Multi Upcoming Releases: Week 23 (06/10~06/16)

[Raine]

Upcoming [Console] Releases (10/02~10/08)​

Officially October now! It... doesn't feel like it should be this far into the year yet, somehow. At least the overbearing heat can shove off for a while.

As mentioned last week, October and November are great for regret thanks to Black Friday deals. This week we have an entry in the poster child for that phenomenon: Assassin's Creed Mirage. While this is supposed to be a "throwback" to what the series originally was, which is to say removing the excessive bloat, the gear, the RPG-lite mechanics that in many ways ruined the core gameplay loop, it is super suspect that the game carries an MSRP of $50 in the US. This is Ubisoft, the only way this thing shouldn't have a $70 price tag is if they're convinced they'll get consumer backlash from it - so buyer beware. You'll definitely be able to get this for $25-$30 on Black Friday as usual, too.

NHL 24 on either Tuesday or Friday depending on your preference for editions. Not really much else to say there; if you need more sports, you got more sports! Detective Pikachu Returns releases on Friday as well, for Switch owners that either enjoyed the 3DS game or just want Pokemon but in a different flavor. Front Mission 2 Remake is out on Thursday if you're jonesing for some mecha action since Armored Core VI skipped you, or otherwise just want some flavor of RPG to hold you over until next month.

Special shoutout to NIS America for once again being a shit company, too. I see your Disgaea 7: Vows of the Virtueless being $60 on Switch. I see that "Complete Edition" for $100, because there's Day 1 story/stage/character DLC that you've insisted on doing every single time since Disgaea 3 dropped on PS3. Exercise some goddamn restraint for once!

Date	Game Title	NSW	PS4	PS5	XBO	XSX	Metacritic
10/2​	Bilkins' Folly	✔​	✔​	✔​			TBD
10/2​	Trepang2			✔​		✔​	78
10/3​	Disgaea 7: Vows of the Virtueless	✔​	✔​	✔​			81
10/3​	EVERSPACE 2 Stellar Edition (Physical)			✔​		✔​	81
10/3​	NHL 24 (X-Factor Edition)		✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	TBD
10/3​	Pixel Ripped 1995			✔​			82
10/3​	Scorn			✔​			70
10/3​	Survivor: Castaway Island	✔​	✔​	✔​			TBD
10/3​	Synergia			✔​		✔​	TBD
10/3​	The Lamplighters League					✔​	TBD
10/3​	The Light Brigade (Collector's Edition) [Physical]			✔​			79
10/3​	VR Skater (Physical)			✔​			78
10/4​	Blossom Tales 2: The Minotaur Prince				✔​	✔​	77
10/4​	Dinobreak	✔​		✔​		✔​	TBD
10/4​	Diorama Dungeoncrawl - Master of the Living Castle	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	TBD
10/5​	Assassin's Creed Mirage		✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	TBD
10/5​	Bang-On Balls: Chronicles	✔​	✔​			✔​	TBD
10/5​	Forza Motorsport (Premium Edition)					✔​	TBD
10/5​	Front Mission 2 Remake	✔​					TBD
10/5​	Knight vs Giant: The Broken Excalibur	✔​		✔​		✔​	TBD
10/5​	The Sisters 2: Road to Fame	✔​	✔​	✔​			TBD
10/6​	Borderlands 3: Ultimate Edition	✔​					81*
10/6​	Detective Pikachu Returns	✔​					TBD
10/6​	Horizon Forbidden West: Complete Edition			✔​			88
10/6​	Lord Winklebottom Investigates (Physical)	✔​	✔​				TBD
10/6​	NHL 24		✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	TBD
10/6​	Project Blue	✔​			✔​		TBD
10/6​	Sunshine Manor	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	TBD
10/6​	Sword Art Online: Last Recollection		✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	TBD
10/6​	Torn Away				✔​		TBD

Spoiler: Switch exclusives

Date	Game Title
10/2​	Madfarmer: Lost Kingdoms and Crazy Critters
10/3​	Elder Story
10/3​	PAINT PRO for KIDS 0+
10/3​	PictoPull
10/3​	Silent Hope
10/3​	World of Outlaws: Dirt Racing '23 Edition
10/4​	A Tiny Sticker Tale
10/4​	Treachery in Beatdown City: Ultra Remix
10/4​	UDO
10/5​	AEW: Fight Forever - HOOKHAUSEN: Very Handsome, Very Evil
10/5​	BLACK WITCHCRAFT
10/5​	Cafe Master Story
10/5​	Fabled Lands
10/5​	My Little Universe
10/5​	schleich Puzzles FARM WORLD
10/5​	The Dark Pictures Anthology: Little Hope
10/5​	Wargroove 2
10/6​	Aquarium Land
10/6​	Freaky Trip
10/6​	Merge Master
10/6​	Park Racer
10/6​	Pirates on Target
10/6​	Shy Cats Hidden Orchestra
10/6​	The Pale Beyond
10/7​	Hyper Gym Life 3D - Tough Guys

 

[Spiner202]

I am so behind on Assassin's Creed games, but maybe I will get this one when it inevitably gets cheap, just because it won't be a 100-hour slog, as the more recent ones supposedly are.

Also, I know nothing about the Detective Pikachu series, but it looks wicked. It will never justify the Nintendo tax, but I definitely wouldn't mind trying it at some point.

 

[Raine]

I am so behind on Assassin's Creed games, but maybe I will get this one when it inevitably gets cheap, just because it won't be a 100-hour slog, as the more recent ones supposedly are.

Likewise, yeah. Last year I caught up a bit after bailing after Revelations (which, if I'm being honest, is what Mirage is kneejerk reminding me of), and went through AC3, AC4 and AC Unity. So I just have Rogue and Syndicate left, before getting into the bloated trilogy. Still trying to decide on my precise exit point for the series; I think most likely whichever game is PS5/XSX-exclusive will be it. Just a nice, clean break.

Also, I know nothing about the Detective Pikachu series, but it looks wicked. It will never justify the Nintendo tax, but I definitely wouldn't mind trying it at some point.

I watched the movie, and that was pretty entertaining. I assume I would be fairly into the games, especially if they're anything at all like Professor Layton or Ace Attorney, but... I think stuff like this is probably upper ceiling $25 for me. I just can't envision wanting to fork over $50 for something that, at least on the surface, appears to be a 15~20 hour one-and-done affair.

 

[Benzine]

Thank you for sharing.

 

[TD]

I am so behind on Assassin's Creed games, but maybe I will get this one when it inevitably gets cheap, just because it won't be a 100-hour slog, as the more recent ones supposedly are.

I used to love them, I really enjoyed 1 & 2. Then 3 happened, I played it, but then I think something happened to put me off them.

Then I randomly loved Valhalla but that had more to do with it being a viking action rpg.

I don't know they all just kinda feel the same but with a new thematic backdrop?

 

[Raine]

I used to love them, I really enjoyed 1 & 2. Then 3 happened, I played it, but then I think something happened to put me off them.

Well they effectively killed off the modern era story with AC3, and Connor wasn't a particularly good/strong protagonist from a narrative perspective. Especially not compared to Ezio.

AC4/Black Flag being heavily about naval skirmishes, one of the more dubious aspects of AC3, also probably doesn't help. I was super apprehensive about wanting to continue after AC3's mess. ...The fact Rogue also has naval skirmishes is also why I keep putting off working through that. AC4's improvements were fine, but...

I don't know they all just kinda feel the same but with a new thematic backdrop?

Yeah, that good* ol' Ubisoft Formula. After, like, AC2 or so they thought they struck gold and just started using the same template for every game. And I do mean every game, because it apparently managed to extend beyond AC itself.

* YMMV even with AC2 itself lol

 

[Rachel]

lol I had no idea Disgaea 7 came out and I am (usually) a fan of the series

 

[Raine]

lol I had no idea Disgaea 7 came out and I am (usually) a fan of the series

Used to love me some Disgaea and general NIS tomfoolery back in the PS2 days. Phantom Brave, La Pucelle Tactics, Disgaea 2... lost a lot of hours to just those three, to speak nothing of the others.

