ARC Raiders popped off with the community last week, but it didn't make the top three games here on The Bomb 12 this week. That's right -- it's the 12 games that really matter to people who are really playing games, and The Outer Worlds 2 topped the chart this go 'round. Oh, and you might notice something else that looks out of place in the top 3. We'll get to that soon.
We haven't been doing The Bomb 12 for that long, but we've seen this happen before. And by "this," I mean a game that doesn't seem to be dominating conversation, but everyone is quietly playing anyway. Personally, those are my favorite kinds of Bomb 12 champions. The Outer Worlds 2 is just a strong video game. It's a modern update on a throwback style RPG. Obsidian is known for its solid character-customization options, fun dialogue, and engaging writing -- and you get all of that here.
Dispatch launched its ultimate and penultimate entries this week, and that episodic structure seems to have really worked for the choose-your-own-adventure-style adventure. The superhero game picked up more concurrent players each week, according to Steam's charts -- and players kept returning with each new drop. Now that the entire first season (first game?) is out, Dispatch should also pick up on the holdouts who just want to consume the entire thing at once.
Oh, and then The Bomb 12 community gave us Chibi-Robo. The kids like to have fun, and I'm here for it. This GameCube classic is available on Switch and Switch 2 through the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pak, and the community apparently wanted to honor it on gaming's most prestigious list of popular games. Who can blame them?
Lumines Arise is the other new game on the chart. It's No. 10 and could go even higher next week when people have more time to spend with it. I've played the musical puzzle tripfest (in VR), and I've been enjoying it. That's despite not quite syncing with its various strategies. It's doing the Tetris Effect thing very well, and I'll always show up for Enhance when they pull out that trick.
Want to add your game for consideration on the next Bomb 12? Submit it by following this link to the official Google Form.
