New Releases: April 14th-20th, 2022

This week, the latest entry in the nearly thirty year-old horseracing sim series arrives in Japan. While Western players will miss out on the pretend ponies, there’s still a number of notables arriving in other parts of the world, with Dōkyūsei: Bangin’ Summer (pictured) finally making a stateside debut. Elsewhere, Neptunia x Senran Kagura: Ninja Wars offers effervescent battles on the go via a Switch port, while Taito Milestones bring a collection of ten Eighties coin-ops onto Nintendo’s system.

PlayStation 4
Nobody Saves the World (digital, $22.49)
Liberated: Enhanced Edition (digital, $19.99)
Road 96 (physical & digital, $29.99)
Winning Post 9 2022 (Japan release)
Winter Ember (digital, $TBA)

Switch
A Sketchbook About Her Sun (digital, $4.99)
Aery Early Birds Bundle (digital, $24.99)
Air Hockey Puzzles (digital, $2.99)
Bunny Mahjo (digital, $2.69)
Bush Hockey League (digital, $15.99)
Car Mechanic Simulator Pocket Edition 2 (digital, $15.49)
Cat Cafe Manager (digital, $19.99)
Clutter IX: Clutter IXtreme (digital, $9.99)
Death Park 2 (digital, $6.99)
Defend the Rook (digital,
Formula Retro Racing (digital, $14.99)
Gotta Protectors: Cart of Darkness (digital, $13.49)
Hidden Shapes: Animals + Lovely Cats (digital, $3.99)
Inner Voices (digital, $7.99)
Labyrinth of the Chaka King (digital, $7.00)
Lumberhill (digital, $9.890
Pinball Freedom (digital, $9.99)
Pixel Game Maker Series OMA2RI ADVENTURE (digital, $4.95)
Moorhuhn Jump and Run ‘Traps and Treasures 2 (digital, $12.99)
Neptunia x Senran Kagura: Ninja Wars (physical & digital, $49.99)
Nobody Saves the World (digital, $22.49)
Pretty Girls Rivers (digital, $5.99)
Radon Break (digital, $6.99)
Rotund Rebound (digital, $19.99)
RUN: The world In-between(digital, $9.99)
Shooting Star Island (digital, $4.90)
Sociable Soccer ’22
Sockventure (digital, $19.99)
Taito Milestones (physical & digital, $39.99)
Toodee and Topdee (digital, $19.99)
Tormented Souls (digital, $19.99)
Urban Cards (digital, $14.95)

Xbox One
Battle Kid: Fortress of Peril (digital, $9.99)
Liberated: Enhanced Edition (digital, $19.99)
Road 96 (physical & digital, $29.99)
Sally Face (digital, $14.99)
Winter Ember (digital, $TBA)

PC
ABRISS – build to destroy ($14.44)
Aircraft Carrier Survival
Car Detailing Simulator ($14.39)
Cat Cafe Manager ($15.99)
Crimesight ($19.99)
Demon Turf: Neon Splash ($4.99)
Dōkyūsei: Bangin’ Summer ($TBA)
Ember Knights ($TBA)
EZ2ON REBOOT : R ($38.24)
Ghostlore ($15.99)
Glover ($TBA)
Lumencraft ($10.79)
PopSlinger ($14.99)
Solasta: Crown of the Magister – Lost Valley (DLC, $12.99)
The Iron Oath ($TBA)
The Oathkeeper ($5.39)
Ultrawings 2 ($24.99, VR)
Winter Ember ($TBA)

Rob’s Pick: It’s great to see Dōkyūsei: Bangin’ Summer finally nail a release date. I love my 90s dating sims and while Dōkyūsei wasn’t the first (that credit probably goes to Nakayama Miho no Tokimeki High School) it’s an early effort that doesn’t feel just like an adventure game. There was enough romance to spur a sequel, spin-off, and yes, even some adult animation. At least, that’s what I’ve been told.

