New Releases: January 27th-February 2nd, 2022

This week, Uncharted and Life is Strange receive remasters, Pokémon Legends: Arceus pushes the franchise into a semi-open world, and there’s a barrage of sprite-based, 2D, action platforming. Additionally, Taiko no Tatsujin: The Drum Master! arrives on Xbox and PC. Let’s hope that drum compatibility is included. It would be awful to see Don-chan out of work.

Header: KamiYaba: Destiny on a Dicey Deadline, PC

PlayStation 4
Circuit Superstars (digital, $19.99)
COGEN: Sword of Rewind (digital, $24.99)
Gunvolt Chronicles: Luminous Avenger iX 2 (digital, $24.99)
Hotel Life: A Resort Simulator (digital, $TBA)
Life is Strange Remastered Collection (digital, $39.99)
The Dead Tree of Ranchiuna (digital, $9.99)
The Sealed Ampoule (digital, $19.99)
Wanderer (digital, $TBA, VR)

PlayStation 5
Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection (physical & digital, $49.99)

Switch
Broken Blades (digital, $3.99)
Calturin (digital, $5.09)
Circus Pocus (digital, $4.99)
COGEN: Sword of Rewind (digital, $24.99)
Concordia: Digital Edition (digital, $24.99)
Crazy Athletics – Summer Sports and Games (digital, $15.89)
Crush Crush (digital, $Free)
Don’t Be Afraid (digital, $9.99)
Gomoku Let’s Go (digital, $3.49)
Gunvolt Chronicles: Luminous Avenger iX 2 (digital, $22.49)
Hidden Paws (digital, $3.99)
Invert (digital, $2.00)
Life is Strange Remastered Collection (physical & digital, $
Magi Trials (digital, $9.99)
Magic Pen Color Book (digital, $3.99)
Pandemic Shooter (digital, $4.99)
Peace, Death! 2 (digital, $5.00)
Pokémon Legends: Arceus (physical & digital, $59.99)
Record of Lodoss War-Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth- (digital, $24.99)
Re:Turn 2 – Runaway (digital, $10.00)
Serin Fate (digital, $19.99)
Super Onion Boy 2 (digital, $4.99)
The Dead Tree of Ranchiuna (digital, $9.99)
Treasure Hunter Man 2 (digital, $1.99)
Unforeseen Incidents (digital, $19.99)
Vagante (digital, $14.99)
Webbed (digital, $17.99)
Yeah Yeah Beebiss II (digital, $9.99)

Xbox One
Calturin (digital, $5.09)
COGEN: Sword of Rewind (digital, $24.99)
Dyna Bomb (digital, $4.49)
Gunvolt Chronicles: Luminous Avenger iX 2 (digital, $24.99)
Hotel Life: A Resort Simulator (digital, $TBA)
Life is Strange Remastered Collection (digital, $39.99)
Taiko no Tatsujin: The Drum Master! (digital, $49.99)
The Dead Tree of Ranchiuna (digital, $9.99)

PC
COGEN: Sword of Rewind ($24.99)
Deflector ($13.49)
Gunvolt Chronicles: Luminous Avenger iX 2 ($24.99)
Kamimahou ($TBA)
KamiYaba: Destiny on a Dicey Deadline ($TBA)
Life is Strange: Before the Storm Remastered ($39.99)
Life is Strange Remastered Collection ($39.99)
Operation STEEL ($12.74)
Rogue Tower ($TBA)
Taiko no Tatsujin: The Drum Master! ($49.99)
Zenith: The Last City (VR, $TBA)

Rob’s Pick: The sheer number of 2D action games arriving this week has me excited. Last week, I mentioned COGEN: Sword of Rewind. The release was delayed a few days, but my interest in intense, time-reversing platforming remains as strong as ever. Give the demo a go, and you’ll find two, timed stages that aren’t in the full game. Although there’s the occasionally level design misstep or dodgy collision detection, I really enjoy how the light puzzling complements the sword-swinging action.

Save for the rare misstep, Ichikawa-based Inti Creates is one of the most consistent developers around. From the shockingly overlooked Blaster Master series, to their take on classic Castlevania with the Bloodstained: Circle of the Moon titles, they are the maestros of retro, sprite-based experiences. This week, Gunvolt Chronicles: Luminous Avenger iX 2 makes its debut, looking like a lost gem from the SNES-era. From the tenaciously responsive controls, boss battles that will generate a bit of old-fashioned aggravation, and pixel-art that will appease the eyes, there’s a lot to like. But remember to tackle hard mode if you’re looking for that 90’s-era difficulty.