But I don't think I've ever done a more severe 180 with a company than with NISA, what with all the bugs/glitches/errors their releases would constantly have (that the Japanese release didn't), going absolutely buck wild with bringing over shovelware and otherwise trash-tier games with the PSP and PS3, and, of course, their biggest sin: Introducing Idea Factory/Compile Heart to the west.

NIS themselves aren't much better though, from what I vaguely remember. Don't remember the exact particulars, but there was a massive exodus - perhaps the entire team - between D4 and D5 because NIS refused to pay them... something. I want to say it was their salary, but it could've been a performance bonus or something. I'd have to look it up and I'm feeling lazy. Haven't really bothered to follow news about them since.

 

[Raine]

Upcoming [Console] Releases (10/09~10/15)​

Howdy folks! Unfortunately running extraordinarily low on time this week, so no write-up for now. But here's this week's relatively sparse list of releases.

Date	Game Title	NSW	PS4	PS5	XBO	XSX	Metacritic
10/9​	Builder Simulator		✔​		✔​		TBD
10/10​	BLINNK and the Vacuum of Space			✔​			TBD
10/10​	Forza Motorsport					✔​	85
10/10​	Humankind (Heritage Edition) [Physical]			✔​			77
10/10​	Lil Gator Game		✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	84
10/10​	Long Gone Days	✔​		✔​		✔​	TBD
10/10​	ROBLOX		✔​				TBD
10/10​	Tin Hearts (Physical)	✔​	✔​	✔​			66
10/10​	Wild Card Football	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	TBD
10/11​	Between Time: Escape Room				✔​	✔​	TBD
10/11​	Honkai: Star Rail			✔​			80
10/12​	Astrosmash				✔​	✔​	TBD
10/12​	From Space		✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	TBD
10/12​	Haunted House	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	TBD
10/12​	River City: Rival Showdown	✔​	✔​				73
10/12​	Saltsea Chronicles	✔​		✔​			TBD
10/13​	Alphadia I & II	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	TBD
10/13​	Fresh Start (Physical)	✔​		✔​			TBD
10/13​	Lords of the Fallen			✔​		✔​	TBD
10/13​	Red Dead Redemption and Undead Nightmare (Physical)	✔​	✔​				95
10/13​	The Grinch: Christmas Adventures	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	TBD
10/13​	Transformers: Earthspark - Expedition	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	TBD
10/13​	Vampire: The Masquerade - The New York Bundle (Physical)	✔​	✔​				70*

Spoiler: Switch exclusives

Date	Game Title
10/10​	Airship Defender
10/10​	Block Buster Billy
10/10​	Lost Dream: Overgrown
10/11​	RedRaptor
10/11​	Supreme Car Parking Simulator 2024
10/11​	Terra Alia: The Language Discovery RPG
10/12​	Ancient Relics - Egypt
10/12​	Astebros
10/12​	Break the Glass Cup: Breaking Physics Puzzle
10/12​	Company of Heroes Collection
10/12​	Cook, Serve, Delicious!
10/12​	Dementium: The Ward
10/12​	Dino Ranch - Ride to the Rescue
10/12​	Dwerve
10/12​	Eventide 3: Legacy of Legends
10/12​	Ironsmith Medieval Simulator
10/12​	Pinball FX: South Park Pinball
10/12​	subpar pool
10/12​	TRAPPED in The Tricky Prison
10/13​	Chemically Bonded
10/13​	Kittengumi: The Sakabato's Thief
10/13​	Sakura Alien
10/13​	Submersible Simulator - Discover the Titanic into Ocean
10/13​	Traumatarium
10/13​	Whitestone
10/13​	Z Escape
10/13​	Zombie Defense
10/13​	Zombie Raft
10/14​	Taxi Driver Simulator 2024

 

[TD]

I'm very hyped for Lords of the Fallen.

Honkai is on my radar but admittedly I'll likely never get to it.

The Grinch: Christmas Adventures

 

[Raine]

I'm very hyped for Lords of the Fallen.

I've been interested in the 2014 game for a while, enough to own it and all its DLC. I'll... get around to it within the next century, maybe. Possibly.

It's about what you would expect.

 

[TD]

I've been interested in the 2014 game for a while, enough to own it and all its DLC. I'll... get around to it within the next century, maybe. Possibly.

The 2014 one was.. okay. It was one of the first AA Soulslikes. The new one is by a different team despite the same name and universe.

 

[Raine]

Upcoming [Console] Releases (10/16~10/22)​

Howdy folks! What even is time anymore? This week we have a couple of big hitters coming out of Nintendo and Sony, with a cameo from Sega.

Biggest title this month is probably Marvel's Spider-Man 2, the hotly anticipated follow-up from the folks over at Insomniac. Which also means that, y'know, there isn't really too much to actually say there. Aside from Spider-Man having a 2 next to it is usually a damn good time, whether that's a video game or a movie.

Nintendo's got a new 2D Mario game coming our way in the form of Super Mario Bros. Wonder. According to recent interviews they spent a lot of time and effort on the animations for this one, trying to bring the characters to life and satisfy people that felt the New SMB games were too sterile and safe. New power-ups, multiple playable characters, and I'll be damned if it isn't just beautiful to look at. This is the first game without Charles Martinet as the voice actor for Mario and Luigi, as well.

Sonic Superstars is coming to all platforms this Tuesday, and like their contemporary also returning to 2D with multiple characters. Sonic Team seems to be playing a support role for Arzest, who themselves... let's just say they have a colorful assortment of games under their belt and leave it at that. It's no Mania 2 for sure, but it'll be interesting to see where public opinion settles for this one - especially so soon after Sonic Frontiers.

Lastly, given GWF's forays into chat nights, highlighting that The Jackbox Party Pack 10 drops on all platforms this week as well. These are usually good for some alcohol-fueled shenanigans for a couple of nights at least.

Date	Game Title	NSW	PS4	PS5	XBO	XSX	Metacritic
10/16​	Hot Wheels Unleashed 2: Turbocharged (Legendary Edition)	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	TBD
10/16​	Kingdom Eighties	✔​		✔​		✔​	81
10/17​	A Boy and His Blob: Retro Collection	✔​	✔​	✔​			TBD
10/17​	Ape Escape Academy		✔​	✔​			51
10/17​	Enchanted Portals Tales Edition (Physical)			✔​			42
10/17​	I.Q. Final		✔​	✔​			TBD
10/17​	OVERPASS 2			✔​		✔​	TBD
10/17​	Skull Island: Rise of Kong	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	TBD
10/17​	Sonic Superstars	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	76
10/17​	SoulCalibur: Broken Destiny		✔​	✔​			80*
10/17​	Tekken 6		✔​	✔​			82*
10/17​	Tennis On-Court			✔​			TBD
10/17​	The Caligula Effect 2			✔​			65*
10/17​	Wizard with a Gun			✔​		✔​	TBD
10/18​	Hellboy: Web of Wyrd	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	TBD
10/18​	Kona II: Brume	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	TBD
10/18​	Slender: The Arrival			✔​		✔​	65
10/18​	Tricky Tanks				✔​		TBD
10/19​	Agatha Christie - Murder on the Orient Express	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	TBD
10/19​	Animal Hospital		✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	TBD
10/19​	Endless Dungeon		✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	TBD
10/19​	Frank and Drake (Physical)	✔​	✔​	✔​			79
10/19​	Gargoyles Remastered	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	TBD
10/19​	Harmony's Odyssey		✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	TBD
10/19​	Hot Wheels Unleashed 2: Turbocharged	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	TBD
10/19​	Inescapable: No Rules, No Rescue	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	TBD
10/19​	Mail Time	✔​		✔​			74
10/19​	Spirit Of The Island	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	TBD
10/19​	The 7th Guest VR			✔​			TBD
10/19​	The Gap		✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	TBD
10/19​	The Jackbox Party Pack 10	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	TBD
10/20​	Marvel's Spider-Man 2			✔​			TBD
10/20​	Mummy Pinball				✔​	✔​	TBD
10/20​	Super Mario Bros. Wonder	✔​					TBD
10/20​	Tin Hearts (Physical)	✔​	✔​	✔​			66
10/20​	TrinityS		✔​	✔​			TBD
10/20​	Warm Snow	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	80*

