New Game Releases: May 24th-30th, 2018

From 8-bit style Igarashi-vania, Dark Souls at sixty, punishing frame-per-second, as well as David Cage’s latest opus, this week’s schedule of new game releases offers plenty of tempting titles. As such, it might be all too easy to overlook some potentials winners like PixelJunk Monsters 2, Yoku’s Island Express, or even the Switch port of Ikaruga. With the release of Sega Genesis Classics and the Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection, some of the best experiences of the nineties makes a return.

Header Image: Sakura Sadist, PC

PlayStation 4
Agony (physical and digital, $39.99)
Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon (digital, $9.99)
Dark Souls: Remastered (physical and digital, $39.99)
Detroit: Become Human (physical and digital, $59.99)
Die for Valhalla! (digital, $9.99)
Dungeon Rushers (digital, $14.99)
Harvest Moon: Light of Hope Special Edition (physical and digital, $39.99)
Knights of Pen and Paper +1 Deluxier Edition (digital, $14.99)
Moonlighter (digital, $TBA)
Owlboy (physical, $29.99)
PixelJunk Monsters 2 (digital, $14.99)
Sega Genesis Classics (physical and digital, $29.99)
Spintires: Mudrunner – The Ridge (digital, $TBA)
Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection (physical and digital, $39.99)
The Journey Down: Chapter One (digital, $TBA)
Yoku’s Island Express (digital, $17.99)

Switch
6180 the moon (digital, $3.99)
ACA NeoGeo: Top Player’s Golf (digital, $7.99)
Arcade Archives: Ikki (digital, $7.99)
Atomine (digital, $8.99)
Baobabs Mausoleum Ep.1: Ovnifagos Don’t Eat Flamingos (digital, $5.99)
Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon (digital, $9.99)
Dead Fun Pack: Penguins and Aliens Strike Again (digital, $6.99)
Die for Valhalla! (digital, $9.99)
Discovery (digital, $7.99)
Dungeon Rushers (digital, $14.99)
Escape Games: Aloha (digital, $5.99)
Fallen Legion: Rise to Glory Fallen Legion: Rise to Glory (physical and digital, $39.99)
Harvest Moon: Light of Hope Special Edition (physical and digital, $39.99)
Ikaruga (digital, $14.99)
Jumping Joe! & Friends (digital, $4.99)
Jurassic Pinball (digital, $1.99)
Knights of Pen and Paper +1 Deluxier Edition (digital, $14.99)
Legend of Kay Anniversary (physical and digital, $29.99)
Mecha Storm (digital, $19.99)
N++ (digital, $14.99)
Owlboy (physical, $29.99)
PixelJunk Monsters 2 (digital, $14.99)
Punch Club (digital, $14.99)
Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection (physical and digital, $39.99)
Yoku’s Island Express (digital, $17.99)
Zen Bound 2 (digital, $14.99)

Wii U
Cycle of Eternity: Space Anomaly (digital, $4.99)

Xbox One
Agony (physical and digital, $39.99)
Dark Souls: Remastered (digital, $39.99)
Die for Valhalla! (digital, $9.99)
Dungeon Rushers (digital, $14.99)
Knights of Pen and Paper +1 Deluxier Edition (digital, $14.99)
Moonlighter (digital, $TBA)
oOo: Ascension (digital, $TBA)
Sega Genesis Classics (physical and digital, $29.99)
Spintires: Mudrunner – The Ridge ($TBA)
Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection (physical and digital, $39.99)
Sudden Strike 4: European Battlefields Edition ($TBA)
Super Hyperactive Ninja (digital, $TBA)
The Journey Down: Chapter One (digital, $TBA)
Yoku’s Island Express (digital, $17.99)

3DS
Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon (digital, $9.99)
Dillon’s Dead-Heat Breakers (digital, $39.99)

PS Vita
7’scarlet (physical and digital, $39.99)
Defender’s Quest: Valley of the Forgotten DX (digital, $TBA)

PC
Agony ($TBA)
Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon ($9.99)
Catmaze ($TBA)
Dark Souls: Remastered ($39.99)
Die for Valhalla! ($TBA)
Hot Pink ($TBA)
Moonlighter ($TBA)
PixelJunk Monsters 2 ($13.49)
Sakura Sadist ($TBA)
Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection ($39.99)
Tsundere Idol ($TBA)
Yoku’s Island Express ($TBA)

Matt’s Pick (Editor, DigitallyDownloaded): Whoo boy is it a big week for releases this week. Most of the high profile games (Dark Souls, Street Fighter, Bloodstained, et al) are obviously big games and don’t really need an introduction. So, what I’m going to do instead is introduce PixelJunk Monsters 2.

