New Releases: January 9th-15th, 2020

With a trio of deluxe versions from Gust’s long-running Atelier franchise, and a Switch iteration of the popular match-three, monster collecting title, Puzzle & Dragons, a few of this week’s new releases are rooted in the past. Certainty, that’s the case with the release of Wizardry: Labyrinth of Lost Souls, which was originally released more than a decade ago, as well as the fourteenth entry in the venerable Romance of the Three Kingdom series. Remember, if you’re thinking about picking up the latter, make sure your nihongo is up to par, as English localization won’t arrive until next month.

Header image: Atelier Shallie: Alchemists of the Dusk Sea DX, PlayStation 4, Switch, and PC

PlayStation 4
Atelier Ayesha: The Alchemist of Dusk DX (digital, $35.99)
Atelier Escha & Logy: Alchemists of the Dusk Sky DX (digital, $35.99)
Atelier Shallie: Alchemists of the Dusk Sea DX (digital, $35.99)
Atelier Dusk Trilogy Deluxe Pack (digital, $80.99)
Flat Heroes (digital, $9.99)
Red Bow (digital, $TBA)
Super Mega Space Blaster Special Turbo (digital, $4.99)

Switch
140 (digital, $4.99)
Aborigenus (digital, $4.99)
Arcade Archives Penguin-Kun Wars (digital, $7.99)
Atelier Ayesha: The Alchemist of Dusk DX (digital, $35.99)
Atelier Escha & Logy: Alchemists of the Dusk Sky DX (digital, $35.99)
Atelier Shallie: Alchemists of the Dusk Sea DX (digital, $35.99)
Atelier Dusk Trilogy Deluxe Pack (digital, $80.99)
Cooking Tycoons – 3 in 1 Bundle (digital, $9.09)
Demolish & Build 2018 (digital, $14.99)
Drunk-Fu: Wasted Masters (digital, $4.99)
Invisible Fist (digital, $9.99)
Jump Gunners (digital, $9.99)
Nicky – The Home Alone Golf Ball (digital, $0.49)
Puzzle & Dragons Gold (digital, $14.99)
Sir Eatsalot (digital, $12.99)
Squidlit (digital, $1.99)
Super Mega Space Blaster Special Turbo (digital, $4.99)
Technosphere (digital, $14.99)
THOTH (digital, $4.99)

Xbox One
Paperbound Brawlers (digital, $14.99)
Red Bow (digital, $TBA)

3DS
Silver Falls – 3 Down Stars (digital, $25.99)

PC
AO Tennis 2 ($44.99)
Atelier Ayesha: The Alchemist of Dusk DX ($80.99)
Atelier Escha & Logy: Alchemists of the Dusk Sky DX ($35.99)
Atelier Shallie: Alchemists of the Dusk Sea DX ($35.99)
Atelier Dusk Trilogy Deluxe Pack ($35.99)
Football School ($8.99)
Guntech ($TBA)
Lightmatter ($TBA)
Orangeblood ($TBA)
Pinball Universe ($TBA)
Romance of the Three Kingdoms XIV ($53.99, English UI arriving 2/28)
Seek Girl IV ($TBA)
Super Mega Space Blaster Special Turbo ($4.99)
Touhou Fantasy Day ($TBA)
Warsworn: Dragon of Japan ($TBA)
Wizardry: Labyrinth of Lost Souls ($TBA)

Robert’s Pick: Few franchises deliver as much warm and fuzzy gratification as Gust Corporation’s Atelier titles. Each obediently follows a tried and true formula, as you guide a bumbling ditz or two from apprentice alchemist to chosen one that saves sister, town, and role-playing games from taking themselves too seriously. Yes, they’re all broadly similar. But for fans, the subtle changes and additions delivered by Gust feel like an artist exploring a single theme. The Dusk Trilogy steps back from the contentious time limits pushed by previous iterations, making for gentler, more lighthearted journeys of self-discovery. If you haven’t played them, don’t go wild and purchase the whole compilation, but try any one of them and see if you get hooked.

Also, I must give an obligatory nod to Puzzle & Dragons Gold. While I wish Nintendo would have offered a physical version, I’ll take the $14.99 USD price for some of the most addictive match-three titles around. I’ve spent a lot of time playing this and I haven’t even begun to come close to the determination of Feline Deity of Harmony, Bastet-chasing characters, so there’s a ton of value buried in here. We probably won’t be getting any of the cool crossovers that Japan saw, like Taiko no Tatsujin, Evangelion, or Monster Hunter, but that means we won’t be subject to the cheesy branding either. So, if the Geico Gecko suddenly shows up, feel free to kick me in the orbs.

Matt’s Pick (Editor, DigitallyDownloaded): We’re two weeks into the New Year and already I’m exhausted from having too many games to play, and not enough time. So, let’s do the rational thing and recommend that you all pick up the most time-consuming thing of all.

The Atelier Dusk trilogy are beautiful in how different they are. They are Atelier games, and therefore moe to the max, and have that warm sense of community and communal responsibility that is a hallmark of the series. But they also depict an apocalyptic scenario with a world fading. Only Gust could make that anything but bleak. And yet, while they do depict an apocalypse, there’s not of the violence or angst of any other video game that handles that topic. These games are still – somehow – happy. That’s why they’re so special, and I’m so glad that people have a chance to grab them on modern platforms.

Also, Ayesha is one of the cutest Atelier girls ever (and has a great swimwear body), and Escha is one of the most adorable (actually Escha’s a top three game of the whole series as far as I’m concerned). Soooooo, Robert. Gimme some of that Ayesha or Escha gold in the form of pictures, kthxbye.

Ryan’s Pick: Alas, you shall not find filling my inventory with pales of water I collected from the water well to then sell in town to an NPC for 1 Cole a piece in order to make money this week. You could literally do that in Atelier Rorona. It’s not recommended, but it was a way to make money without burning through your time when you went adventuring. One Cole at a time… I digress – let’s get back to the task at hand. My pick for this week goes to Puzzle and Dragons Gold, as I feel like it’s a pretty fun and easy Switch game to pick up and enjoy.

I’ll be the first to admit I’m addicted to a gacha app game. Thanks, One Piece. I’m no whale, but man it’s pretty darn addicting once you get hooked if you are the type that likes unlocking/collecting things in games. Anyway, I feel like playing a gacha-esque game on console is a safer way to get into the subgenre as you’re limited to doing your pulls/unlocking characters through the game’s economy versus using real money or grinding out the F2P train to slowly gain new characters/monsters/drops. It’s fairly easy to get into the game fast, as the puzzle portion is easy to grasp and even has tutorials. You should then be able to start battling against single-player characters really quickly. There are both multiplayer and single-player modes, so it does give you the option of battling against humans if you would like to. So, there you have it! Collect away, and I’m sure you’ll find yourself praying to your rng-celestial being of your choice for your next coveted digitized husbando and or waifu drop in no time.

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.

6 comments

  1. Robert, any word on the quality of Ayesha’s PC port? KT can get lazy at times.

  2. 3DS games in 2020. How odd…

  3. I’m hoping Flat Heroes is a game about A-cup crime fighters.

  4. Carlos the Jackal

    Atelier Dusk, here I come for the third time!

  5. ?? Touhou Fantasy Day ??

  6. Drunk-Fu: Wasted Masters

    Finally, a game about my college experience.