Spoiler: Switch exclusives

Date	Game Title
10/16​	Pillars of Dust
10/17​	Silent Paws: Winter Quest
10/17​	The Love - Date Simulator with Girls
10/17​	ToyBox Puzzle
10/17​	Vlad Circus: Descend Into Madness
10/18​	Ball laB II
10/18​	Gungrave G.O.R.E Ultimate Enhanced Edition
10/19​	Bish Bash Bots
10/19​	Choice Clash: What Would You Rather?
10/19​	DINOSAURS: Mission Dino Camp
10/19​	Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed - Ecto Edition
10/19​	Hentai Tales Vol. 1: Hitomi and Strange Forest
10/19​	Hidden Cats in London
10/19​	Jujubos
10/19​	Passpartout 2: The Lost Artist
10/19​	Sailing Era: Adventure of 2233
10/19​	Shalnor Legends 2: Trials of Thunder
10/19​	Soviet Project
10/19​	Super Ultimate Fighters
10/19​	Tales of Mathasia
10/19​	Witchy Life Story
10/20​	Acrylic Nails!
10/20​	Another World Mahjong Girl
10/20​	Bubble Shoot Farm
10/20​	Garden Buddies
10/20​	Garden Guardian
10/20​	Latte Stand Tycoon+
10/20​	NeonPowerUp!
10/21​	Lamphead

 

[Fool's Requiem]

I think releasing a "Legendary Edition" of a game a couple days before the regular version is silly.

You want to milk sales, you release a regular version, then a few months down the road, you sell a beefed up version with more shit, so that some people buy the game twice. Once, to play the game at launch, and then again to get the collector's edition of a game they liked. You sell the original version at a "discount" when the collectors version is released.

 

[Smacktard]

Can't wait for Super Mario Wonder. I'm hoping wife enjoys it, too. We're in desperate need of a good casual multiplayer game. Pocky & Rocky Reshrined kicked both our asses.

 

[Raine]

I think releasing a "Legendary Edition" of a game a couple days before the regular version is silly.

You want to milk sales, you release a regular version, then a few months down the road, you sell a beefed up version with more shit, so that some people buy the game twice. Once, to play the game at launch, and then again to get the collector's edition of a game they liked. You sell the original version at a "discount" when the collectors version is released.

The entire industry is a fucking dumpster fire. I would say "right now," but it's been this way for the last several years.

Getting "early" access to the game by pre-ordering (and usually a higher priced version, at that) was another thing started by EA, I believe. At the very least I think it was Fifa that I first noticed it happening with, then it spread to their other sports games, then to other companies, and now even fucking indie developers are doing it. I intentionally omitted a couple from this week's list, and will probably just nix them all together at some point. Because it's fucking dumb.

Another thing I'm seeing a ton of, and this can't be good business sense, is physical releases for primarily indie games that launched several years ago and have Metacritic scores in the 40~60 range. So, ostensibly trash. Who the hell is buying that? There's gotta be some sort of tax writeoff loophole or money laundering or something at work.

 

[Raine]

Upcoming [Console] Releases (10/23~10/29)​

Judging from parts of this week's list, it must be time for Halloween. Plenty of assorted spooky games to choose from, but as I'm a complete wimp I shain't be looking at any of those.

One of the bigger games releasing this week is Remedy's Alan Wake II, dropping onto both current gen platforms this Friday. The original Alan Wake was, in my mind, a surprising hit that sort of came out of nowhere - and that was all the way back in 2010! There was a lot of concern for the game releasing in this holiday period with so many big hitters around, but this is probably the "safest" of the available options. Will be curious to see how reviews and sales pan out.

Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1 releases on Tuesday, which by all accounts is... quite the mixed bag. Lots of negatives. Switch owners in particular, at least those with a penchant for physical goods, should be aware that most of the games aren't contained on the cart because Konami was extraordinarily cheap and went with the 4 gig units. All platforms reportedly have minimal changes, and despite being very old none of the games are making any effort in terms of either frame rate or resoluton. MGS1 is locked to 1080p 30fps on all platforms sans handheld Switch, which is 720p 30fps. Switch versions for MGS2 and MGS3 are locked at 30fps in both modes (again 1080p and 720p); whereas everything else is 1080p and 60fps. ...So the most notable thing about this is probably just that Vol. 2 will exist, and ostensibly free MGS4 from the clutches of PS3.

Oh, and there's EA Sports UFC 5 for the standard sports masochists. Real funny stuff happening in the EA Sports world recently, but that's neither here nor there.

Date	Game Title	NSW	PS4	PS5	XBO	XSX	Metacritic
10/23	SpongeBob SquarePants: The Cosmic Shake (Physical)			✔​		✔​	70
10/24	Archetype Arcadia	✔​	✔​	✔​			TBD
10/24	Cities: Skylines II			✔​		✔​	76
10/24	Coffee Talk + Coffee Talk Episode 2: Double Shot Bundle (Physical)	✔​	✔​	✔​			76 & 79
10/24	Coffee Talk Episode 2: Hibiscus & Butterfly Single Shot Edition (Physical)	✔​	✔​	✔​			79
10/24	Coffee Talk Single Shot Edition (Physical)	✔​	✔​	✔​			76
10/24	CRYMACHINA	✔​	✔​	✔​			64
10/24	Just Dance 2024 Edition	✔​		✔​		✔​	TBD
10/24	Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	TBD
10/24	Operation Wolf Returns: First Mission (Physical)	✔​	✔​	✔​			65*
10/24	Pickleball Smash	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	TBD
10/24	Vertigo 2			✔​			TBD
10/25	Horror Tale 2: Samantha	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	TBD
10/25	Regular Factory: Escape Room				✔​	✔​	TBD
10/25	Stray Souls		✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	TBD
10/25	Swapshot	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	TBD
10/25	The Inheritance of Crimson Manor				✔​	✔​	TBD
10/26	DINOSAURS: Mission Dino Camp		✔​				TBD
10/26	Frog Detective: The Entire Mystery	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	TBD
10/26	Ghostbusters: Rise of the Ghost Lord			✔​			TBD
10/26	Ghostrunner 2			✔​		✔​	TBD
10/26	Journey to Foundation			✔​			TBD
10/26	Mineko's Night Market		✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	66
10/26	Strategic Mind: Spirit of Liberty		✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	70
10/27	Alan Wake II			✔​		✔​	TBD
10/27	Desolatium	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	TBD
10/27	DreamWorks Trolls Remix Rescue	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	TBD
10/27	EA SPORTS UFC 5			✔​		✔​	TBD
10/27	Halloween Pinball				✔​	✔​	TBD
10/27	Haunted House (Physical)	✔​		✔​	✔​	✔​	TBD
10/27	Hero Survival	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	TBD
10/27	Mineko's Night Market (Physical)	✔​		✔​			66
10/27	Star Trek: Resurgence (Physical)		✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	71
10/27	Terminator: Resistance - Complete Edition					✔​	47
10/27	Werewolf: The Apocalypse - Heart of the Forest (Physical)	✔​	✔​				73

Spoiler: Switch exclusives

Date	Game Title
10/24​	Car for Sale Simulator 2023 - Car Mechanic, Wash, Car Flipper
10/24​	Dreams of a Geisha
10/24​	Enchanted Portals
10/24​	Golf: Hole in Two
10/24​	Springtime Hike
10/25​	A Perfect Day
10/25​	Composer World
10/26​	Animal Kart Racer 2
10/26​	CometStriker DX
10/26​	DAVE THE DIVER
10/26​	DOG
10/26​	even if TEMPEST Dawning Connections
10/26​	Get Me Out, Please
10/26​	Gordian Quest
10/26​	Great Ambition of the SLIMES
10/26​	Hana Awase New Moon (Himeutsugi Volume)
10/26​	Hello Kitty and Friends: Happiness Parade
10/26​	Horror Gallery
10/26​	Illuminaria
10/26​	LumiereMagna
10/26​	Nyanzou & Kumakichi Let's make a flower garden
10/26​	Paintball 3 - Candy Match Factory
10/26​	Paper Dash - Ghost Hunt
10/26​	Seaside Driving
10/26​	SPACE STORESHIP
10/26​	Spin Rhythm XD
10/26​	Trip World DX
10/26​	Varenje - Don't Touch The Berries
10/26​	Wet Steps
10/26​	Yatzi
10/27​	30 Sport Games in 1
10/27​	Alive Paint
10/27​	Barbie Dreamhouse Adventures
10/27​	BRATZ: Flaunt Your Fashion (Complete Edition)
10/27​	Disney Dreamlight Valley (Cozy Edition)
10/27​	Grotto
10/27​	Kraken Odyssey
10/27​	Murder Is Game Over
10/27​	Save The World

 

[Benzine]

This is my second favourite recurring thread on the site. Thank you.

