New Releases: October 26th-November 1st, 2023

This week, World of Horror frightens PlayStation 4 and Switch owners, VISCO Collection bundles seven coin-op titles, while Mystery Lover (pictured) lets players solve a case involving a missing Vtuber. Here’s the complete list of what’s coming out at retail and in digital marketplaces:

PlayStation 4
Desolatium (digital, $26.99)
Dinosaurs: Mission Dino Camp (digital, $29.99)
DreamWorks Trolls Remix Rescue (digital, $49.99)
Frog Detective: The Entire Mystery (digital, $19.95)
Headbangers: Rhythm Royale (digital, $19.99)
Hero Survival (digital, $3.99)
Mineko’s Night Market (digital, $19.99)
Murder Is Game Over (digital, $4.99)
Strategic Mind: Spirit of Liberty (digital, $26.99)
Sudama Relation
World of Horror (digital, $19.99)
Yumeiro Yuram

PlayStation 5
Dinosaurs: Mission Dino Camp (physical & digital, $29.99)

Switch
30 Sport Games in 1 (digital, $26.99)
Ace Robot Combat (digital, $9.99)
Alien Hominid HD (digital, $11.99)
Alien Hominid Invasion (digital, $19.99)
Alive Paint (digital, $4.99)
Alpha Particle (digital, $9.99)
Animal Kart Racer 2 (digital, $13.99)
CometStriker DX (digital, $14.99)
Barbie DreamHouse Adventures (digital, $39.99)
Dave the Diver (digital, $19.99)
Desolatium (digital, $26.99)
Dog (digital, $13.99)
DreamWorks Trolls Remix Rescue (digital, $49.99)
Easy Learning Classic Music (digital, $6.99)
Enchanted Portals (digital, $19.99)
Even if Tempest Dawning Connections (digital, $49.99)
Frog Detective: The Entire Mystery (digital, $19.95)
Fusion Paradox (digital, $7.99)
Get Me Out, Please (digital, $29.99)
Gordian Quest (digital, $17.99)
Great Ambition of the Slimes (digital, $11.99)
Hamster on Rails (digital, $14.99)
Halloween Bubble Shooter (digital, $1.99)
Hana Awase New Moon -Himeutsugi Volume- (digital, $32.99)
Hana Awase New Moon -Iroha Volume- (digital, $32.99)
Hana Awase New Moon -Mizuchi Volume- (digital, $32.99)
Harvest Life + Castaway Paradise (digital, $29.99)
Headbangers: Rhythm Royale (digital, $19.99)
Hero Survival (digital, $3.99)
Horror Gallery (digital, $6.99)
Horror Tale 2: Samantha (digital, $9.99)
Illuminaria (digital, $14.99)
Jump, Race, Fly – Bundle (digital, $16.29)
Kickback Slug: Cosmic Courier (digital, $11.99)
Kraken Odyssey (digital, $16.99)
LumiereMagna (digital, $14.39)
Murder Is Game Over (digital, $4.99)
Mystery Lover (digital, $8.99)
Ninja or Die: Shadow of the Sun (digital, $13.49)
Nyanzou & Kumakichi Let’s Make a Flower Garden (digital, $1.00)
Paintball 3 – Candy Match Factory (digital, $9.99)
Paper Dash – Ghost Hunt (digital, $6.99)
RollerCoaster Tycoon Adventures Deluxe (digital, $39.99)
Save The World (digital, $7.99)
Seaside Driving (digital, $4.99)
Silent Paws: Hidden Valley (digital, $4.99)
Song of Nunu: A League of Legends Story (digital, $29.99)
Space Storeship (digital, $4.69)
Spin Rhythm XD (digital, $24.99)
The Kitty in the Trapping Garden (digital, $4.99)
Triple Zombie Collection (digital, $9.99)
Varenje – Don’t Touch The Berries (digital, $8.99)
VISCO Collection (digital, $19.99)
Wet Steps (digital, $4.99)
World of Horror ($19.99)
Yatzi (digital, $13.99)