If you never played the first you missed out on the best tower defence game ever made. Difficult but rewarding, strategic but accessible, and always bright and colourful, it was the kind of game you could lose dozens of hours to just trying to figure out how to deal with the ever-more difficult waves of enemies that come at you. Expect more of the same with this sequel, and that’s really all you need.

Robert’s Pick: If you’re a retro enthusiast, there are a few reasons to be happy this week. Sure, you probably played all of the 50+ games on this week’s release of the Sega Genesis Classics collection, but titles like Gunstar Heroes, The Revenge of Shinobi, and Decap Attack are always worth returning to.

And while developer Inti Creates blemished their otherwise solid track record with Mighty No. 9, recent titles like Azure Striker Gunvolt 2, Gal*Gun 2, and Blaster Master Zero have helped restore their reputation for reboots. Like fried rice and ice cream, even when Castlevania isn’t great, it’s still worth experiencing and early video footage makes Curse of the Moon look pretty decent, especially if you remember the franchise’s roots.

And Matt- DG2: Defense Grid 2 is the best tower defense ever made!

Ryan’s Pick: Dark Souls: Remastered, all the way. Nothing gets my creative expletives going like Dark Souls. I am infinitely weird when I play these games, and after about the 12th time fighting a boss, I start to give them a nickname that really has no correlation to the game’s strange lore, or their actual name. Eventually I “Get good” and defeat them, but I feel like it’s the courting process of the bosses that makes the game so fun to me.  Yes, I am aware that the game is a remaster and basically everything about it is the same as the original version, but I just like Dark Souls that much. I have platinumed Dark Souls 3 and Bloodborne so far, and being able to platinum the first now at 60fps on PS4 is all reason to pick up the game and stoke the completionist embers inside myself once again. The additional two extra players that can now join online (now a total of 6) are also a great addition. I have many fond yet frustrating memories of PVP, especially from Dark Souls 3 from when I was farming the Blades of the Darkmoon tokens for the platinum. Wondrous griefers.

Zack’s Pick (Senior Editor, RPG Site): While I would lean on the Sega Genesis Classics because it contains some of the best RPGs of all time (the Phantasy Star series), I think that may be a little bit too easy a pick especially since Sega feels inclined to release this collection on every platform in existence.

Instead, I am going to go with Owlboy. I had the pleasure of playing through this game on PC a couple years ago, spending my New Year’s Eve finishing the story. It features gorgeous 2D spritework (my favorite), very likable characters, a wonderful soundtrack, and a well-told story. I can’t say enough good things about Owlboy, and even though the platforming can really test your patience towards the end of the game, I still really enjoyed my time with it. If you haven’t checked it out before, Owlboy seems perfect for the Nintendo Switch.

About Robert Allen

Since being a toddler, Robert Allen has been immersed in video games, anime, and tokusatsu. Currently, his days are spent teaching at two southern California colleges. But his evenings and weekends are filled with STGs, RPGs, and action titles and well at writing for Tech-Gaming since 2007.

10 comments

  1. This week’s new releases brought to you by anime tiddies.

  2. What language is Ryan speaking this week? 😉

  3. I like to imagine sjw going for the review then slamming their macbook airs closed then they see those tiddies.

  4. Get DSfix and you essentially have Remastered
    https://www.nexusmods.com/darksouls/mods/19

  5. Picking up Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon but I do’t know for which system. Switch, I think?

  6. Discovery looks like a decent Minecraft knock off for $8 bucks, but no enemies it seems.

  7. Yoku’s Island Express looks kind of fun.

  8. I wish Sega Genesis Classics was on Switch.

    • Its kind of strange there isn’t a Switch port. I’m sure Switch can emulate these games pretty easily.