 

[Raine]

Upcoming [Console] Releases (10/30~11/05)​

We now find ourselves moving into November. Which, as we all know, is the month no good degenerates are born in. ...And Black Friday happens, I guess. Which is probably good because this week, at least, there isn't a large amount of things to blow money on.

The Talos Principle II sort of wins top billing by default. This is another narrative-driven puzzle game, landing onto Sony and Microsoft platforms this Thursday. As a follow-up to the 2014/2015 game that got tons of praise and solid word-of-mouth I'm somewhat intrigued, but the backlog never ends.

WarioWare: Move It! drops this Friday, and as always should be good for a couple of fun nights - with or without alcohol involved. This will be only the second game in the series made for the platform, which sounds a bit odd given how custom built the controllers are for this brand of shenanigans. Though that was also the case for the Wii, which only received one game. So who knows what Nintendo thinks sometimes.

Another smaller series is also making a return in the form of Alien Hominid Invasion, which arrives on Switch and Xbox this Wednesday. Curiously, in addition to coming to Switch for the first time, Alien Hominid HD also seems to be getting a re-release on Xbox One with the original game now re-titled "Alien Hominid 360." The more-HD release comes out the same day, so plenty of nonsensical couch co-op to shake a stick at here.

Finally, we have Star Ocean: The Second Story R coming to Switch and PlayStation on Thursday. This is a full remake of the original PS1 game, which has aged pretty well - so if the new graphical style doesn't suit your fancy there are other options available. That being said the remake is making a number of adjustments and additions, and I would be surprised if this is the last "2.5D" remake Square puts out. Physical Switch collectors should be forewarned that, minimally, the NTSC version requires some form of download. This may just be for additional language files, but probably best to investigate before pulling the trigger just to be safe.

Date	Game Title	NSW	PS4	PS5	XBO	XSX	Metacritic
10/31​	Akai Katana Shin (Physical)	✔​	✔​				75*
10/31​	Gimmick! Special Edition (Physical)		✔​				77
10/31​	Headbangers: Rhythm Royale	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	TBD
10/31​	Jusant			✔​		✔​	TBD
10/31​	The Foglands			✔​			TBD
10/31​	War Mongrels (Physical)		✔​	✔​			68
11/1​	Alien Hominid HD	✔​			✔​		78
11/1​	Alien Hominid Invasion	✔​			✔​		TBD
11/1​	Fusion Paradox	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	TBD
11/1​	This Bed We Made			✔​			TBD
11/1​	Wizardry School: Escape Room				✔​	✔​	TBD
11/2​	Achilles: Legends Untold			✔​		✔​	TBD
11/2​	Finis				✔​	✔​	TBD
11/2​	My Time at Sandrock	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	TBD
11/2​	Phantom Blade: Executioners		✔​	✔​			TBD
11/2​	RoboCop: Rogue City			✔​		✔​	TBD
11/2​	Star Ocean: The Second Story R	✔​	✔​	✔​			TBD
11/2​	The Smurfs 2: The Prisoner of the Green Stone	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	TBD
11/2​	The Talos Principle II		✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	TBD
11/2​	Thirsty Suitors	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	TBD
11/2​	Vampire: The Masquerade - Justice			✔​			TBD
11/3​	Call of Toys: Tower Defense!				✔​		TBD
11/3​	DreamWorks All-Star Kart Racing	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	TBD
11/3​	EA Sports WRC			✔​		✔​	TBD
11/3​	Ebenezer and The Invisible World	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	TBD
11/3​	Jumanji: Wild Adventures	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	TBD
11/3​	Quantum Error			✔​			TBD
11/3​	RollerCoaster Tycoon Adventures Deluxe	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	56*
11/3​	The Silent Swan			✔​			TBD
11/3​	WarioWare: Move It!	✔​					TBD

Spoiler: Switch exclusives

Date	Game Title
10/31​	Ace Robot Combat
10/31​	Mystery Lover
10/31​	Silent Paws: Hidden Valley
11/1​	Alpha Particle
11/1​	Enchanted Portals
11/1​	Ninja or Die: Shadow of the Sun
11/1​	Song of Nunu: A League of Legends Story
11/2​	Chicken Journey
11/2​	City Parking Driver: Draw the Path Simulator
11/2​	Eigengrau
11/2​	Foosball League Cup: Arcade Table Football Simulator
11/2​	FX Unit Yuki: The Henshin Engine
11/2​	Geometric Brothers
11/2​	Street Basketball Club: Sport Throw Simulator
11/3​	Amabilly
11/3​	Fashion Dreamer
11/3​	One Night: Burlesque
11/4​	White Wings

 

[Raine]

Upcoming [Console] Releases (11/06~11/12)​

Howdy folks! It's Call of Duty week, so relatively little to talk about. Which is good, because I may have gotten slightly sidetracked what with the time change and all.

So, obviously, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III releases this Friday. There are a handful of reviews already out, albeit only for the single-player campaign, and... hoo boy are they not favorable. You can read IGN's 4/10 here, and GameSpot's 5/10 here. I would imagine anyone interested in Call of Duty at this point knows what to expect from their purchases, though.

Beyond that, Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name drops onto PlayStation and Xbox this Thursday. It's a digital-only release, and is priced at $50. This is another thing where, uh, you probably already know what you're getting if you're remotely interested in it. So more feasting for Yakuza/Like a Dragon fans now, following Ishin! earlier in the year and before Infinite Wealth early next year.

Finally, just to fill a little space, Tales of the Arise is getting a DLC this week in the form of Beyond the Dawn. If that suits your fancy.

Date	Game Title	NSW	PS4	PS5	XBO	XSX	Metacritic
11/6​	Football Manager 2024 Console		✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	83
11/6​	Football Manager 2024 Touch	✔​					TBD
11/7​	Kill It With Fire VR			✔​			68*
11/7​	Let's Sing 2024	✔​		✔​		✔​	TBD
11/7​	Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	TBD
11/7​	SpellForce: Conquest of Eo			✔​		✔​	77
11/7​	Stray (Physical)					✔​	83
11/7​	The Invincible			✔​		✔​	70
11/7​	Tintin Reporter: Cigars of the Pharaoh		✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	TBD
11/7​	Weird West: Definitive Edition (Physical)			✔​			76
11/8​	Excessive Trim	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	TBD
11/8​	GUNHEAD			✔​			TBD
11/8​	Lost Islands					✔​	TBD
11/8​	Risk of Rain Returns	✔​					TBD
11/9​	Bem Feito	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	TBD
11/9​	Berzerk: Recharged	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	TBD
11/9​	Double Dragon Advance	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	75
11/9​	Dungeons 4			✔​		✔​	TBD
11/9​	Grace of Letoile		✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	TBD
11/9​	Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name		✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	TBD
11/9​	Super Double Dragon	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	TBD
11/9​	Tales of Arise: Beyond the Dawn		✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	TBD
11/9​	Wildshade: Unicorn Champions		✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	TBD
11/10​	Air Twister	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	TBD
11/10​	Burning Secrets - A Bara Visual Novel	✔​	✔​	✔​			TBD
11/10​	Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III		✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	45*
11/10​	Disney Dreamlight Valley Cozy Edition (Physical)		✔​	✔​		✔​	TBD
11/10​	Spells & Secrets	✔​		✔​		✔​	TBD
11/10​	The Fast Journey				✔​		TBD

