New Releases: October 1st-7th, 2020

With the appearances of Star Wars: Squadrons and Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time, early October releases contain a few famous names. Beyond these headliners, titles like Baldur’s Gate 3, and FIFA 21, make the emergence of Super Mario Bros. 35 turns the beloved platformer into yet another battle royale title.

Header image: Code of Princess EX, PC

PlayStation 4
9th Dawn III: Shadow of Erthil (digital, $15.99)
Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time (physical & digital, $59.99)
Damsel (digital, $9.99)
FIFA 21 (physical & digital, $59.99)
Foregone (digital, TBA) delayed until 10/13
Ministry of Broadcast (physical & digital, $39.99)
Nickelodeon Kart Racers 2: Grand Prix (physical & digital, $39.99)
Orangeblood (digital, $19.99)
RIDE 4 (physical & digital, $49.99)
Star Wars: Squadrons (physical & digital, $39.99)

Switch
103 (digital, $9.99)
9th Dawn III: Shadow of Erthil (digital, $15.99)
Agatha Christie – The ABC Murders (digital, $29.99)
Atlantis-6 (digital, $0.99)
Birthday of Midnight (digital, $4.99)
Candy Raid: The Factory (digital, $4.99)
Charterstone: Digital Edition (digital, $19.99)
Danger Gazers (digital, $9.99)
Farm Builder (digital, $7.99)
Foregone (digital, TBA) delayed until 10/13
From Orbit (digital, $9.99)
Grim Legends 2: Song of the Dark Swan (digital, $14.99)
Hot Shot Burn (digital, $13.49)
Let’s Sing Queen (digital, $39.99)
Liege Dragon (digital, $13.49)
Logic Puzzle Collection: Sudoku – Permudoku – Nonodoku (digital, $0.99)
Macbat 64: Journey of a Nice Chap (digital, $1.99)
Make a Killing (digital, $9.99)
Nickelodeon Kart Racers 2: Grand Prix (digital, $33.99)
Nubarron: The adventure of an unlucky gnome (digital, $9.99)
Orangeblood (digital, $19.99)
Powertris (digital, $3.99)
Quell (digital, $7.99)
Red Crow Mysteries: Legion (digital, $9.99)
Retro Classix Collection #1: Data East (digital, $19.99)
Shmubedi Boo (digital, $9.99)
Smoots World Cup Tennis (digital, $9.99)
Snake3d (digital, $0.99)
Space Grunts (digital, $13.99)
Super Mario™ Bros. 35 (digital, included with Nintendo Switch Online membership)
The Last Days (digital, $9.99)
WARSAW (digital, $19.99)
Ys Origin (digital, $15.99)

Xbox One
9th Dawn III: Shadow of Erthil (digital, $15.99)
Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time (physical & digital, $59.99)
Dragon Lapis (digital, $14.99)
FIFA 21 (physical & digital, $59.99)
Foregone (digital, TBA) delayed until 10/13
Ministry of Broadcast (physical & digital, $39.99)
Nickelodeon Kart Racers 2: Grand Prix (physical & digital, $39.99)
Orangeblood (digital, $19.99)
RIDE 4 (physical & digital, $49.99)
Star Wars: Squadrons (physical & digital, $39.99)
WARSAW (digital, $19.99)

PC
A Game of Thrones: The Board Game ($15.99)
Baldur’s Gate 3 ($59.99)
Circadian City ($TBA)
Code of Princess EX ($TBA)
Democracy 4 ($TBA)
Dragon Lapis ($14.99)
Drake Hollow ($TBA)
Dungeon Warriors ($2.39)
RIDE 4 ($44.99)
Star Wars: Squadrons ($39.99)
Takorita Meets Fries ($4.49)
Train Station Renovation ($11.99)

Robert’s Pick: My weakness for cartoonish platformers is known. Some of the most salient memories involve setting about three feet from a CRT, fingers clenched around a controller, as I guide a character through levels filled with lethality. And when the final stages inch toward the sadistic, well that makes my heart go all doki doki. As such, it’s not surprising that I’m looking forward to Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time.

While I’m often skeptical when new studios take over celebrated franchises (rightfully so after a succession of middling titles like The Wrath of Cortex, Twinsanity, Crash of the Titans, and Crash: Mind over Mutant), It’s About Time was developed by Toys For Bob, who was helped create the persistently playable Skylander games (anyone else missing those?). I’ve always liked the idea of playable characters having unique mechanics, so maybe I won’t wait for the inevitable PC version.

