New Releases: March 4th-10th, 2021

From racing with Reimu in Gensou SkyDrift, hardening into stone in Mortal Shell, or even enjoying a cross-platform battle royale showdown in Apex Legends, there’s a number of notable new releases this week. But don’t overlook creative titles like Loop Hero, Everhood, and Antonball Deluxe which each offer an inspirational dose on ingenuity.

Header image: Gnosia, Switch

PlayStation 4
Gensou SkyDrift (digital, $23.99)
Into A Dream (digital, $11.89)
Kill It with Fire (digital, $11.99)
Monster Energy Supercross – The Official Videogame 4 (physical & digital, $59.99)
Neverwinter: Sharandar (DLC, free)
Postal Redux (digital, $TBA)
Two Point Hospital: JUMBO Edition (digital, $39.99)

PlayStation 5
Control Ultimate Edition (physical, $39.99)
Monster Energy Supercross – The Official Videogame 4 (physical & digital, $59.99)
Mortal Shell: Enhanced Edition (digital, $29.99)

Switch
America Wild Hunting (digital, $3.99)
Apex Legends (digital, Free)
Apex Legends Champion Edition (physical, $39.99)
Counter Recon: The First Mission (digital, $14.99)
Doug Hates His Job (digital, $4.89)
Dreaming Sarah (digital, $4.99)
Duel on Board (digital, $7.99)
Estranged: The Departure (digital, $5.99)
Everhood (digital, $14.99)
Give It Up! Bouncy (digital, $9.99)
Gnosia (digital, $24.99)
Into A Dream (digital, $11.89)
Kill It with Fire (digital, $11.99)
Mail Mole (digital, $14.99)
Nena (digital, $4.99)
Noble Armada: Lost Worlds (digital, $19.99)
Rock ‘N Racing Bundle Off Road & Rally (digital, $19.99)
Ruinverse (digital, $13.49)
Sea of Solitude: The Director’s Cut (digital, $19.99)
Sticky Monsters (digital, $4.97)
Super Metboy! (digital, $9.99)
Task Force Delta – Afghanistan (digital, $9.99)

Xbox One
Asdivine Cross (digital, $14.99)
Kill It with Fire (digital, $11.99)
Monster Energy Supercross – The Official Videogame 4 (physical & digital, $59.99)
Neverwinter: Sharandar (DLC, free)
Two Point Hospital: JUMBO Edition (digital, $39.99)
Under Leaves (digital, $12.99)

PC
Antonball Deluxe ($TBA)
Everhood ($9.99)
Forza Horizon 4 ($TBA)
Loop Hero ($12.74)
Mail Mole ($11.99)
Poster Sticker ($4.99)
Ranch Simulator ($19.99)
Soul Elegy ($13.29)
Stronghold: Warlords ($TBA)
Taisho x Alice Episode 3 ($17.99)
The Life and Suffering of Sir Brante ($17.99)
Toward the Stars ($14.44)

Robert’s Pick: Years of niche role-playing games have natured an appreciation for intricate, interlocking gameplay systems. This week’s release of Loop Hero distills that experience down to the most essential elements. Sure, there’s not much in the way of story or exposition, but a multitude of fiddly, little parts congeal into something quite memorizing.

Description is challenging, but it’s a lo-fi reverse tower-defense with light city-management and TCG components. While that description sounds convoluted, if you’re a devoted gamer, it will all make sense in less than fifteen minutes, as your avatar walks around a looped path, automatically fighting monsters. Defeating foes provides better equipment, as well as cards that can be placed around the environment to build stats and create shelters that spawn additional creatures. And you’ll want additional opponents on your path, as they’re augmentation fodder. Loop Hero is like working out. Sure, you can flex those two-pound dumbbells but pushing yourself with fifties is where you’ll see growth. In the long term, you’re unlocking new deck cards and character classes, adding a figurative loop to the game’s literal one.