Spoiler: Switch exclusives

Date	Game Title
11/7​	AAA PRO CLOCK 2023
11/7​	Games Advent Calendar - 25 Days - 25 Surprises
11/7​	Salt and Sacrifice
11/8​	Cobalt Core
11/9​	9 Years of Shadows
11/9​	CATAN: Console Edition
11/9​	Dragon Wings
11/9​	Erogods: Olympus
11/9​	Flooded
11/9​	Prison Break: Jail Escape Simulator
11/9​	SANABI
11/9​	Seven Spirits
11/9​	Virche Evermore - ErroR: Salvation -
11/9​	War Zone Soldier: Battle Royale Shooter
11/10​	Bob the Elementalist
11/10​	Claire: Extended Cut
11/10​	Polyturbo Drift Racing Simulator
11/10​	Sakura Alien 2
11/10​	Slaughter: The Lost Outpost
11/10​	The Trotties Adventure
11/10​	Village Tycoon: Farm City Simulator
11/11​	PeopleWillMoney

 

[Raine]

Upcoming [Console] Releases (11/13~11/19)​

Math nerds, rejoice! A week of numbers is upon us.

The remake of Super Mario RPG drops this Friday, and by all accounts remains faithful to what the original release was. Changes and adjustments to combat that have the potential to make an already fairly easy game even easier notwithstanding, SMRPG should be a good experience for those who have yet to play it. There's word of a new optional post-/end-game boss for veterans to sink their teeth into as well.

Persona 5 Tactica also comes out on Friday, to all platforms including Day 1 on GamePass for both console and PC. Atlus has a checkered history in this particular genre, so be mindful of the potential for difficulty spikes and gimmick fights with obtuse strategies. It's decidedly "Persona" and not Megami Tensei or Devil Survivor though, so it's possible they'll take it easy on us and just deliver a fun little side game romp.

Jagged Alliance 3 and The King of Fighters XIII Global Match both come out on Thursday, for a different flavor of hell with numbers. The former is touted as the first true entry in the series in 20 years, delivering console players (the game released earlier in the year on PC) some hardcore turn-based strategy fun. The latter is an updated re-release of the 2010 game, now with rollback netcode so you and your opponent can properly fuss over just frames and bad beats.

Date	Game Title	NSW	PS4	PS5	XBO	XSX	Metacritic
11/13​	Spirittea	✔​			✔​	✔​	TBD
11/14​	Astral Ascent	✔​	✔​	✔​			TBD
11/14​	Coral Island			✔​		✔​	TBD
11/14​	KarmaZoo	✔​		✔​		✔​	TBD
11/14​	Paperman: Adventure Delivered (Physical)	✔​		✔​			TBD
11/14​	Super Crazy Rhythm Castle	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	TBD
11/14​	UFO Robot Grendizer: The Feast of the Wolves			✔​		✔​	TBD
11/15​	Koi-Koi VR: Love Blossoms			✔​			TBD
11/15​	Lily in Puzzle World	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	TBD
11/15​	Teardown			✔​		✔​	80
11/15​	The Last Faith	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	TBD
11/15​	Tri6: Infinite				✔​	✔​	TBD
11/16​	Eternights (Physical)		✔​	✔​			69
11/16​	Flashback 2	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	TBD
11/16​	Jagged Alliance 3		✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	81
11/16​	Prison City	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	TBD
11/16​	Smoots Pinball	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	TBD
11/16​	Survivor: Castaway Island (Physical)	✔​		✔​			TBD
11/16​	The King of Fighters XIII Global Match	✔​	✔​				TBD
11/16​	Vampire: The Masquerade - Swansong (Physical)	✔​					66
11/16​	Yohane the Parhelion: BLAZE in the DEEPBLUE	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	TBD
11/17​	Bluey: The Videogame	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	TBD
11/17​	Christmas Massacre		✔​	✔​			TBD
11/17​	My Time at Sandrock (Physical)	✔​		✔​			62
11/17​	Naruto x Boruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm Connections	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	TBD
11/17​	Persona 5 Tactica	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	TBD
11/17​	Super Mario RPG	✔​					TBD
11/17​	Tetris Effect: Connected (Physical)			✔​			88
11/17​	The Walking Dead: Destinies	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	TBD
11/17​	Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin			✔​		✔​	TBD

Spoiler: Switch exclusives

Date	Game Title
11/14​	Rogue Glitch Ultra
11/15​	Turbo Shell
11/15​	Zombies Rising Dawn
11/16​	30 Sport Games in 1
11/16​	Adventure Tanks
11/16​	ASTLIBRA Revision
11/16​	Castle Invasion: Throne Out
11/16​	Cats on Streets
11/16​	Dream Town Island
11/16​	Kraken Odyssey
11/16​	Loot Box Quest - Mystic Maidens
11/16​	Low Story
11/16​	MechanixMind: IQ Puzzle Adventure
11/16​	On Rusty Trails
11/16​	Sociable Soccer 24
11/16​	The Myth Seekers 2: The Sunken City
11/16​	There Is No Light
11/16​	Time Master
11/16​	Until The Last Bullet
11/17​	Call of Sniper Combat - WW2
11/17​	Drag Racing Car Simulator
11/17​	Runnyk
11/17​	The Forest Quartet
11/17​	The Smurfs: Learn and Play
11/18​	Extreme Skyway Racer Simulator

 

[Raine]

Upcoming [Console] Releases (11/20~11/26)​

It's bye week, folks! Releasing during the lead-in to Thanksgiving and Black Friday is, y'know, probably not a fantastic idea.

...But some companies have done it anyway!

Jurassic Park: Classic Games Collection and Worldless are the only two that stand out to me. So, have a pair of videos instead of more text!

Date	Game Title	NSW	PS4	PS5	XBO	XSX	Metacritic
11/20​	In Stars And Time	✔​	✔​	✔​			TBD
11/21​	Smile For Me (Physical)	✔​	✔​	✔​			81
11/21​	Teardown Deluxe Edition (Physical)			✔​		✔​	80
11/21​	Worldless	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	TBD
11/22​	DESERTED				✔​		TBD
11/22​	Farm Builder				✔​		TBD
11/22​	Jurassic Park: Classic Games Collection	✔​	✔​	✔​			TBD
11/22​	SETTRIS	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	TBD
11/23​	Alina of the Arena	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	TBD
11/23​	Train Valley 2: Community Edition	✔​	✔​		✔​		TBD
11/23​	VERY BAD DREAMS		✔​				TBD
11/24​	Evil Diary	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	TBD
11/24​	Train Traffic Manager	✔​			✔​	✔​	TBD

Spoiler: Switch exclusives

Date	Game Title
11/20​	Inertia 2
11/21​	DYSCHRONIA: Chronos Alternate Definitive Edition
11/21​	Euro Truck Driver Simulator
11/21​	Furniture Flipper Simulator 2023: Revive, Restoration & Creative Crafting
11/21​	L.O.L. Surprise! Roller Dreams Racing
11/21​	PUI PUI Molcar Let's! Molcar Party!
11/21​	Swim Sacabambaspis!
11/21​	Train Driver Simulator
11/22​	Witchtastic
11/23​	ASMR Slicing
11/23​	Astro Miner
11/23​	CHARRUA SOCCER - Pro Edition
11/23​	Colored Effects
11/23​	Deleted
11/23​	Drawing Carnival
11/23​	Tallowmere 2: Curse of the Kittens
11/23​	Tricky Taps
11/24​	Guns and Spurs 2
11/24​	Nora: The Wannabe Alchemist
11/24​	Snakebird Complete
11/24​	Starlight Drifter
11/24​	The Trotties Adventure
11/25​	Criss Cross
11/25​	Zombies Rising xXx

 

[TD]

Jurassic Park Classic Games is the exact thing I'd love to play but never pay for.