And if you can somehow handle a bit more bitmapped delight, don’t overlook Record of Lodoss War – Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth, which arrives on Switch screen this week. And if you must subsist in the third dimension, Pokémon Legends: Arceus’ open world adaptation looks to breathe some freshness into GameFreak’s franchise.

Matt S’ pick (Editor, DigitallyDownloaded): It’s Pokémans week! Nothing makes me happier than seeing the great waves of angst and anger that inevitably come from “fans” of this series, like clockwork, each time a new Pokémans releases. It’s a Joker moment for me. I love the chaos. I love how such a wholesome, good-natured, joyful series has ended up with one of the most truly toxic fanbases of all.

I’m fully expecting that Pokémon Legends: Arceus will be the same. I’ve already seen enough of it. For my part, though, I cannot wait to get my hands on this game, and that’s not only because Piplup is already confirmed for the game and therefore I’m all sorted. I’ve been playing Pokémon with rarely a break since the original Pokémon Blue. I’ve never missed a game, never been genuinely disappointed by an entry, and my house is filled with Pokémon stuff. Pokémon is a major part of why I love video games at all, and I’m quite sure that Arceus won’t disappoint me.

Meanwhile, KamiYaba: Destiny on a Dicey Deadline. I didn’t know of this game before I saw Robert’s list of upcoming releases, but, intrigued by the name, I looked it up. A “rowdy rom-com” featuring a blonde twintails?

Sold. So, so sold.

Oh, and speaking of twintails, there’s a Hatsune Miku puzzle game that has just been released on Switch. It’s a match-3 thing… I think. And it has Hatsune Miku. It’s called Hatsune Miku: Tsunageru Puzzle Tamagotori and mark my words, it will be game of the year.

Ryan’s Pick: Two Japanese developed side-scrollers with long esoteric names have my interest this week, but I’m going to be honest that Record of Lodoss War-Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth- looks like it is more my speed in terms of gameplay and exploration. Playing Metroid: Dread reminded me of how much I love exploration and attempting to remember where the hades everything was in those games. It never works out quite well in my brain in the end, but all the backtracking once you are basically unstoppable is equally as fun, so I plan to give this one a spin this week on the Switch.

One other game I missed last fall when it arrived on Steam was Circuit Superstars. It’s published by Square Enix and it reminds me a lot of the classic R.C. Pro-Am for NES, only much more polished with different types of cars to race in 3D. The chibi art style of the cars is pretty appealing to me and could be a good change of pace once I inevitably have to grind out some levels to beat some of the endgame bosses for the metroidvania I mentioned above. Lastly, the Uncharted Legacy of Thieves looks like a good opportunity to pick up two PS5 games in one if you haven’t played them. Even if you did previously purchase either of them for PS4, you can upgrade to the PS5 remaster for $10 per a PS blog post which isn’t a massive investment if you are a fan of the series.

Matt R’s pick (editor, Shindig): Shmup fans, don’t overlook Operation STEEL. It’s not the first game to mash-up arcade shooting with roguelike elements, but it’s one of the more enjoyable attempts I’ve played, mostly because it doesn’t overplay the roguelike side of that recipe and remembers what makes shmups fun in the first place. Precision, mastery, and the ability to keep a cool head as you weave through enemy bullets and face down some rather inventive Zodiac-themed bosses. The roguelike touch comes in the semi-randomised stage layouts—the individual enemy waves are hand-crafted, but they’re compiled procedurally for each new run—and a wide assortment of different weapons, items, and passive boosts that encourage different strategies based on your loadout. For a solo developer’s first commercial release, it’s not a bad effort.

I’m also very curious about Pokemon Legends: Arceus. There’s a lot of promise in the idea of an open-world Pokemon done right, and from what I’ve seen so far, it looks like it does a decent job of going in that new direction without straying too far from what makes Pokemon worthwhile. But what has me most interested about it is the setting: the Hisui region is Sinnoh in ancient times, which basically means it’s Hokkaido in ancient times, giving Arceus a wealth of unique culture and history to draw inspiration from.