Also, my fetish for siege weapons looks to be placated with the appearance of Stronghold: Warlords. This time out the franchise is incorporating East Asian factions, permitting players to overwhelm imperial cities or safeguard mighty castles. Stronghold 3 Gold notwithstanding, I’ve appreciated developer FireFly Studio’s medieval RTS outings. There’s a multitude of games that task you with thwarting overwhelming numbers of invaders. But the Stronghold series delivers a sense of satisfaction that feels primal, sending endorphins through my lizard brain.

Matt S’ pick (Editor, DigitallyDownloaded): You know, I don’t know anything about Gnosia? I get the feeling that it’s the kind of game that I should know about – a quick look at the visuals and it’s very much my kind of thing, and the way it has been described, as a Sci-Fi Social Deduction RPG, certainly whets my appetite. That’s basically what last year’s Quantum Suicide was, right? And I loved that. So, while I know precious little about how Gnosia will play, or even what it’s about, that’s going to be my pick of this week. If it turns out to be terrible and you bought it on this recommendation, well… next time wait for my review or something.

Otherwise, I’ve got to give a call-out to Kill It With Fire. Did you know that the ownership of flamethrowers is illegal in Australia, and the reason for that is exactly this? We have real big spiders here, and they have a habit of hanging out in the places that we least want to see them (i.e. wherever we’re about to sit our butts down). If we DID have flamethrowers lying around the house, none of us would have homes left. So, I guess we can say that Kill It With Fire is a kind of wish fulfillment for us here Aussies, who have always wanted to do this, but been held back by our stupid laws and concept of social responsibility.

Ryan’s Pick: I’d like to start off by talking about a game that won’t be my pick but I still found interesting to see. Postal Redux will be releasing on PS4 shortly, and I find it interesting that they are finally releasing it on the PS4 when this same game released on PC back in 2016, and on Switch late last year. Players either love or hate Postal games, but there’s one thing that everyone can agree on – there will never be another series where you can first-person urinate on a M16 wielding Gary Coleman at his book signing at a local mall. It’s just not possible.

Let’s get down to brass tacks and talk about my real pick. Any game that shows gameplay from their game where the character says “refund this game if you can” is an absolute must-play for me. I just like self-deprecation and the 4th wall, so this will be my first reason for choosing Everhood on Steam this week. Secondly, game music has become much more important to me as I’ve gotten older and I find myself paying more attention to it while playing. If the game utilizes interaction with the music as a core mechanic, then I’m even more interested. I think my love for music games all started with Kitty-N’s theme song on Bust a Groove…or maybe Candy on DDR. The overall theme of Everhood seems fairly lighthearted and fun, with bright visuals and a unique way to play as you time things with the music. If you’re on the fence, there is a demo on Steam so that you can give it a try before committing. The game page on Steam also does warn that the game may not be for players with photosensitivity, so I figured I’d mention that just in case. If that isn’t a concern, then I think this strange disco underworld is the kind of place you will want to visit.

Matt C’s pick (editor, Shindig): Loop Hero is a game that defies description, in the best possible way. It’s part roguelike, part strategy game, part deckbuilder, part anti-tower defense—an odd mix of inspirations, but that come together to create something entirely unique. Your hero walks a looping path repeatedly, automatically fighting enemies along the way. Those enemies get stronger with each loop, and keeping pace means making the most of the cards they drop, each one letting you add a structure to the environment to boost your stats, spawn extra monsters, and trigger various other effects.

The secret to Loop Hero is figuring out how best to combine those cards, with almost each one having some effect or another on adjacent cards. Well-built combos will reap benefits, but a poor setup—or even a good setup that suddenly turns bad thanks to some unlucky enemy spawns—can quickly spell disaster.

A side of city management for long-term, permanent boosts and a fascinating (if opaque) story about memory and the right or wrong of trying to resurrect a lost, forgotten world help to keep things fresh, but diving deep into Loop Hero’s intriguing web of seemingly disparate systems is what will keep you coming back for more.