C'mon catalog!

 

[Raine]

Jurassic Park Classic Games is the exact thing I'd love to play but never pay for.

My memories of the Genesis game (...games? IDK) are fuzzy. But, also, not super great.

The one I remember most was playing as Grant doing, of all things, platforming. And maybe playing as a dinosaur at one point...? Either way it was no Aladdin or Batman or whatever other decent-to-great licensed game. I'd probably throw 5~10 at it for a lark, but it's launching at $30.

 

[TD]

$30 so probably like $50 in my goofy colourful money.

Nahhhh.

 

[Benzine]

When are the good games coming out? Or the big games? I don't ever know what's coming out.

 

[Raine]

When are the good games coming out? Or the big games? I don't ever know what's coming out.

A lot of stuff came out recently!

I think the next big noteworthy releases aren't until late January '24. Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth and Tekken 8 both release on Jan 28th. Couple of smaller things here and there, plus indies and Nintendo can shadow drop basically whenever they want.

It's remarkable how enshitified the internet is, though. Compiling and validating release schedule lists is a fucking chore, there isn't really a singular website that has one - and the ones that have lists at all are pretty inaccurate and/or skip virtually all indies and/or are SEO+Affiliate train wrecks.

 

[TD]

When are the good games coming out? Or the big games? I don't ever know what's coming out.

I don't know of any big ones coming for the remainder of the year.

The ones I know of if they're your thing:
FFVII Rebirth in Feb
Dragon's Dogma 2 in March
Elden Ring DLC rumoured for Feb

I suspect we'll get news on more games at The Game Awards in Dec.

 

[Raine]

Upcoming [Console] Releases (11/27~12/03)​

No write-up this week. It's late, I'm sick for the first time in ~4 years (and it better not be fucking COVID...), and honestly there isn't much of anything to note besides Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince on Switch.

Unless we want to laugh at The Walking Dead: Destinies like the rest of the internet did/is. God damn is that a train wreck...

Date	Game Title	NSW	PS4	PS5	XBO	XSX	Metacritic
11/28​	Calico		✔​	✔​			57
11/28​	Rollerdrome					✔​	79
11/28​	Roots of Pacha	✔​	✔​	✔​			82
11/29​	Forest Grove		✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	TBD
11/29​	Gothic II Complete Classic	✔​					79*
11/29​	Orten Was The Case	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	TBD
11/29​	The Traveler's Path	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	TBD
11/30​	Agatha Christie - Murder on the Orient Express (Physical)	✔​		✔​			64
11/30​	Arcadian Atlas	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	64
11/30​	Gangs of Sherwood			✔​		✔​	TBD
11/30​	Motesolo: No Girlfriend Since Birth	✔​		✔​		✔​	TBD
11/30​	Pinball M	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	TBD
11/30​	Pixel Cafe	✔​		✔​		✔​	TBD
11/30​	Truck & Logistics Simulator	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	40*
12/1​	Batman: Arkham Trilogy	✔​					TBD
12/1​	Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince	✔​					TBD
12/1​	Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 (Physical)	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	73
12/1​	SteamWorld Build	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	TBD
12/1​	The Smurfs 2: The Prisoner of the Green Stone (Physical)	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	72
12/1​	The Walking Dead: Destinies (Physical)		✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	TBD
12/1​	Wizard with a Gun (Physical)			✔​			71

Spoiler: Switch exclusives

Date	Game Title
11/28​	Mom Simulator 2023
11/28​	My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! - Pirates of the Disturbance
11/30​	Cattails: Wildwood Story
11/30​	Draw & Color Maze: Paint Labyrinth Puzzle
11/30​	Genseisuikoden Plus
11/30​	Metro PD: Close to You
11/30​	Ortheo
11/30​	TEVI
11/30​	This Means Warp
11/30​	Toasterball
11/30​	Trip World DX
11/30​	Wall World
11/30​	Wildshade: Unicorn Champions
12/1​	Bomb Rush Cyberfunk
12/1​	Dino Ranch - Ride to the Rescue
12/1​	Last Escape: Dead Complex
12/1​	Uzzuzzu My Pet - Golf Dash
12/1​	Zomborg
12/2​	DIY Paper Doll

 

[Raine]

Upcoming [Console] Releases (12/04~12/10)​

Howdy folks! We're in the first proper week of December now, which means... You guessed it! Ain't nothin' but slim pickins* 'round these parts still.

In the process of compiling and validating this week's list, though, I did learn that three of these games are related and I wouldn't have otherwise known that? So, yay? Still not really sure what Homestuck is, but Hiveswap Friendsim, Pestersim and Pesterquest are all part of that universe and maybe loosely tied to one another or something as well? Don't ask me, I just push buttons. Kind of weird to release 3 games on the game day though.

Date	Game Title	NSW	PS4	PS5	XBO	XSX	Metacritic
12/5​	Arashi: Castles of Sin - Final Cut			✔​			TBD
12/5​	Arizona Sunshine 2			✔​			TBD
12/5​	Bomb Rush Cyberfunk (Physical)	✔​		✔​			75
12/5​	Chessarama				✔​		TBD
12/5​	Farming Simulator 22 Premium Edition (Physical)		✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	75
12/5​	Laika: Aged Through Blood		✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	83
12/5​	The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria			✔​			59
12/5​	While the Iron's Hot	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	TBD
12/6​	Forklift Extreme: Deluxe Edition				✔​	✔​	66
12/7​	Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora			✔​		✔​	TBD
12/7​	Hiveswap Friendsim	✔​	✔​	✔​			TBD
12/7​	Outer Wilds: Archaeologist Edition	✔​					85*
12/7​	Pesterquest	✔​	✔​	✔​			TBD
12/7​	Pestersim	✔​	✔​	✔​			TBD
12/7​	Smalland: Survive the Wilds			✔​		✔​	TBD
12/7​	Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader			✔​		✔​	TBD
12/8​	.T.E.S.T: Expected Behaviour				✔​		TBD
12/8​	Adventure Tanks				✔​		TBD
12/8​	Dolphin Spirit: Ocean Mission (Physical)	✔​	✔​	✔​			TBD
12/8​	Enter the Gungeon / Exit the Gungeon (Physical)	✔​					82
12/8​	World of Horror (Physical)	✔​					81
12/8​	Xuan-Yuan Sword: Mists Beyond the Mountains	✔​					TBD

Spoiler: Switch exclusives

Date	Game Title
12/5​	A Highland Song
12/5​	A Long Journey to an Uncertain End
12/5​	Born Of Bread
12/5​	Fitness Boxing Fist of the North Star
12/5​	Skater XL
12/6​	Battle Stations Blockade
12/7​	City Driver: Car Parking Simulator
12/7​	Crystal Chip Collector e
12/7​	Defend the Base: Tower Turret Shooting Range
12/7​	DREAMERS: A Nostalgic Adventure
12/7​	Erogods: Asgard
12/7​	Hot Love Dreams: Classic Hentai Logic Puzzle
12/7​	Nessy The Robot
12/7​	Rallyallyally
12/7​	Stone Age
12/7​	SUNSOFT Mahjong Solitaire -Shanghai LEGEND-
12/7​	XIIZEAL
12/7​	Yukar From The Abyss
12/8​	Air Aces
12/8​	Fearmonium
12/8​	Golf Guys
12/8​	Helix Jump
12/8​	Mob Control
12/8​	Star Wars Heritage Pack
12/8​	The Smurfs: Colorful Stories
12/8​	Vege Bubble Shoot

* There's actually a physical version of a next/current-gen AAA game releasing this week. But I refuse to list it, sorry. If you're interested you already know what it is anyway.

 

[Smacktard]

There's actually a physical version of a next/current-gen AAA game releasing this week. But I refuse to list it, sorry. If you're interested you already know what it is anyway.

...what is it tho

 

[Raine]

...what is it tho

There's a four-digit year in the title.

 

[Smacktard]

There's a four-digit year in the title.

sports game current year +1

 

[Raine]

sports game current year +1

Those usually only have two digits! Or three, I guess, in the case of 2kXX. Which I mean besides the 2k branding is sort of counterproductive since they aren't reducing the amounts of characters!

