New Game Releases: June 21st-27th, 2018

With celebrated titles like Lumines, de Blob, Nier, and Minecraft due, this week’s schedule of ‘new’ releases seems dominated by reissues. Beyond these high-profile reprises, retro enthusiasts might be happy to see a few older, beloved titles like The Last Blade 2 and Gunbird 2 showing up in digital storefronts. And for those seeking something fresh, perhaps the appearance of The Crew 2 and MUSYNX might offer appeal.

Header image: Destiny’s Princess: A War Story, A Love Story, Switch

PlayStation 3
Rainbow Skies (digital, $29.99, cross-buy)

PlayStation 4
Call of Duty: WWII – United Front (DLC, digital, $14.99)
Lumines Remastered (digital, $14.99)
Rainbow Skies (digital, $29.99, cross-buy)
Slime-san: Superslime Edition (digital, $14.99)
The Crew 2 (physical and digital, $59.99)
Trove: Geode (digital, free-to-play)

Switch
1917 – The Alien Invasion DX (digital, $7.99)
ACA NeoGeo: The Last Blade 2 (digital, $7.99)
Air Mail (digital, $13.49)
Anima: Gate of Memories – The Nameless Chronicles (digital, $19.99)
Anima: Gate of Memories: Arcane Edition (digital, $29.99)
Cubikolor (digital, $8.99)
de Blob (digital, $29.99)
Destiny’s Princess: A War Story, A Love Story (digital, $14.99)
Drawful 2 (digital, $9.99)
Gunbird 2 (digital, $7.99)
Johnny Turbo’s Arcade: Wizard Fire (digital, $7.99)
Lost in Harmony (digital, $6.99)
Lumines Remastered (digital, $14.99)
Mahjong Deluxe 3 (digital, $19.99)
Mario Tennis Aces (physical and digital, $59.99)
Minecraft (physical and digital, $29.99)
MUSYNX (physical and digital, $29.99)
Pode (digital, $24.99)
The Journey Down: Chapter One (digital, $9.99)
Vegas Party (digital, $24.99)
Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana (physical and digital, $59.99)
Whip Whip (digital, $9.99)

Xbox One
Battle Knights (digital, $2.99)
Call of Duty: WWII – United Front (DLC, digital, $14.99)
Lumines Remastered (digital, $14.99)
NieR: Automata Become as Gods Edition (physical and digital, $49.99)
Slime-san: Superslime Edition (digital, $14.99)
The Crew 2 (physical and digital, $59.99)
Trove: Geode (digital, free-to-play)
Yet Another Zombie Defense HD (digital, $TBA)

PS Vita
Rainbow Skies (digital, $29.99, cross-buy)

PC
Call of Duty: WWII – United Front (DLC, $14.99)
Frozen Flame ($TBA)
Recursive Dragon ($TBA)
The Crew 2 ($59.99)

Robert’s Pick: While there are a number of adept turn-based adventures on Switch, action role-playing games are a bit scarcer. As such, the release of Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana makes an agreeable addition to the system’s growing library. Sure, it might lack the sixty frame-per-second fluidity of the PlayStation 4 iteration, but the Switch version is competently coded, offering a thirty frames most of the time, even in handheld mode. Surprisingly, boss battles hold up well, with only the busiest of settlements revealing a visual blemish.

Gone is the reviled localization of the original release, with dialog that a bit more graceful, and less direct (of course, the odd untranslated line might still be found). And bunded with the game are the costumes previously sold as DLC, allowing you to dress Laxia, Ricotta, and Dana in tropical swimgear. If you somehow managed to avoid the previous releases and are longing for Adol’s adventures on the go, this version is your best bet.

Matt’s Pick (Editor, DigitallyDownloaded): Lumines.

‘Cause it’s Lumines. If you like active puzzle games like Tetris, and you like music, then boy are you in for a good time when you put them together.

I flat out refuse to believe that it’s possible for a human being to not love Lumines. Do yourself a favour and get it on Nintendo Switch, though. This game and portable play go together like Hatsune Miku and… well, Robert wouldn’t let me print the end of that sentence. It’s a very good thing, though.

Ryan’s Pick: Oh man Lumines! This was my first game that I got with my PSP. I waited outside of a ToysRUs in Kyushu in mid-December in 2004 to pick this game up – it was a PSP launch title for US and Japan. It’s a fun and fast puzzler with some great backgrounds visuals and audio that integrates with the gameplay.  The addition of vibration to the game is definitely welcome, and will add some more satisfying sensory input for the player as they progress through the game.

If I had to pick a console to play it on, it would have to be the Switch. Puzzlers are always fun to have while on the go, and can be a quick fix when you have some time to kill.

Zack’s Pick (Senior Editor, RPG Site): I mean…. yeah, it also has to be Lumines Remastered! This is the game I picked up when I purchased my PlayStation Portable on launch day. Once I did, I brought it school the next day and showed it off to my friends. It blew their minds that this game looked gorgeous and the music was so incredible. It literally was a system seller in a lot of people’s eyes.

Fast forward over a decade later, and it’s still this impressively unique title that captures your attention while keeping you fully engaged with its highly addictive nature. I can only imagine what this game will look like on a 4K TV, especially with a PlayStation 4 Pro. It’s sure to melt our minds all over again!

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. The Switch is becoming my own little portable arcade. I’ll be getting Gunbird 2 this week.

  2. ‘allowing you to dress Laxia, Ricotta, and Dana in tropical swimgear.”

    What about Adol? No need to be homophobic!

  3. Minecraft has been out for Switch, I’m sure of it.

  4. Ugly top image.

  5. Robert, why don’t you like Lumines?

  6. Theres got to be more than 4 new Steam games coming out this week!

  7. Who is Johnny Turbo and why does he have so many games.

  8. New Gundam Breaker is coming out 6/22

  9. Ys VIII for Switch for sure and maybe Lumines.

  10. de Blob is $30. That’s de Switch tax for you.