Ryan’s Pick: Foregone takes my pic for the week as lately I’ve been in serious need of a 2D action game. Graphically it immediately has some parallels to the roguelike Dead Cells which is one of my all-time favorite indie games. After watching some of the gameplay and seeing the animation of the pixel art I immediately became interested. While it appears this one won’t necessarily be as difficult as a 2 Boss Cell run in Dead Cells, I am willing to forego the brutal roguelike elements to experience a bit more story (and less despair). One noteworthy portion about this game is it does appear to be for this launch that it will be exclusive to the Epic Games Store at least until March 2021 for PC. If that’s not a dealbreaker then I think this one looks great.

If 2D platforming isn’t what you’re into, I suggest you give Kemco’s Dragon Lapis a try. The game screams retro RPG with 8-bit graphics and comes accompanied with a chiptune soundtrack. Kemco has a long history of bringing over smaller niche RPGs and definitely provide a lot of content for their lower price points. And there you have it. Now to just shake off the last bad memory of getting 1-shot on Dead Cells 2BC for doing something dumb. Actually, that’s how I usually come to rue my own existence in any game now that I think about it.

Matt C’s Pick (editor, Shindig): For me, it can only be Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time. It is, explicitly and overtly, an attempt to return to the style of the original trilogy that is so fondly remembered by so many people (myself included), bringing Crash back from a couple of decades’ worth of very mediocre games. That’s a big ask, but from what I’ve seen in the demo, Toys For Bob might just have nailed it.

It’s got the classic Crash humour, and doesn’t shy away from poking fun at the series’ troubled history (“How many times have you beaten this clown, anyway?” “Three.” “Really, only three? Funny, it seemed like more.”) It’s got the classic Crash art style and character designs, from before this beloved marsupial started listening to Linkin Park and thinking “tribal” tattoos are ever a good idea. It’s got the classic Crash platforming, full of creative challenges that can be surprisingly unforgiving.

But it’s also got a lot of new ideas. There are new special powers like the ability to briefly slow down time for everything but you, allowing for neat new platforming puzzles. There are multiple playable characters now, some of whom have their own unique abilities—Cortex can’t jump, but he can use his raygun to turn enemies into platforms. This might just turn out to be the new Crash Bandicoot people have been wanting for years.

Matt S’ Pick (Editor, DigitallyDownloaded): Do you know how many times I’ve played Baldur’s Gate through? And how many times I have bought it and its sequel? I have it on four current platforms – PC, iPad, PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch – and my passion for that game has not waned on any level whatsoever in the many years since I – excited beyond all measure at the thought of what a Dungeons & Dragons game split across four (or was it five?) CDs could offer – with very shaky hands inserted the first disc into my PC.

My point is that Baldur’s Gate 3 lands in a week and I’m actually cancelling plans to play it. If Larian Studios can even capture a fraction of the brilliance of BioWare (pre-EA) was capable of, it will be my game of the year. Effortlessly. Of course, I’m quite nervous as the potential is there to diminish one of my favourite properties of all, but Larian Studios showed that they have real talent with the Divinity series. I have faith.

In addition to that the Game of Thrones Board Game lands on PC next week, courtesy of Asmodee Digital. Two PC games in one week! It’s unheard of for me. But Game of Thrones is an excellent literature property (and the TV show is aggressively watchable), and while the GoT video games have been… not good, so far, the board game is a good bit of fun, and Asmodee Digital is well known at this point for its quality digital adaptations of quality board games. I should enjoy this one more than a little.

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.

7 comments

  1. Super Mario Bros. 35 need work. The matches go on for too long. And Nintendo, why must you delist games?

  2. I’m excited for Crash 4, but I’m going to wait for the reviews.

  3. $60 for an Early Access game is rather obnoxious, even for BG3. What’s the advantage of playing now rather than waiting until the game is finished and the major bugs have been taken care of?

  4. A decent Crash game?

    It’s About Time.

  5. Wasn’t Nicalis canceled? That’s who publishing Code of Princess EX.

    • Stop reading Kotaku.

      One guy at the company didn’t rely to emails, made a few inappropriate jokes in public, and said he’d buy a plane ticket for some one that drank a mix of beer, raw egg, and soy sauce.

      None of these are issues. It was just a few pissed off employees.