New Releases: March 7th-13th, 2024

This week, the remainder of the Command & Conquer franchise unshackles itself from EA’s storefront and arrives on Steam. But that’s hardly the only retro title arriving, with Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story offering an annotated anthology of Yak’s works. And considering its inspiration from beloved 90s era TRPGs as well as its decade-long developer cycle, Unicorn Overlord (pictured), also seems capable of evoking memories of a bygone era.

PlayStation 4
Ancient Weapon Holly (digital, $17.99)
As Dusk Falls (digital, $29.99)
Contra: Operation Galuga (digital, $35.99)
Cybertrash STATYX (digital, $7.99)
Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story (digital, $29.99)
Manic Mechanics (digital, $23.99)
New Star GP (digital, $29.99)
Top Racer Collection (digital, $17.99)
Unicorn Overlord (digital, $59.99)
Violet Wisteria (digital, $14.99)
WWE 2K24 (physical & digital, $59.99)

PlayStation 5
ABRISS – Build to Destroy (digital, $19.99)
Little Cities: Bigger (digital, $TBA, PS VR2)
Melatonin (digital, $TBA)
Taxi Life: A City Driving Simulator (digital, $39.99)
WWE 2K24 (physical & digital, $69.99)

Switch
Ancient Weapon Holly (digital, $17.99)
Astro Duel 2 (digital, $19.99)
Bad Cat Sam Simulator (digital, $9.99)
Become The Wild (digital, $8.99)
Bottle Tap (digital, $3.99)
Bubble Fresh Fruits (digital, $9.99)
Buggy Off-Road Racing (digital, $4.99)
Car Racing Ice – Classic (digital, $11.99)
Cat Survivors (digital, $4.99)
Chip and Charge (digital, $2.49)
Contra: Operation Galuga (digital, $35.99)
Cybertrash STATYX (digital, $7.99)
Dark Days (digital, $7.99)
DateJournal (digital, $11.99)
Death of a Wish (digital, $19.99)
Dentist Bling (digital, $4.99)
Eldgear (digital, $17.99)
Empty Shell (digital, $15.99)
Flame Keeper + Space Cows (digital, $17.99)
Guardians of Time: The Chronicles of Chronos (digital, $5.90)
Gunsmith Workshop Simulator (digital, $11.99)
Little Racers + Red Wings: American Aces (digital, $19.99)
Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story (digital, $29.99)
Lumberhill + It Came from Space and Ate Our Brains (digital, $19.99)
Neon On! (digital, $4.99)
New Star GP (digital, $29.99)
Paradiso Series Bundle (digital, $31.49)
Passing By – A Tailwind Journey (digital, $9.99)
Pipe Connect (digital, $3.99)
Snufkin: Melody of Moominvalley (digital, $17.99)
Stolen Realm (digital, $19.99)
Toon Roads: Race & Drift (digital, $4.99)
Top Racer Collection (digital, $17.99)
TV Studio Story (digital, $10.80)
Unicorn Overlord (digital, $59.99)
Violet Wisteria (digital, $14.99)
Warhammer 40,000: Dakka Squadron (digital, $19.99)
Xatrom Command (digital, $5.99)

Xbox One
Dreamland Solitaire: Dragon’s Fury
Eldgear (digital, $17.99)
Horror Gallery (digital, $9.99)
Manic Mechanics (digital, $23.99)
New Star GP (digital, $29.99)
Top Racer Collection (digital, $17.99)

Xbox Series S/X
WWE 2K24 (physical & digital, $69.99)

PC
9 Days ($TBA)
A Twisted Tale ($17.09)
Ancient Weapon Holly ($17.99)
Backpack Battles ($TBA)
Between the Stars ($16.19)
Blade Prince Academy ($15.99)
Chasing the Unseen ($17.99)
Command & Conquer and The Covert Operations ($9.88)
Command & Conquer Generals ($9.88)
Command & Conquer Generals Zero Hour ($9.88)
Command & Conquer Red Alert, Counterstrike and The Aftermath ($9.88)
Command & Conquer Red Alert 2 and Yuri’s Revenge ($9.88)
Command & Conquer Renegade ($9.88)
Command & Conquer Tiberian Sun and Firestorm ($9.88)
Contra: Operation Galuga ($35.99)
Dragon Island ($TBA)
Dualists of Eden ($4.49)
Goblin Stone ($TBA)
New Star GP ($29.99)
Snufkin: Melody of Moominvalley ($17.99)
Summerhouse ($TBA)
Potions: A Curious Tale ($16.99)
Tales of Morrow ($TBA)
Taxi Life: A City Driving Simulator ($29.99)
The Saboteur ($4.99)
Time to Morp ($15.99)
Touhou ~Red Empress Devil ($TBA)
United Penguin Kingdom
WWE 2K24 ($59.99)
Zoria: Age of Shattering ($24.99)

Rob’s pick: The industry likes to taut an appreciation for preserving game history. But in execution, the result habitually looks like a lot of ROM files tossed together with little context. But Digital Eclipse demonstrates how things should be done. With thoroughly researched and insightful interviews and interactive timelines in Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration and The Making of Karateka, they’ve established a staggering new standard.

This week, their team of preservationists travels back to a time that’s frequently overlooked with Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story, which kicks off in the Sinclair ZX81/VIC-20 era. That was a time when an enthusiastic teenager with a sub-$300 home computer could create a blockbuster. Given the design-by-committee, and risk-avoidant approach of today’s games, the Yak’s career is poised to make you think of what could have been. Sure, there are a few glaring omissions (Minter’s quartet of iOS titles remain locked inside Apple’s walled garden), but there’s enough insight and play here justify a purchase. Also, for the love of all things Vanillaware, Unicorn Overlord!

Matt S’ pick (editor, DigitallyDownloaded): Unicorn Overlord sure looks like a good time to me! I mean, it’s Vanillaware, and when has Vanillaware ever really let us down? I’m fully expecting this to be a beautiful and smartly constructed game, and a game that both respects the traditions of the tactics RPG, while also finding some interesting and original things to do with it. In a year that has already been jam-packed with big, glorious ways to spend your time, I would be surprised if this wasn’t one of my favourite games of the year when we get to the other end of it.

For something much more humble, I’m also looking forward to Snufkin: Melody of Moominvalley. I played this at Tokyo Game Show last year and found it to be very pleasant. It’s not a game that will test your reflexes, and its puzzles aren’t going to require a genius to solve, but the developers have done a wonderful job of capturing the unique aesthetics and tone of one of Sweden’s great exports. If you’ve somehow never experienced Moomin before, then this game looks set to be a decent introduction (but I do recommend checking out the books and films afterwards. They are a trip).

Ryan’s pick: Bill Rizer and Lance Bean are back to get a rise out of Red Falcon in Contra: Operation Galuga. I’m going to be really honest here – for the past 35 years I have only known them as the guy in the blue pants and the guy in the red pants, but I’m glad I now know their names. I’ve always liked the Contra series because of its fast and fun gameplay and it was always a blast to play co-op. Difficulty-wise it sounds like they are offering different levels to choose from like in Contra ReBirth. The series is known for being pretty difficult, but that’s what makes the game a lot of fun, at least for me.

I’m not the greatest at tactical RPGs, however I think that Unicorn Overlord is worth checking out if you are an RPG buff or Vanillaware fan. I think the last game from this developer that I played was Dragon’s Crown, and the lasting impression I had with the game was that the art was spectacular. In general, Vanillaware is known for its consistency in terms of producing impressive sprites with solid game mechanics in all their games, and from what I’ve seen so far, I think this new release will continue that tradition.