New Releases: October 11th-17th, 2018

With retail spaces clearing out the last remnants of Skylanders, LEGO Dimensions, and Disney Infinity items, the toys-to-life trend might seem to be over. But with the pairing of game and a modular Arwing ship, Starlink: Battle for Atlas’ is giving the genre another valiant attempt. While the Ubisoft title has Nintendo licensing, it also has a hefty seventy-five dollar price tag and the requirement of attaching some pretty dorky looking plastic pieces to your controller. Luckily, for those embarrassed by the prospect of parading action figures about, with week bring a number of less conspicuous titles, such as The World Ends with You, Warriors Orochi 4, and LEGO DC Super-Villains.

Header image: Warriors Orochi 4, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC

PlayStation 4
Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 (physical and digital, $59.99)
Heavy Fire: Red Shadow (digital, $TBA, PS VR)
LEGO DC Super-Villains (physical and digital, $59.99)
NBA 2K Playgrounds 2 (physical and digital, $29.99)
Starlink: Battle for Atlas (physical, $74.99)
Warriors Orochi 4 (physical and digital, $59.99)

Switch
ACA NeoGeo Zupapa! (digital, $7.99)
Art of Balance (digital, $8.99)
Battle Group 2 (digital, $9.99)
Big Buck Hunter Arcade (physical and digital, $29.99)
Boom Ball: Boost Edition (digital, $12.99)
Chasm (digital, $19.99)
Child of Light (digital, $19.99)
Crayola Scoot (physical and digital, $39.99)
Dungeon Village (digital, $12.00)
Exorder (digital, $12.99)
Feral Fury (digital, $8.99)
Game Dev Story (digital, $12.00)
Guacamelee! Super Turbo Championship Edition (digital, $14.99)
Hot Springs Story (digital, $12.00)
Iris School of Wizardry -Vinculum Hearts- (digital, $24.99)
Joggernauts (digital, $14.99)
LEGO DC Super-Villains (physical and digital, $59.99)
Madorica Real Estate (digital, $14.99)
Nefarious (digital, $14.99)
Rapala Fishing Pro Series (physical and digital, $29.99)
Starlink: Battle for Atlas (physical, $74.99)
The Jackbox Party Pack 5 (digital, 29.99)
The Swindle (digital, $14.99)
The World Ends with You: Final Remix (physical and digital, $49.99)
Tricky Towers (digital, $14.99)
Warriors Orochi 4 (physical and digital, $59.99)

Wii U
Petite Zombies (digital, $0.99)

Xbox One
Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 (physical and digital, $59.99)
Guns, Gore & Cannoli 2 (digital, $12.99)
LEGO DC Super-Villains (physical and digital, $59.99)
NBA 2K Playgrounds 2 (physical and digital, $29.99)
Starlink: Battle for Atlas (physical, $74.99)
Warriors Orochi 4 (physical and digital, $59.99)

3DS
Pinball Breakout (digital, $7.00)

PC
Elderborn (Early Access, $15.99)
Gravity Spin ($5.94)
Hentai Minesweeper ($0.60)
Joggernauts ($11.99)
The Missing: J.J. Macfield and the Island of Memories ($29.99)
The Packet Queen # ($4.99)
Touhou Fan of Destiny ($TBA)
Warriors Orochi 4 ($TBA)

Robert’s Pick: While the rest of the world might be eager to ante up sixty dollars for a new Call of Duty game, the lack of any kind of campaign means that I’m going to be a conscientious objector and sit this one out. Instead I’ll be on the battlefields shared by characters from the Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors games, appreciating Warriors Orochi 4’s Guinness World Record-setting roster of 170 personalities. Like Call of Duty, there’s no real upheaval of tradition, with the latest iteration in the world-melding-franchise offering its distinctive brand of hack-and-slash action. This week, true bushi pick the katana over the AK as their weapon of choice.

