday the 13th, you'd be wise not to push your luck. I mean this: Tell us your weekend gaming plans and I won't egg your windows. You heard me. Hop to.

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Grotty fantasy Soulslike Lords of the Fallen - which I have been cautiously looking forward to, despite Ed's efforts to temper my expectations - is getting its chainmail-wearing arse kicked by Steam players. It seems to be selling well, squatting at third on the platform's global top seller charts by revenue, but the user review consensus tells a different story. There are 1,320 reviews at the time of writing, and they are Mostly Negative, which is quite the showing for a game's first day on sale.

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The RPS Treehouse have been roaming the EGX 2023 showfloor over the last couple of days, rummaging through the Rezzed Zone to sniff out more great indie games we think should be on your radar. With over 50 games in this year's Rezzed Zone, we certainly haven't been spoiled for choice this year, and below we've rounded up a selection of what's caught our respective eyes so far, from interstellar trucking sims and neon-drenched cats on skateboards to racing battle royales and dreamy visual novels - some of which you can even play at home right now thanks to some conveniently-timed Steam Next Fest demos.

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Good lord. That run was 90 minutes? It felt like twenty, and also like six days. Highway Rampage is a small game, but after the way it's gripped me right from its beautifully cool intro, I can't not> bring it to your attention.

This is an arcade blasting game through and through, where conscious strategy and placed shots soon shrink into rearview atoms as the pull of the machine gunner takes you and you realise you've been screaming for the last eight seconds. You drive a selection of vehicles across an increasingly ludicrous desert while everything in the universe tries to stop you. But you have guns. Or flamethrowers. That are bristling with ramming spikes. Or possibly all of the above.

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