New Releases: May 16th-22nd, 2019

With the arrival of Atelier Lulua, a legion of Belmonts, and Sonic and the gang, this is a rather fruitful week for new releases. Beyond the arrival of The Scion of Arland, Castlevania Anniversary Collection, and Team Sonic Racing there’s also a new entry in the Hot Shots Golf/Everybody’s Golf series, Assassin’s Creed III Remastered’s arrival on Switch, and the return of the oft-reviled, but charmingly resilient Bubsy.

Header image: Atelier Lulua: The Scion of Arland, PlayStation 4, Switch, and PC

PlayStation 4
Atelier Lulua: The Scion of Arland (physical and digital, $59.99)
Bubsy: Paws on Fire! (physical and digital, $39.99)
Castlevania Anniversary Collection (digital, $19.99)
Everybody’s Golf VR (physical and digital, $29.99)
Observation (digital, $24.99)
Skelly Selest (digital, $TBA)
Slay the Spire (digital, $22.49)
Team Sonic Racing (physical and digital, $39.99)

Switch
39 Days to Mars (digital, $14.99)
Akane (digital, $4.99)
Arcade Archives – Ninja Gaiden (digital, $7.99)
Assassin’s Creed III Remastered (digital, $TBA)
Atelier Lulua: The Scion of Arland (physical and digital, $59.99)
Bubsy: Paws on Fire! (physical and digital, $39.99)
Blades of Time (digital, $19.99)
Castlevania Anniversary Collection
Chicken Rider (digital, $3.99)
Darkwood (digital, TBA)
Devious Dungeon 2 (digital, $7.99)
Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus R (digital, $14.99)
GunLord X (digital, $9.99)
Koral (digital, $11.99)
Octogeddon (digital, $8.88)
Pocket League Story (digital, $12.00)
Project Nimbus: Complete Edition (digital, $17.99)
Resident Evil (digital, $29.99)
Resident Evil 0 (physical or digital, $29.99)
Resident Evil 4 HD (digital, $29.99)
Resident Evil: Origins Collection
Super Life of Pixel (digital, $9.99)
Tales From Space: Mutant Blobs Attack (digital, $6.99)
Team Sonic Racing (physical or digital, $39.99)
TerraTech (digital, $22.49)
The Last Door – Complete Edition (digital, $14.99)
Thief Simulator (digital, $16.19)

Xbox One
Castlevania Anniversary Collection (digital, $19.99)
Don Bluth Presents: Dragon’s Lair Trilogy (digital, $TBA)
Darkwood (digital, $19.99)
Molecats (digital, $TBA)
Steel Rats (digital, $19.99)
Team Sonic Racing (physical and digital, $39.99)

PC
Atelier Lulua: The Scion of Arland ($59.99)
Bubsy: Paws on Fire! ($39.99)
Castlevania Anniversary Collection ($19.99)
Death end re;Quest ($TBA)
Observation ($TBA)
Rabbit Burn ($TBA)
Splitgate: Arena Warfare (free-to-play)
Team Sonic Racing ($39.99)

Robert’s Pick: For the last twenty years, I’ve been one of Hot Shots Golf/Everybody’s Golf most adamant fans, buy every new iteration at launch. But as of late, the franchise has grown a bit stagnant and I’ve been buying sequels out of habit rather than desire. Still, I admired how the Clap Hanz-developed series held onto its triple-button-tap drive and putts, which challenged the notion that everything should move toward staunch simulation. Occasionally, I like to relax and take a reprieve from reality.

This week, Everybody’s Golf VR arrives. If you’ve played the demo, then you know that the biggest change is the integration of physical controls, with players swinging their Move peripherals like clubs. It captures some of the complexity of the sport, but that’s not what I’m looking for; a course creator would be much more welcome. But the whole Play, Create, Share approach never really took off, so we have Everybody’s Golf VR for those who want to hit the links with a bulky helmet and visor on.

Instead, I’m looking forward to a genre that is a bit unloved as of late- the kart racer. Save for Nintendo’s consistently marvelous Mario Kart series, Sumo Digital is one of the few developers still creating unabashedly arcade-y racers. The twist here is that your part of a team, so just nailing a first-place finish might not get you on the podium. Instead, much like Trailblazers, you can leave a path behind you, that functions as a speed boost for allies. Hopefully, the inclusion of this mechanic is enjoyable enough to distract from the scale back of characters and tracks. And if you didn’t think I’d mention Atelier Lulua: The Scion of Arland, then you need to head back to alchemy school. I’m most certainly be playing the tale of Rorolina’s daughter.

Ryan’s Pick: Castlevania Anniversary Collection for the win. For some strange reason immediately started thinking about how frustrating that one part in Simon’s Quest was to figure out without calling a game hotline or finding the right Nintendo Power issue, and then wanting to play the game again just because of it. This then made me remember the Castlevania II: Simon Quest Worlds of Power book I got at a book fair in the late 80’s and how much I loved it. There’s so much nostalgia in with this series for me, so for the price I really can’t say no to this many classic titles.

Earlier today there was a blurb on PS Blog where Konami announced that they “will add Japanese title variants as a free update shortly after launch.” This is a pretty cool incentive for the super fans of the series. Plus, the first Castlevania is an incredible challenge for most gamers. Infinitely respawning medusa heads, knockbacks from damage, the inability to adjust your jump mid-air, the difficulty is real. $19.99 is a small amount for this many classic games.

Matt’s Pick (Editor, DigitallyDownloaded): Hahahahahahahaha, like I am going to say anything else but ATELIER LULUA this week. Atelier is my favourite JRPG series by a wide margin; it’s relentlessly charming, good spirited, comfort food as a property, and Gust has never failed to deliver bright characters, entertaining situations, and wonderful lands to explore.

Atelier Lulua is especially special, because it marks the return of Mel Kishida to the series. The character artist previously responsible for Rorona, Totori, and Meruru, Mel Kishida draws the prettiest girls, wearing the happiest costumes. There’s such a joyful sweetness in Kishida’s work, and I don’t think there’s a character artist out there quite so capable of catching my interest just from the concept art. Tsunako, perhaps? I certainly like her work too, but Kishida does his fanservice with class and style.

As Atelier Lulua is a sequel to the three aforementioned Ateliers, one generation later, it’s a delight seeing how the world of Arland has changed in the years since, and while Atelier Lulua isn’t out there trying to make some grand insights into human nature, the strong sense of community and friendship that it promotes is certainly nice from an aspirational point of view, in the dark days that we currently face in the real world.

And I swear to the mighty Miku herself, if Lulua isn’t the header image this week, Robert, I’m gonna riot. (Robert: Crisis averted!)

Jay’s Pick: 3 Words. Team. Sonic. Raci… wait, no. I meant 6 words, Atelier Lulua: The Scion of Arland.

I’ve spoken about my fondness for the Atelier series before. Last time it was the town building spin-off Nelke & The Legendary Alchemists, this time it’s Atelier Lulua which restores the tried and true formula (in more ways than one). Not only do we return to a charming, proper RPG with an emphasis on crafting but we also return to the wonderful world of Arland.

The Arland trilogy was already my favourite so I’m delighted it will soon be a quadrilogy. The best part is that Gust aren’t silly and made these games in a way that a brand new player could pick them up and have tons of fun with the gameplay while someone playing the games in chronological order will get more than enough satisfaction following the story threads and interconnected lore. What I’m saying is: You should really give this a shot no matter what.