Matt’s Pick (Editor, DigitallyDownloaded): Oh no you don’t, Robert. You don’t get to take my Warriors Orochi 4 from me. I am such a big fan of both Samurai Warriors and Dynasty Warriors. I have travelled Japan chasing the battlefields and castles of Sengoku-era Japan almost entirely because Samurai Warriors 3 made me realise how fascinating I find the stories and personalities of the era (funny story; it took me that long to “discover” the Warriors games because for the longest time I actually believed the reviews that claimed they were “brainless button mashers” and I only played Samurai Warriors 3 because it was forced on me by my editor at the time). I’m also the one that got flooded with angry manchildren because I dared publish a review saying I liked Dynasty Warriors 9.

I’m a big fan of the Warriors Orochi sub-series too, because who doesn’t want to indulge a fantasy ship between Sun Shangxiang and Ginchiyo Tachibana? Yeah, I went there.

But seriously. This is why I still play games. Warriors Orochi 4 is going to be a good time, with a fun fantasy story and another excuse to reconnect with all my favourite personalities from Japanese and Chinese military history.

Ryan’s Pick: Warriors Orochi 4 is my pick for the week as well! The inclusion of Greek and Norse characters is interesting considering some of their other crossover roster additions in previous Orochi games. They’re no Sterkenberg, but they will have to suffice – I just have a very special affinity for Atelier Rorona characters you could say. I’m hoping that they use Kevin Sorbo’s likeness if Hercules somehow appears as a hidden character. This will not happen, but when I think of Greek Gods somehow my brain goes to the Hercules series in the 90s. At the least, I hope to be able to play as Tadakatsu Honda. I had a lot of fun trying to unlock his 4th weapon in Samurai Warriors 2. It was nearly impossible, but it was fun to try.

Speaking of the brain, I’ve found hack & slash games to be very therapeutic to play. Granted at times it can seem pretty monotonous to slay thousands if not tens of thousands of poor mustached fodder NPCs as you ogre through them mercilessly in your conquest to finish the level, but while I’m doing this I sometimes find myself spacing out. Going on autopilot you could say. I like to believe it’s my brain resting from all the monotony of the day. I’ll trudge on staring into the void thinking other thoughts until the horns of war blow in game, then you can bet my eyes are peeled on that minimap. I will always appreciate these games for this unique type of game experience. With 170 characters, there is an incredible amount of content to play, so there is not much not to like about these games.

Zack’s Pick (Senior Editor, RPG Site): Let me just get this out of the way first – Kairosoft makes some of the best damn mobile games you can enjoy on the marketplace. Game Dev Story and Hot Springs Story are both a lot of fun and huge time sinks. I’m not crazy about the idea of them appearing on Switch because they’re first and foremost bite-sized titles that are only really enjoyed when you’re idling in front of the bus stop or sitting on the toilet. I don’t think they really work when blown up on a tablet, but maybe they’ll prove me wrong.

I’ll also say I would be thrilled for Call of Duty: Black Ops IIII had they kept the single-player campaign in there, which was arguably one of the most beloved parts of the series. Sadly, Activision and Treyarch saw fit to remove it to bank on the Battle Royale craze. It just makes me want a new Battlefield: Bad Company game that much more to remind people how enjoyable an FPS story can truly be. On that note, I am going to simply echo my own recommendation from a few weeks ago and advise people to purchase Chasm on the Nintendo Switch because I had a chance to play and it had an absolute blast. If you’re looking for a highly enjoyable roguelike, that’s the one to buy.

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.

9 comments

  1. I hope Black Ops 4 fails. I’m sick of BR games.

  2. I wish there was a sale on Chasm.

  3. The Kairosoft games are often 0.99 to 1.99 on iOS. 12.00 is way too much. Id pay 7.00 at most.

  4. I watched more Xena that Hercules for some reason (oh, maybe the bath scenes). Still I watched the Mythica movies and they weren’t too bad.

  5. LEGO DC Super-Villain is coming out for PC too.

  6. Waiting for reviews of NBA 2K Playgrounds 2.