New Game Releases: April 19th-25th, 2018

From vigorous hacking and slashing in God of War to turbulent shooting and sucking in Gun*Gal 2, a number of new releases are posed to give controller buttons a vigorous workout. For those who prefer titles with a more protracted pace, there’s the turn-based combat of BattleTech or the RTS-like exploration of Neo ATLAS 1469.

Header Image: Chuusotsu! 1^St Graduation: Time After Time, PC

PlayStation 4
Assetto Corsa: Ultimate Edition (physical, $49.99)
Emily Wants to Play Too (digital, $TBA)
God of War (physical or digital, $59.99)
Gal*Gun 2 (physical or digital, $59.99)
Phantom Trigger (digital, $14.99)
Rick and Morty: Virtual Rick-ality (physical or digital, $29.99, PS VR)
Runbow (digital, $TBA)
Subaeria (digital, $14.99)
The Swords of Ditto (digital, $TBA)

Switch
ACA NeoGeo: Real Bout Fatal Fury Special (digital, $7.99)
BAFL – Brakes Are for Losers (digital, $4.99)
Death Road to Canada (digital, $11.99)
Firefighters: Airport Fire Department (physical or digital, $39.99)
Firefighters – The Simulation (physical or digital, $39.99)
Football Manager Touch 2018 (digital, $39.99)
Gal*Gun 2 (physical or digital, $59.99)
Manticore – Galaxy on Fire (digital, $19.99)
Max The Curse of Brotherhood (physical, $29.99)
Neo ATLAS 1469 (digital, $49.99)
Nintendo Labo Robot Kit (physical, $79.99)
Nintendo Labo Variety Kit (physical, $69.99)
Party Trivia (digital, $9.99)
Shelter Generations (digital, $19.99)
Skee-Ball (digital, $19.99)
South Park: The Fractured But Whole (physical or digital, $59.99)
The Way Remastered (digital, $11.99)
Where are My Friends (digital, $5.39)
Wild Guns Reloaded (digital, $29.99)

Xbox One
Assetto Corsa: Ultimate Edition (physical, $49.99)
Death Road to Canada (digital, $11.99)
Emily Wants to Play Too (digital, $TBA)
Phantom Trigger (digital, $14.99)
Runestone Keeper (digital, $9.99)
Subaeria (digital, $14.99)
The Invisible Hours (digital, $29.99)

3DS
Cycle of Eternity: Space Anomaly (digital, $4.99)

PC
Battletech ($39.99)
Block’Hood VR ($13.49)
Chuusotsu! 1^St Graduation: Time After Time
Croc’s World Construction Kit ($TBA)
Frost Punk Victorian Edition (physical, $34.99)
Ganbatte ($TBA)
Sinner: Sacrifice for Redemption ($TBA)
Subaeria ($14.99)
The Swords of Ditto ($TBA)
Ultimate Select Hero ($TBA)

Robert’s Pick: For me, turn-based mech combat is as irresistible as ice cream on a summer day or a steaming bowl of ramen on a cold one, so naturally, I’ll be playing Battletech this week. But I also love the spirited silliness offered by the Gun*Gal games, and will also be making time for some bishōjo-style shooting this week.

Sure, Gal*Gun 2 is little more than a light-gun game with a devastatingly cute cast of characters. But here’s the thing- sometimes I enjoy a bit of simplicity between marathon sessions of cognitively challenging strategy games. While the Switch version seems to have a frame-rate that’s half of the sixty frame-per-second output of the PlayStation 4 version, I’ll sacrifice fluidity for portability, just no I can get my pheromone shooting fix on the morning train.

Matt’s Pick (Editor, DigitallyDownloaded): Gal*Gun 2 is the easy pick of the week for me. It’s so over-the-top, so distinctive, so unique, and so ridiculously entertaining that I couldn’t put it down. Oddly enough, it’s toned down somewhat in the areas that draw such controversy to it when compared to the first, but of course that hasn’t stopped people focusing on that side of things, rather than the rock-solid railgun action, or the way the entire thing parodies the anime tropes that people tend to think it exhibits without humour.

I’ll also throw a quick call out to Neo ATLAS 1469. This game released on PC a long while back now, but I think it’s a better fit for the Nintendo Switch as a handheld. It’s a light simulation/ exploration game that does a good job of injecting whimsy and relaxing fun into the efforts of brave ship captains from Europe to discover and map the world centuries ago.

Ryan’s Pick: God of War is definitely my top pick for this week with Gal*Gun 2 coming in at a close second place. The God of War series has always seemed to get my megalophobia going whenever I begin playing as Kratos. I just find gigantic things scary in general, but at the same time exciting. God of War does an excellent job of depicting the scale of enormous mythical beasts, bosses, and environments. Not only does it do this, but it places you right in the middle of it all, creating very memorable encounters. It’s extremely polished, fun, and definitely worth picking up.

My honorable mention this week goes to Gal*Gun 2. All knights in shining armor know that the easiest way to perform a euphoric exorcism on a demon is by using your Pheromone Shot! This being said, the game is an extremely light-hearted and fun shooter that definitely is worth a play if you enjoy quirky Japanese games.

Zack’s Pick (Senior Editor, RPG Site): BattleTech looks insanely cool. Here you have Harebrained Schemes, the developers behind the modern Shadowrun series, applying their strategy genre knowledge to an adaptation of a popular tabletop game featuring turn-based tactical combat with giant, customizable mechs. What’s not to love?

I have kept a close eye on this visually and technically impressive game ever since it was initially reveal, so I’m glad it’ll finally see the light of day in just under a week. I look forward to many nail-biting encounters where the tide of the entire battle can change at any given moment. If anything, this will appease my Front Mission withdrawals.