New Releases: October 31st-November 6th, 2019

With a lineup that includes a trio of lightgun games, an adaptation of a 2012 PSP game, and even a new Wii game, this week’s schedule of new releases might seem like a throwback from the previous decade. But look past the appearance of the PDP’s new peripheral, Conception Plus: Maidens of the Twelve Stars, and Just Dance 2020, and you might find a few titles that reflect the state of gaming in 2019. Race with Ryan is a game starring a kid Youtuber while Fortnite: Darkfire Bundle is yet another revenue-generating set of cosmetics for the free-to-play title. Maybe the old days were better after all.

Header image: Conception Plus: Maidens of the Twelve Stars, PS4 and PC

PlayStation 4
Audica (digital, $TBA, PSVR)
Castle Costume (digital, $9.99)
Citadel Forged with Fire (physical and digital, $39.99)
Close to the Sun (physical and digital, $29.99)
Conception Plus: Maidens of the Twelve Stars (physical and digital, $59.99)
Fortnite: Darkfire Bundle (physical, $29.99)
Ghost Parade (physical and digital, $39.99)
Just Dance 2020 (physical and digital, $39.99)
MARS Starter Pack – Big Buck Hunter (physical, $99.99)
MARS Starter Pack – Qubit’s Quest (physical, $99.99)
MARS Starter Pack – Voyage of the Dead (physical, $99.99)
Race with Ryan (physical and digital, $39.99)
Remothered: Tormented Fathers (physical, $29.99)
Shadow of the Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition (physical, $39.99)
Spirit of the North (digital, $TBA)
The Elder Scrolls Online: Dragonhold (included with ESO Plus)

Switch
64.0 (digital, $2.39)
Agony (digital, $17.99)
Arcade Archives: Mr. GOEMON (digital, $7.99)
Construction Simulator 2 US (digital, $17.99)
Close to the Sun (physical, $29.99)
Delta Squad (digital, $5.99)
Farming Expert 2019 (physical, $29.99)
Flan (digital, $9.99)
Fortnite: Darkfire Bundle (physical, $29.99)
Just Dance 2020 (physical and digital, $39.99)
Ghost Parade (physical and digital, $39.99)
Invisigun Reloaded (digital, $19.99)
Luigi’s Mansion 3 (physical and digital, $59.99)
Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games: Tokyo 2020 (physical and digital, $59.99)
Mimpi Dream (digital, $3.99)
Mononoke Slashdown (digital, $6.99)
Otokomizu (digital, $9.00)
Perseverance (digital, $4.99)
Race with Ryan (physical and digital, $39.99)
Remothered: Tormented Fathers (physical, $29.99)
Ships (digital, $13.99)
Sky Gamblers: Storm Raiders 2 (digital, $19.99)
Spirit Roots (digital, $3.49)
The Big Journey (digital, $2.99)
The Lord of the Rings: Adventure Card Game (digital, $24.99)
The Mims Beginning (digital, $8.99)
The Wardrobe: Even Better Edition (digital, $9.99)
Windmill Kings (digital, $9.99)
Yuri (digital, $13.99)

Wii
Just Dance 2020 (physical and digital, $39.99)

Xbox One
Citadel Forged with Fire (physical and digital, $39.99)
Close to the Sun (physical and digital, $29.99)
Fortnite: Darkfire Bundle (physical, $29.99)
MARS Starter Pack – Big Buck Hunter (physical, $99.99)
MARS Starter Pack – Qubit’s Quest (physical, $99.99)
MARS Starter Pack – Voyage of the Dead (physical, $99.99)
Northgard (physical, $29.99)
Race with Ryan (physical and digital, $39.99)
Remothered: Tormented Fathers (physical, $29.99)
The Elder Scrolls Online: Dragonhold (included with ESO Plus)

PC
A Year of Rain ($TBA)
Conception Plus: Maidens of the Twelve Stars ($59.99)
Ghost Parade ($39.99)
Gun Gun Pixies ($TBA)
Harakatsu 2 ($TBA)
Pink Girl ($TBA)
Planet Zoo ($44.99)
The Wanderer: Frankenstein’s Creature ($TBA)

Robert’s Pick: From Track & Field, Decathlete, Winter Heat, and Beijing 2008, I’ve always appreciated adaptations of Olympic events. Essentially, they’re mini-game compilations infused with a bit of sporting spectacle, but they’re generally well-crafted and become wonderfully competitive with friends. If you caught my preview of Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games: Tokyo 2020, you’d know that even without any local challengers, there’s a lot of fun to be had with the package. Six iterations on, it’s still notable to see Nintendo and SEGA characters intermingle and this time out the setting makes this one extra special. In a perfect would Miku would be an unlockable, and dexterously outshine everyone at hurdles…there goes my imagination.

