New Releases: April 7th-13th, 2022

This week, Chrono Cross, House of the Dead make reappearances, eager to rekindle the attention of a new generation of players. Back 4 Blood gets resuscitated with new DLC, while 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim receives a Switch port. For visual novel fans, Summer with You (pictured) offers a bit of pastoral escapism.

PlayStation 4
Back 4 Blood: Tunnels of Terror (DLC, included with annual pass)
Cathedral (digital, $14.99)
Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition (digital, $19.99)
Eschatos (digital, $26.99)
Kombinera (digital, $14.99)
Orcs Must Die! 3: Tipping the Scales (DLC, $7.99)
Slipstream (digital, $9.99)

Switch
13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim (physical & digital, $59.99)
3-In-1 Fun Bundle (digital, $19.99)
3D Box Sokoban (digital, $3.99)
Astrodogs (digital, $12.99)
Axolotl (digital, $6.99)
Bibi & Tina: New Adventures with Horses (digital, $22.49)
Boreal Tenebrae (digital, $6.99)
Calm Colors (digital, $3.99)
Cars Puzzles Game (digital, $20.00)
Chinatown Detective Agency (digital, $24.99)
Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition (digital, $19.99)
Double Shot Gals (digital, $4.99)
Floating Farmer (digital, $2.99)
Happy’s Humble Burger Farm (digital, $17.99)
Kombinera (digital, $14.99)
Mech Mechanic Simulator (digital, $19.99)
Micro Stunt Machina (digital, $4.99)
Mokoko X (digital, $11.49)
Pad of Time (digital, $7.99)
Radioactive Dwarfs: Evil from the Sewers (digital, $4.99)
Red White Yellow Zinger (digital, $12.00)
Rocket Cows (digital, $0.99)
Sherlock Holmes: The Devil’s Daughter (digital, $25.49)
Slipstream (digital, $9.99)
Spingram (digital, $4.99)
The House of the Dead: Remake (digital, $22.49)
The Last Friend (digital, $14.99)
Traditional Braves (digital, $19.99)
World of One (digital, $8.49)

Xbox One
Back 4 Blood: Tunnels of Terror (DLC, included with annual pass)
Chinatown Detective Agency (digital, $24.99)
Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition (digital, $19.99)
Godfall: Ultimate Edition (digital, $39.99)
Kombinera (digital, $14.99)
Orcs Must Die! 3: Tipping the Scales (DLC, $7.99)
Slipstream (digital, $9.99)

PC
Astral Ascent ($TBA)
B.I.O.T.A. ($TBA)
Car Detailing Simulator ($TBA)
Chinatown Detective Agency ($24.99)
Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition ($19.99)
Circle Empires Tactics ($13.49)
Demeo: PC Edition ($TBA)
Epiphany City ($TBA)
Forgive me Father ($16.99)
Godfall: Ultimate Edition ($29.99)
Ib ($TBA)
Lumencraft ($TBA)
Orcs Must Die! 3: Tipping the Scales (DLC, $7.99)
Radon Break ($3.49)
Screeps: Arena ($TBA)
Sephonie ($TBA)
Summer with You ($TBA)
Uragun ($TBA)

Rob’s Pick: Lately, it seems we’re fascinated with alternative realities, with a wealth of films exploring the concept of the multiverse. With so many everyday decisions marked by contention, thinking about the consequences and what-ifs has seemingly seeped into our escapism. Oddly, the oft-ridiculed mediums of comic and games have been doing this for decades, which was the case with 1999’s Chrono Cross.

This week offers an opportunity to revisit El Nido. When Chrono Cross was originally released, some hoped for a continuation of 1995’s Chrono Trigger. But director Masato Kato had larger ambitions and rejected offering a straightforward sequel. Kato had already crafted a text-based adventure called Radical Dreamers for the Japan-only Satellaview download system. Twenty-three years later, we’re able to enjoy Chrono Cross without the burden of expectation and it holds up quite miraculously, showcasing the talents of Square at their prime. Somewhere, in a parallel world, their output remains as pioneering as ever. Also, if you missed 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim on PlayStation, now is the chance to experience Vanillaware goodness on the go.

Matt, I’d love to look forward to The House of the Dead: Remake as well, but as an American, I can’t get past not using plastic guns.

Matt S’ pick (Editor, DigitallyDownloaded): Apparently, we’re not allowed to like this new Chrono Cross. It’s got bad frame rates. Which is of course intensely relevant to a turn-based JRPG in which precision, timing, and action are secondary to the narrative and themes. But apparently the narrative and themes of one of the smartest games of all time is rendered irrelevant because sometimes the framerate drops. I do love the depth of thought in video games sometimes. Anyhow, haters be damned, I love Chrono Cross and the frame rate issues didn’t bother me, at any point, at any time.

Now with that said if you want one of the smartest games of all time that doesn’t have frame rate issues, 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim is the game for you, now that it’s on Switch and the nature of the game always felt right for that console in particular. Aegis Rim has it all: an intensely clever, winding and demanding narrative, excellent tower defence-like combat, and an absolutely gorgeous aesthetic.

Also, it has Iori. Now let me tell you about Iori, one of the few girls that rivals Hatsune Miku in my esteem… (actually Robert wouldn’t appreciate that essay, for it would be both long and get him on the wrong Google search results).

Finally, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t perversely interested in the House of the Dead remake. I know that, since it’s a Forever-published title, it’s probably going to disappoint me, but I have far too fond memories of this in the arcade to let it slide. I must play it.

Ryan’s Pick: I was almost considering House of the Dead as well from a pure nostalgia factor, but I’m just not quite sure how the game will play on Switch, especially without those gigantic guns. It does have an ESRB rating with partial nudity written on it, which made me try and remember if there was anything like that in the original in the arcade. What they really should have done is revamp The Typing of the Dead with its endless strings of fever-dream gibberish phrases. It was a gem of a game that was both frustrating and hilarious at the same time that also seemed to get you right in the lower back if you played it in the arcades. Plus seeing the main characters running whilst wearing those elaborate Dreamcast devices on their backs with a keyboard suspended over their mid chests was pure joy. It would be absolutely worth it to see that setup again in current-gen graphics.

My real choice for this week’s game goes to B.I.O.T.A. Although being able to switch between palette shaders is nothing new in recent indie games, this one reminds me a bit of Gato Roboto so I am going to opt for sprites this week over 3D models. I particularly like being able to use the shaders that make the game appear like the original Gameboy. Players will never know the frustration of finding the right ambient light just to be able to see what was happening on screen, so I can appreciate being able to enjoy that color palette and it being fully backlit. The game also has eight playable characters that you can upgrade, so I’m curious to see exactly how they balanced that out, especially since this is a metroidvania.

Matt R’s pick (editor, Shindig): For a lot of people, the Chrono Cross remaster is a chance to revisit a nostalgic piece of childhood, or maybe see a once-controversial game in a new light. But for a large part of the world that never saw the original PlayStation release, The Radical Dreamers Edition is the first chance (officially, at least) for people to experience a true classic.

Going in without rose-tinted glasses or burden of nostalgic expectation really shows just how timeless Chrono Chross is. It’s aged well, mechanically (those handy boosters that Square Enix loves putting in its remasters certainly don’t hurt), but it’s the story that really stands out. Even today, the way it uses the concept of parallel worlds to explore concepts of self-identity and the impact people make in the world around them feels novel and profound; I can only imagine how groundbreaking it was 23 years ago.