 

[Smacktard]

uhhhh cyberpunk 2000-and-something?

i really honestly don't know

 

[Raine]

Yeah, it's that nonsense. CDPR can miss me with their years of dickbaggery, but that's a rant for another time and place.

 

[Smacktard]

Yeah, it's that nonsense. CDPR can miss me with their years of dickbaggery, but that's a rant for another time and place.

I.... I don't get it? That game had a physical release YEARS ago. Why is it releasing again? Physical release w/ all patches?

 

[Raine]

Physical release w/ all patches?

Yup. Maybe DLC too, IDK?

 

[Raine]

Upcoming [Console] Releases (12/11~12/17)​

Another late night posting, but we're in the final week before Christmas now! Essentially the last chance for games to really get into the hands of people before they start traveling, and... surprisingly we have a pretty okay selection all things considered?

We'll start with the "big" one that kinda-sorta doesn't count: Baldur's Gate 3 just shadowdropped onto Xbox during The Game Awards. This would technically be a "last week" thing, but I make the rules here so yeah. Still one of the highest rated games of the years, still an easy top contender on most people's Game of the Year lists, and now almost everyone can experience it. Reminder that Larian has an absolutely gorgeous physical Collector's Edition still available for pre-order, pending platform and region, due out in Q1 2024.

I think the sleeper release this week is Gnosia though, for those even remotely interested in Visual Novel/Escape Room/Role Playing (not RPG) experiences. I've never heard of this game before, but it apparently released on Vita in 2019 in Japan, Switch in 2020 (JPN)/2021 (WW) and Steam at the start of 2022. It's got an impressive score of 82 on Switch with 41 reviews, and as it's now on my radar - that's as far as I'm going to look into it.

Custom Mech Wars is also something I'm going to highlight, even though it... has very dubious marketing. But it looks very Earth Defense Force-like in its janky appearance, it's a completely shameless and over-the-top robot customization game, and there are numbers and stats everywhere. I'm absolutely never going to play it myself, but I kind of appreciate that it exists. Maybe you do too?

Finally, more an interesting observation than anything. All of those physical releases of very underwhelming games I've spoken of in the past? I think I've now seen the bottom of that barrel in the form of RiffTrax: The Game. Which costs $9.99 digitally and has been available for years, and yet this week's physical copy (via Limited Run Games) is for some unfathomable reason $29.99?! There's definitely some shady shit going on here, y'all.

Date	Game Title	NSW	PS4	PS5	XBO	XSX	Metacritic
12/12​	Bear and Breakfast		✔​	✔​			72
12/12​	Cards We're Dealt				✔​	✔​	TBD
12/12​	Dungeons of Sundaria					✔​	TBD
12/12​	Formula Retro Racing: World Tour Special Edition (Physical)	✔​	✔​	✔​			TBD
12/12​	Hammerwatch II	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	67
12/12​	Train Valley Collection (Physical)	✔​	✔​				TBD
12/12​	Transformers: Earthspark - Expedition (Physical)			✔​			TBD
12/13​	Hell Well	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	TBD
12/13​	Rising Dusk	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	TBD
12/13​	Towers & Powers			✔​			TBD
12/14​	Aztec Tiki Talisman	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	TBD
12/14​	Cookie Cutter			✔​		✔​	TBD
12/14​	Custom Mech Wars			✔​			TBD
12/14​	Gnosia		✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	82
12/14​	Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising		✔​	✔​			TBD
12/14​	HARDCORE MECHA				✔​	✔​	77
12/14​	Not For Broadcast VR			✔​			82*
12/14​	Raccoo Venture	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	TBD
12/15​	METRO QUESTER	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	TBD
12/15​	RiffTrax: The Game (Physical)	✔​	✔​				79
12/15​	Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge - Anniversary Edition (Physical)	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​		85
12/15​	The Rumble Fish 2 Collector's Edition (Physical)	✔​	✔​				68
12/15​	Trinity Fusion		✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	TBD
12/15​	Vernal Edge (Physical)	✔​	✔​	✔​			76
12/17​	The Rumble Fish +	(✔)​	(✔)​		✔​		TBD

Spoiler: Switch exclusives

Date	Game Title
12/11​	Bulldozer Tycoon: Construction Simulator
12/11​	City Bus Driver Simulator
12/11​	Zumaji Delux
12/12​	Hammerwatch Anniversary Edition
12/12​	Super Bear Adventure
12/12​	WINGSPAN: Oceania Expansion
12/14​	Animal Hospital
12/14​	EGGCONSOLE Xanadu PC-8801mkIISR
12/14​	Koumajou Remilia II: Stranger's Requiem
12/14​	Math, BFF, and Notes - Suugaku to Shinyuu to Neta Chou
12/14​	MECHBLAZE
12/14​	Nekomin
12/14​	Palia
12/14​	Pan'orama
12/14​	Pony World - Color by Numbers
12/14​	ToyBox Christmas
12/14​	Western Slot Machine
12/14​	Wildshade: Unicorn Champions
12/14​	Winter Games Challenge
12/14​	Yuletide Legends: Who Framed Santa Claus
12/15​	Hirilun
12/15​	Poly Shooting Simulator
12/15​	Sakura Agent
12/15​	Stickman's Arena
12/16​	Never be afraid Slam Dunk!

 

[Raine]

Upcoming [Console] Releases (12/18~12/24)​

The week right before Christmas is upon us!

And I mean, yeah, there are games on this list. Some of these names look maybe vaguely familiar or something. I guess. Possibly.

I'unno there are only 15 in total so knock yourselves out.

Date	Game Title	NSW	PS4	PS5	XBO	XSX	Metacritic
12/19​	Deleted - Cyber Invasion				✔​		TBD
12/19​	Loot River		✔​	✔​			72
12/20​	Aery - Calm Mind 4	✔​	✔​		✔​		TBD
12/20​	Ravva and the Phantom Library	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	TBD
12/20​	Rough Justice: '84	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	78
12/20​	The Rumble Fish +	✔​	✔​		(✔)​		TBD
12/21​	DETECTIVE - Stella Porta case		✔​		✔​		TBD
12/21​	Three Minutes To Eight	✔​		✔​		✔​	TBD
12/22​	9Ball Pocket				✔​	✔​	TBD
12/22​	Jinshin		✔​		✔​		TBD
12/22​	My Time at Sandrock (Physical)				✔​	✔​	81
12/22​	Railbreak			✔​		✔​	TBD
12/22​	SHMUP Mania				✔​	✔​	TBD
12/22​	Synthetic Lover	✔​	✔​	✔​			TBD
12/22​	Tiger Blade			✔​			TBD

Spoiler: Switch exclusives

Date	Game Title
12/18​	Fireball Wizard
12/18​	Gates of The Mind
12/18​	Tennis 2024 Simulator
12/18​	Terra Nil
12/18​	The Monty Mole Collection
12/20​	My Child Lebensborn Remastered
12/20​	Princess Puzzle Adventure
12/21​	100 Demon Fantasia
12/21​	20 Minutes Till Dawn
12/21​	Backroom: Constructions
12/21​	Cape's Escape Game 6th Room
12/21​	Cleaning Queens
12/21​	Courageous Reasoning Nori 4 Crossing Sea Street 4
12/21​	Dani and Evan: Dinosaur books
12/21​	EGGCONSOLE Hydlide PC-8801
12/21​	EGGCONSOLE Silpheed PC-8801mkIISR
12/21​	Freddi Fish 4: The Case of The Hogfish Rustlers of Briny Gulch
12/21​	GeoJelly
12/21​	GeoJelly in the Space
12/21​	Growth
12/21​	I SEEK! WHERE IS "PICTO"-SAN?
12/21​	My Lovely Dog Adventure
12/21​	Mystery Solving! BrainQuiz
12/21​	Pajama Sam 3: You are What you Eat from Your Head to Your Feet
12/21​	Sketch Personality Test
12/21​	SokoWinter
12/21​	The Artist Colors
12/21​	The Curse of Kudan
12/22​	Christmas Bubble Puzzle
12/22​	Dungeon Defence Simulator 2024
12/22​	Military Combat Shooter Desert War
12/22​	Moorhuhn Invasion - Crazy Chicken Invasion
12/22​	ONE.
12/22​	Roman Empire Simulator
12/23​	Milk Seller
12/24​	Cute Critters Pet Kitty
12/24​	Party Friends
12/24​	Tanuki Sunset
12/24​	Truckzilla - Monster Truck Mega Ramp

 

[Raine]

Upcoming [Console] Releases: 2024 Week 3 (01/15~01/21)​

And we're back, after a slight delay! Presumably nothing of great importance was lost in the shuffle, but who knows - perhaps there are devs out there crazy enough to release games in the week between Christmas and New Year? Would not be my first choice, I can tell you that much!

