New Game Releases: May 31st-June 6th, 2018

What the Shaq-Fu? Beyond the crowd-funded, spiritual successor to the much-disparaged 1994 title, this week brings a number of new releases that players might be eager to play, from BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle, Nobunaga’s Ambition: Taishi, to Onrush. Save for the usual onslaught of indie Steam titles, it’s the Switch that gets the largest addition to its software library, with twenty-five new games making their way to the eShop.

Header image: Fortissimo FA, PC

PlayStation 4
BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle (physical and digital, $49.99)
Dragon Ball Fighterz – Vegito (SSGSS) (DLC, $4.99)
Dragon Ball Fighterz – Zamasu (Fused) (DLC, $4.99)
Earth Atlantis (digital, $TBA)
Gekido: Kintaro’s Revenge (digital, $TBA)
Milanoir (digital, $TBA)
Nobunaga’s Ambition: Taishi (digital, $49.99)
Onrush (physical and digital, $59.99)
Shaq Fu: A Legend Reborn (physical and digital, $29.99)
The Elder Scrolls Online: Summerset (DLC, $39.99)
Vampyr (physical and digital, $59.99)

Switch
ACA NeoGeo: Ninja Combat (digital, $7.99)
BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle (physical and digital, $49.99)
Defoliation (digital, $9.99)
Enigmatis 2: The Mists of Ravenwood (digital, $14.99)
Fox n Forests (digital, $19.99)
Happy Birthdays (physical and digital, $39.99)
ICEY (digital, $8.99)
Johnny Turbo’s Arcade: Joe & Mac: Caveman Ninja (digital, $7.99)
Just Shapes & Beats (digital, $19.99)
Lost Sea (digital, $9.99)
Pirate Pop Plus (digital, $4.99)
Quad Fighter K (digital, $7.99)
Shaq Fu: A Legend Reborn (physical and digital, $39.99)
Shape of the World (digital, $14.99)
Shantae: Half-Genie Hero – Ultimate Edition (physical, $39.99)
Shift Quantum (digital, $19.99)
SilverStarChess (digital, $5.99)
Smoke and Sacrifice (digital, $19.99)
Super Sportmatchen (digital, $14.99)
The Infectious Madness of Doctor Dekker (digital, $14.99)
Them Bombs! (digital, $9.99)
Trax – Build it, Race it (digital, $14.99)
West of Loathing (digital, $11.00)
World Soccer Pinball (digital, $1.99)
Yesterday Origins (digital, $29.99)

Wii U
Masked Forces (digital, $2.99)

Xbox One
Dragon Ball Fighterz – Vegito (SSGSS) (DLC, $4.99)
Dragon Ball Fighterz – Zamasu (Fused) (DLC, $4.99)
Onrush (physical and digital, $59.99)
Shaq Fu: A Legend Reborn (physical and digital, $29.99)
The Elder Scrolls Online: Summerset (DLC, $39.99)
Vampyr (physical and digital, $59.99)

3DS
Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon (digital, $9.99)
Dragon Lapis (digital, $9.99)

PC
BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle ($TBA)
Budget Cuts ($TBA)
Cultist Simulator ($17.99)
Dragon Ball Fighterz – Vegito (SSGSS) (DLC, $4.99)
Dragon Ball Fighterz – Zamasu (Fused) (DLC, $4.99)
Fortissimo FA ($TBA)
Just Shapes & Beats ($17.99)
Hexion ($6.99)
Love is Dead ($10.79)
Milanoir ($12.99)
Nobunaga’s Ambition: Taishi ($TBA)
Overload ($24.99)
Shining Song Supernova ($TBA)
Smoke and Sacrifice (digital, $19.99)
The Pillage ($TBA)
Vampyr ($TBA)

Robert’s Pick: If BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle dropped the four RWBY characters for an equal number of Guilty Gear guests and reduced the number of DLC combatants, I’d go with Arc System Works tag-team fighter. But given both drawbacks, I might have to wait for price drop instead of getting in on the day one rush.

Instead, I’m going with a choice that definitely isn’t for everyone. The release of Nobunaga’s Ambition: Taishi is a delightfully detailed simulation that’s about the deliberate influence of policy and long-term strategy rather than fast-action. Sure, the initial release was met with disparaging reviews in Japan, but gradually Koei Tecmo has tackled some of the more prominent issues. Some elements have been simplified, and yes, there’s a wealth of DLC, but give me a chance to be a daimyo during the Sengoku era and I’ll seize the opportunity with valiant ambition. This time out, the series’ 2000+ officers had purported been given AI to make them behave more like their real-world counterparts. Check back with us for the full review to see if KT made good on their claims.

Zack’s Pick (Senior Editor, RPG Site): Much like Robert to some degree, I am not going to support business practices like the one Arc System Works is exercising with BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle, so I’ll await the inevitable special edition featuring all the characters. Looking ahead, my full attention is on a beautiful-looking, shmup called Earth Atlantis.

You play as a weapon-toting submarine submerged in a post-apocalyptic underwater world. While you’re not busy trying to fight off giant sea creatures inside a variety of ships with a range of unlockable tools at your disposal, you’re exploring ancient ruins and sunken cities to uncover the past. All of this is illustrated with a gorgeous sepia-colored visual style that sets it apart from others in its genre. Earth Atlantis is already out for the Nintendo Switch, and while I heard the game has some unfair difficulty spikes, the developers are re-balancing the gameplay mechanics for this version. Considering its organic style, you may want to check this one out for yourself.

Matt’s Pick (Editor, DigitallyDownloaded): Kingdoms of Loathing kept me going through university, many years ago. Its combination of humour (both with the silly stick figures and the amazingly pun-filled writing) and the fact it was completely free (because university students just don’t have money) meant I got very addicted to the loot cycles and all the content that it offered. West of Loathing is a spin-off game that uses the same sense of humour with a wild west setting, and it’s just amazing. It’s funny, it’s huge, and for a game that looks so silly, it actually has a different, vibrant, and interesting turn-based combat system that is far better realised than you’d expect for a game that looks so throwaway.

And I’ve found the game that enjoyable on the Switch that I’ve actually started playing Kingdoms of Loathing again. God help me.

Ryan’s Pick: I owned Descent on my PC in the early 90s. It was a difficult game, mostly because I was a stubborn teenager that didn’t want to learn how to use WASD and mouselook at the same time. A joystick may have helped, but the the six degrees of movement freedom in the game was constantly getting me murdered. I got stuck thousands of times either upside down or halfway through a doorway, all the while being showered with lasers from enemy ships. All the getting stuck in corners and on walls was like playing Red Alarm on Virtual Boy, minus all the red. Despite all these small gripes from an inexperienced gamer youth, it was fun 3D game, and a different experience from what was out there at the time.

I’m excited for Overload precisely because it is the spiritual successor to Descent and because I think it will work really well in VR. It has been in early access for some time now on Steam, and is now out officially as of today. The six degrees of movement and fast framerate requirement for VR makes the motion in the game fluid, which is a very attractive feature due to the nature of the movement and battle in the game. Being able to move in six different directions does have its learning curve, but once you are able to master it, it does make for a really different and fun gameplay experience that is worth trying out.