But nostalgia aside, I’m looking at a pair of PC titles. First up is ABRISS – build to destroy, which counterbalances its construction of basic structures with the while to break them down into tiny pieces. There’s a lot of autonomy, from tipping masts to topple buildings, plenty of explosives to play around with, and even lasers that can burn through solid objects. These kinds of toys utterly fascinate me the ways LEGOs once did.

Finally, I’m looking at Aircraft Carrier Survival. I know these kinds of sims can get pretty hectic, with games like Bomber Crew demonstrating just how bad of a manager I can be during a crisis. But sometimes we’re attracted to the things we’re not especially adept at. Adversity, we have a date this week, I’ll bring the beverages and coarse language. You bring a simulated 130,000-ton World War II vessel under attack. Azur Lane-style attire is optional, but encouraged.

Matt S’ pick (Editor, DigitallyDownloaded): As I write this, I don’t understand why Winning Post 9 2022 is listed everywhere for release. I see it on wherever Rob gets his list (editor: Amazon scaping), I see it on Metacritic, and it does indeed has an English product description and release date and everything and yet… Koei Tecmo UK, who would be the publisher of it, knows nothing about an English version. So either they’re going to stealth release it and lied to me about it, somehow another publisher has taken it on and Koei Tecmo Japan didn’t bother to tell Koei Tecmo UK, or for some reason this game has an English description but no English release planned. I don’t even know which of those three scenarios would be the most surreal. But anyway, if this does somehow turn out to be a real thing, I am all for it. This series is a serious simulation of everything to do with horse racing, and while I hate the real-world “sport” for its cruelty to animals, no horsies are harmed in a video game.

In the event that Winning Eleven does not get an English release, can I recommend Urban Cards? I’ve been playing this a bit, and it’s actually a really neat little card game about building up businesses and hiring goons to beat down on your opponents. There’s some good balancing and strategy behind the card mechanics, and while it’s not the most memorable board and/or card game on the Switch, it will entertain you for a good chunk of time. It released at the right time too. In an otherwise fairly quiet week, it ends up being a thing that you’ll take a punt on, and then be pleasantly surprised by it.

Ryan’s Pick: Creatively destroying things has always been one of my favorite pastimes when playing games. I feel like this tendency of mine goes way back, perhaps all the way to Duke Nukem 3D when I placed as many explosives as I could on the ground to see what it would do. There was then the Burnout series which also had some of the really fun events where you could maneuver your car to cause amazing explosions. ABRISS – build to destroy is a physics-based destruction game where you can build structures and then utilize physics to fantastically destroy the things you have built, and I feel like this game definitely falls into this same category.

I think the part that stands out most in the game is how intricate and exact the physics is as it relates to the small pieces of the buildings as they crumble. There is some painstaking effort and detail baked into this physics engine, which is definitely evident when there are collisions with the buildings. You can even get upgrades to continue to be even more creative in your path of destruction. If all this senseless destruction is not fitting your mantra, then may I suggest Neptunia x Senran Kagura: Ninja Wars on the Switch instead. While it is a re-release, if you missed the PS4 version this could be a fun game to take on the go. With 10 different characters, it should provide you plenty of playtime with mainstay waifus from the Hyperdimension Neptunia series.

Matt R’s pick (editor, Shindig): Anyone who likes Overcooked is going to want to check out Lumberhill as it touches down on Switch this week. It’s another “perform-an-everyday-occupation-in-a-comically-chaotic-fashion” party game (please, someone think of a better genre name), only this time, you’re a lumberjack: chop trees, herd sheep, and do other such important duties of the land. Each round sees you scrambling to fulfill orders for resources like the most overworked Age of Empires villager, with the added wrinkle of building bridges to help get around and natural disasters (meteors, dinosaurs, the usual stuff). It’s a whole lot of fun with a group of friends, and if you’re feeling mischievous, there’s even PVP mode.

And in the complete opposite direction, Taisho x Alice: All In One gets an English Switch release this week. An otome game full of gender-swapped fairytale princesses is an intriguing concept, especially when Prototype is the publisher, with gorgeous artwork, clever writing, and a strong localisation to deliver on that potential.