As you can see, a fairly sparse list still entering the third week of the year. Sega has a couple of treats coming real, real soon. But for now, let's look at some of the offerings this week.

The game with the most broad appeal, by far, will be The Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown. Early reviews have thus far been very positive and, while Ubisoft still owes us a sequel to the 2008 reboot, this beautiful return to 2D is scratching an itch I wasn't aware that I still had. The Lost Crown releases on all platforms this Thursday at the "budget" price of $49.99.




Releasing on Friday is Another Code: Recollection, remakes/remasters of the Nintendo DS game Trace Memory (Another Code: Two Memories outside of North America) and the Nintendo Wii game Another Code: R - Journey into Lost Memories. Trace Memory was a bit of a cult hit way in the long, long ago and the sequel never made its way to North America (though was released in Europe), so this is a rare treat for fans of older visual novel-type affairs. By all accounts there isn't anything groundbreaking here and $59.99 is a fairly hefty asking price despite the obvious work that went into these. Still, if it's up your alley, give it a whirl. I can't imagine the physical copy isn't going to be uncommon at best in a few year's time.




And for a novel approach to a third highlight, let's talk briefly about Palworld. Or, at least insofar as one can talk about a game they've just learned about themselves. This one is scheduled to release in Early Access this Friday, on both PC and Xbox. It's out of a small Japanese company called Pocketpair, which has done a couple of other still-in-early-access games - by the names of Overdungeon and Craftopia. To say that the developer has a spotty reputation would be an amazing understatement, so proceed with caution here.

That being said, Palworld is effectively being marketed as "Pokemon but with guns." Which is probably pretty accurate, but in practice this seems more like one part blatantly aping Pokemon, and then fusing it with Fortnite and throwing in a little Monster Hunter to season. It seems... interesting. May or may not be worth checking out. Again, I would advise caution with spending money. However, it'll be on Game Pass (including PC) so if you have that it may be a fun little ride. I'll put the most recent TGS trailer below, but this is the official YouTube channel.

Date	Game Title	NSW	PS4	PS5	XBO	XSX	Metacritic
1/15​	Legend of Grimrock	✔​					82
1/16​	Toy Trains VR			✔​			TBD
1/16​	UFO Robot Grendizer: The Feast of the Wolves (Physical)		✔​	✔​		✔​	59
1/18​	Bahnsen Knights	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	78
1/18​	Bulletstorm VR			✔​			TBD
1/18​	Detective - Stella Porta Case	✔​					70*
1/18​	Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	✔​	86
1/18​	Turnip Boy Robs a Bank	✔​			✔​		TBD
1/19​	Another Code: Recollection	✔​					TBD
1/19​	Knights of Grayfang	✔​			✔​	✔​	TBD
1/19​	Palworld (Early Access)				✔​	✔​	-
1/19​	The Cub	✔​	✔​	✔​			TBD
1/19​	The Last of Us Part II Remastered			✔​			93*
1/21​	Under Night In-Birth II Sys:Celes (Deluxe Edition)	✔​	✔​	✔​			TBD

Spoiler: Switch exclusives

Date	Game Title
1/15​	Ultimate Racing 2D 2
1/17​	Nephenthesys
1/18​	Choo-Choo Charles
1/18​	Downhill Driver: Extreme Racing Simulator
1/18​	DreadOut 2
1/18​	Easy Dice for RPG/Tabletop
1/18​	Fairytale Theatre -Momotaro's Adventure-
1/18​	Fastest Finger First! 3 Hint Quiz
1/18​	Rescue! DROPKICK ON MY DEVIL!!
1/18​	Super Sean 007
1/18​	The Pedestrian
1/18​	Vigour
1/19​	Witch Rise
1/20​	Monster Truck Freestyle

 

[TD]

I haven't played PoP since Sands of Time.

...that new one looks good.

 

[VashTheStampede]

I am hyped for the new Turnip Boy.

Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion was a delight. A bite sized adventure that was legitimately hilarious.

 

[Raine]

Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion is just one of those titles that sticks in your mind because it's just the right amount of outlandish.

That being said, he appears to be escalating his crime spree at an alarming rate!

 

[TD]

Never even heard of Turnip Boy until now.

Colour me intrigued.

 

[VashTheStampede]

Pretty sure I knocked out the whole game in two sessions. Not long at all. It was on Game Pass at the time, which was perfect. I think the new one launches on Game Pass too.

 

[TD]

Pretty sure I knocked out the whole game in two sessions. Not long at all. It was on Game Pass at the time, which was perfect. I think the new one launches on Game Pass too.

I looked up a 3 minute review after you two were chatting about it, it looks like the lighthearted change of pace game I'd enjoy.

This is when my one console per generation thing backfires (or not depending on your outlook).

 

[Raine]

one part blatantly aping Pokemon

So... I mean it was obvious, but like, maybe not this obvious! Ho-ly sheeet.

Article:

Steam’s newest hit survival game, Palworld, has been accused of plagiarising designs from Pokémon, as social media users negatively highlight its creator’s historical association with generative AI tools.

Palworld by Japanese studio Pocketpair released into early access on PC and Xbox on Friday, and immediately became a breakout success, with its creator claiming 2 million sales in 24 hours.

The huge launch exposure inevitably reignited discourse that has followed Palworld since its announcement, around its character designs’ apparent similarities to Pokémon.

Although the gameplay of Palworld is closer to survival games like Ark and Rust than Game Freak’s series, many social media users have noted the obvious influences its character designs have taken from the Nintendo series.

Following Palworld’s release on Friday, some X users collated perceived similarities between Palworld’s ‘Pals’ and Pokémon.

“It’s not even subtle about its rip offs, how much else has it stolen?” wrote one user. Another added: “I want to like Palworld, but I don’t know if I can support running existing Pokemon through a fusor and passing them off as ‘new’ IP”.

Source: https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/palworld-embroiled-in-ai-and-pokemon-plagiarism-controversy/

 

[VashTheStampede]

It's hard for me to care about Palworld stealing IP from a ridiculously rich company that refuses to spend money on improving their product.

The Pokemon Company also loves to grab kids fresh out of school and shove them into the meat grinder then let them go after games to recruit the next generation of cheap labor.

Plus I don't like survival games and Palworld is actually fun. So Pokemon can go hit the Daycare and suck eggs.

 

[Raine]

It's hard for me to care about Palworld stealing IP from a ridiculously rich company that refuses to spend money on improving their product.

The Pokemon Company also loves to grab kids fresh out of school and shove them into the meat grinder then let them go after games to recruit the next generation of cheap labor.

Mmhm. Basically:

Plus I don't like survival games and Palworld is actually fun. So Pokemon can go hit the Daycare and suck eggs.

This is the part that definitely sucks, though. If there's a good and fun game under all the AI bullshit, then it's layers of bad - because, ostensibly, there wasn't an AI crafting the game. Just the assets.

They got an injection of money from Microsoft (Game Pass deal), sold more than 2 million copies in 24 hours... and for what? To get nuked into oblivion by Nintendo, by Microsoft and to forever have their names and reputations tarnished amongst the art and gaming worlds.

Shit's a disaster. Especially after the likes of Temtem and Nexomon started (re)paving the way.