Xbox One
A Perfect Day (digital, $19.99)
Alien Hominid HD (digital, $11.99)
Alien Hominid Invasion (digital, $19.99)
Desolatium (digital, $26.99)
Frog Detective: The Entire Mystery (digital, $19.95)
Fusion Paradox (digital, $7.99)
Halloween Pinball (digital, $2.54)
Headbangers: Rhythm Royale (digital, $19.99)
Hero Survival (digital, $3.99)
Mineko’s Night Market (digital, $19.99)
Murder Is Game Over (digital, $4.99)
PlateUp! (digital, $39.99)
RollerCoaster Tycoon Adventures Deluxe (digital, $39.99)
Strategic Mind: Spirit of Liberty (digital, $26.99)

PC
Alien Hominid HD ($11.99)
Alien Hominid Invasion ($19.99)
Beer Factory ($TBA)
Castle of Secrets ($TBA)
Don’t Scream ($8.99)
Dragonheir: Silent Gods (free to play)
Dungeon Tavern ($8.99)
Fish Games ($18.74)
Headbangers: Rhythm Royale (digital, $19.99)
Jerry Wanker and the Quest to Get Laid ($TBA)
Jusant ($TBA)
Little Goody Two Shoes ($19.99)
Ghostrunner 2 ($39.99)
Magicraft ($TBA)
Phantom Rose 2 Sapphire ($TBA)
Princess of Zeven ($TBA)
Sands of Aura ($14.99)
Song of Nunu: A League of Legends Story (digital, $29.99)
Taimania Asagi ($11.99)
The Devourer: Hunted Souls ($8.99)
Under the Hood ($TBA)
VISCO Collection ($17.99)

Rob’s Pick: Somehow, I overlooked World of Horror’s Steam release. Let’s rectify that now that the game is coming to PlayStation and Switch. I was never a fan of early adventure games that required a way of thinking my brain couldn’t handle but I did appreciate a bit of J-horror, whether it was the smoldering intensity of Takashi Miike’s Audition or just the dreamlike fright of Junji Ito’s stark manga. World of Horror jettisons the linear approach to the genre, allowing for semi-randomized stories as you balance sanity, stamina, and health across a process of investigations that include turn-based battles. It’s still a work-in-progress (with at least one additional game mode imminent), but it’s worth the price of admission to see cinematic sequences through the lens of black-and-white, Game Boy-style visuals.

I’ll probably take a stroll through Little Goody Two Shoes and while the lack of combat worries me, the yuri romance could be a decent counterbalance. And while most critics didn’t like Ninja or Die: Shadow of the Sun as much as I did, I’d recommend this week’s Switch port to anyone who appreciates games with unorthodox control schemes.

Ryan’s pick:  A heavy synth bassline is one of the fastest ways to get my attention, and when the original Ghostrunner launched it did exactly that. Music aside, the gameplay was fast and flashy, and it quickly became an attractive game because it checked off so many boxes for me. I’m going to go with Ghostrunner 2 this week because this sequel visually looks excellent and contains more of the wanton carnage that made me like the first so much. The game also touts having improved boss interactivity this time around, so I am curious to see exactly what type of encounters and bosses are waiting. If you’re a FPS fan, I think this one should be on your radar.

Staying with the FPS theme this week, the horror game DON’T SCREAM looks like a whole lot of fun. The first important piece of information about this game is that it’s an Early Access Game. I don’t think this should dissuade anyone however, as the camera and visuals that this Unreal Engine 5 game really give off the distinct V/H/S and The Blair Witch Project type of found footage vibe. It also requires a microphone to be able to play it, but again, I think it’s definitely worth a look as it looks realistically creepy and perfect for a pre-Halloween jaunt.

Matt S’ pick (editor, DigitallyDownloaded): It’s the Halloween horror week! So many spooooooooky games for our spoooooooky enjoyment. Anyhow, I’ll probably just play Get Me Out, Please. I have no idea if it will be any good, or even playable. It may well now. But it has a school girl for a protagonist so, with fond memories of Clock Tower 3 being my favourite horror game ever, I feel compelled to give it a go.

For a safer bet, World of Horror really is that good. I’m not much of a PC gamer (or at least, I wasn’t), but I did give that one a spin in early access and then decided that I would definitely pick it up on console. Looks like that day as finally come. Excellent.

Finally, I’m quite intrigued by Desolatium. A point-and-click adventure game inspired by Lovecraft sounds… well, there are a lot of those. But this one does have an interesting and distinctive art style, and with horror it’s always worth giving something different a go. Sometimes it does come up trumps.