I remember first hearing about Conception: Please Give Birth to My Child!! Back in 2012, and thinking, “ok, this is something I need to play”. Essentially, you need to woo young maidens, raising their affection level until they agree to energy-sharing process that give birth to Star Children. Intriguingly, your space babies even show genetic-like traits of their parents. And here it where it gets a bit weird: you’re having kids so you can send them into dungeons!  If you like eccentricity, think about giving Conception Plus: Maidens of the Twelve Stars a go, which updates the seven-year-old title.

Matt’s Pick (Editor, DigitallyDownloaded): Well, I do like making babies with a harem of cute anime girls…

Actually, Conception’s great. It has this ridiculous, fanservicey theme, but actually uses it to make some pretty poignant social commentary. It’s a response against the whole “have children to help your nation” rhetoric that is becoming vogue for the red hat-types in nations with declining birth rates (such as Japan), and I just can’t think of a better way to parody that then this. Throw in a more-than-competent roguelike to underpin the narrative and you’re left with something that will last you for a very long time. Also, the game comes with swimsuit DLC built in for free and… well. That’s me sorted for quite some time to come.

Luigi’s Mansion 3 also deserves a call-out this week, for the ridiculous charm that Nintendo has managed to work into that game. Nintendo always produces highly refined games, of course, but the small details and sheer quality that has been worked into that one is truly amazing.

Ryan’s Pick: Are we all making babies this week? In this, our world of impurities, it is nice to know that the Twelve Star Maidens have all our backs this week. I actually missed the first of the Conception series and started with the sequel, so I can’t think of any better reason to give this one a go. Although some of the bust-up scenes in Conception 2 were quite silly in that all of the characters had some sort of weird animation that looked like they were constantly gyrating, nevertheless I still appreciated the game all the same.

With fairly obvious fan service and hordes of euphemisms, this one may not be for everyone. If you do enjoy harem anime shows and or light dungeon RPGs with some relationship building story elements then give this one a whirl. If you are into breeding with various women for the purpose of sending your children to fight into dungeons, or theories about eugenics, you will definitely enjoy this game as well. On a separate note, I did see that Otokomizu is getting a Switch port. If you enjoy dabbling in the weird, the premise is fairly odd and definitely reminds me of Muscle March for some reason.


Jay’s Pick: I was at PAX Australia a few weeks ago and Ubisoft had a giant dancefloor setup where people could play Just Dance 2020 with professional dancers. It was right across from the Pokemon Sword and Shield line, and the people in that line were treated to many, many renditions of Baby Shark doo doo dodoo dodoo which is included in the tracklist. Is that a good thing? You decide.

You might be expecting me to recommend something like Conception Plus: Maidens of the Twelve Stars this week but I don’t know anything about it… I’m already about 10 games deep into a short-term backlog just from the past 6 weeks, I didn’t even know it was coming out until a few days ago. I’m sure the guys above me will fill you in.

In all honesty, I’m a bit useless this week; I don’t know anything about Conception Plus, I’ve never played a Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games title before, I wouldn’t touch The Elder Scrolls Online with a 50ft pole, and I have next-to-no knowledge about anything else on the list. I haven’t even played a Luigi’s Mansion game before but I plan to make Luigi’s Mansion 3 my first… so I guess that’s my pick?

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 think I’d rather play Garfield Kart Racing that see some game with Kid YouTubers.

  2. I think I’d rather stick a needle in my pee-hole that play that game.

  3. Which are the light gun games, the MARS Starter Packs?

  4. Carlos the Jackal

    I expect Conception Plus review from you guys! I thought I’d like the first game more than I actually did.

  5. I have Luigi’s Mansion 3 coming tomorrow. I’ve read almost nothing about it and have played a game in the series since the first GC one. But it’s first party Nintendo so I know I won’t be disappointed.

    Never played any of the Mario and Sonic games either. Any I missing anything?

  6. “You might be expecting me to recommend something like Conception Plus: Maidens of the Twelve Stars this week but I don’t know anything about it”

    You and me both. It’s a lot of work keeping up with the hobby. Was it always this bad or did adult responsibilities just make it seem that way?

    • I’d normally at least know about everything that’s coming out (even if I can’t play them right away) but the last 6 weeks has been the craziest release period in memory. From about the time that Daemon X Machina released I have been swamped – my backlog of impressions/review/discussions videos includes Daemon X Machina, Code Vein, Ni no Kuni Remastered, Destiny Connect, Story of Seasons Doraemon, Dusk Driver, Link’s Awakening, Super Monkey Ball, The Outer Worlds, & Luigi’s Mansion 3.

      Then there are the games I’ve had to pass up until later like Cold Steel 3, Mary Skelter 2, Corpse Party: Blood Drive, Disgaea 4 Complete+, YU-NO, AI: The Somnium Files, and Conception Plus. And all of this has been in the last 6 weeks. It’s insane!

      • So basically all the games that Robert and Matt like? lol.

        The number of games coming from Japan is nearly out of control. I can’t keep up.

  7. Is a Wii game really coming out? Who still uses their Wii?