New Releases: May 30th – June 5th, 2019

From reuniting students from Thors Military Academy in Trails of Cold Steel II to uncovering the mysteries at the Fujisawa Academy in Kotodama, it’s time to head back to school with this week’s new game releases. For those indifferent to scholastic settings, there are plenty of other remarkable titles, such as the mecha-neko antics of Gato Roboto or Persona Q2’s satisfying dungeon crawls.

Header image: Kotodama: The 7 Mysteries of Fujisawa, PlayStation 4, Switch, and PC

PlayStation 4
Kotodama: The 7 Mysteries of Fujisawa (physical and digital, $29.99)
PixARK (physical and digital, $39.99)
The Elder Scrolls Online: Elsweyr (physical and digital, $49.99)
The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II (physical and digital, $49.99)
Trover Saves the Universe (physical and digital, $29.99)
Warhammer: Chaosbane (physical and digital, $59.99)

Switch
30-in-1 Game Collection (digital, $14.99)
Ages of Mages: The Last Keeper (digital, $11.99)
Anarcute (digital, $14.99)
Arcade Archives – Image Fight (digital, $7.99)
Cafeteria Nipponica (digital, $12.00)
Crypt of the Serpent King (digital, $2.99)
Gato Roboto (digital, $6.79)
GoFishing 3D (digital, $11.99)
Golem Gates (digital, $24.99)
Hob: The Definitive Edition (digital, $19.99)
Kotodama: The 7 Mysteries of Fujisawa (physical and digital, $39.99)
Monkey Business (digital, $9.99)
Mowin’ & Throwin’ (digital, $14.99)
Perchang (digital, $9.99)
PixARK (physical and digital, $39.99)
Prime World: Defenders (free)
Ragtag Adventurers (digital, $9.99)
Red Siren: Space Defense (digital, $8.99)
Robot Squad Simulator (digital, $14.99)
Selma and the Wisp (digital, $9.99)
Slay the Spire (digital, $24.99)
Super Arcade Soccer (digital, $4.89)
Super Cane Magic ZERO (digital, $24.99)
Timespinner (digital, $19.99)
Tiny Derby (digital, $4.24)
Vaporum (physical, $39.99)
Vectronom (digital, $9.99)
Warlock’s Tower (digital, $4.99)
Watermelon Party (digital, $4.99)

Xbox One
Outer Wilds (digital, $24.99)
PixARK (physical and digital, $39.99)
The Elder Scrolls Online: Elsweyr (physical and digital, $49.99)
Warhammer: Chaosbane (physical and digital, $59.99)

3DS
PDI Check (digital, $99.99)
Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth (physical and digital, $39.99)

PC
Gato Roboto ($6.79)
Kotodama: The 7 Mysteries of Fujisawa ($39.99)
Outer Wilds ($24.99)
Rise of Liberty ($7.99)
Sankaku Renai: Love Triangle Trouble ($TBA)
SteamWorld Quest: Hand of Gilgamech
The Elder Scrolls Online: Elsweyr ($49.99)
Trover Saves the Universe ($29.99)
Warhammer: Chaosbane ($59.99)

Robert’s Pick: Rationality has no room for nostalgia but please indulge me for a minute. I’m equally excited to see the remaster of The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II as I am to see Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth. The former comes from my favorite JRPG franchise, with Falcom assembling a majestic mixture of first-class writing and a remarkable combat system to help offset the feel of middle-child syndrome for the second entry. Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth blends the cast of Persona 5 (along with characters from 3 and 4), dungeon crawling, and an appreciation for film history. Essentially, it’s a dead heat.

But seeing how Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth is going to be one of the last notable title for Nintendo’s aging dual screen, The Phantom Thieves of Hearts get the edge with a wisp of good-old fashioned reminiscence. The DS line conveys memories of sitting in the backyard on balmy summer nights and playing role-playing games (with poodle on lap) until the battery light starting flashing. It’s been 15 years since the original DS was released. New Cinema Labyrinth’s June release creates the perfect conditions for an idyllic goodbye for an old and dear friend. Nostalgia mode off.

Jay’s Pick: 30-in-1 Game Collection sounds like one of those discount store controllers in the vague shape of Pac-Man that you can output to HDMI to play 22 poorly emulated retro games and 8 reskins of the same game. Even if the 30 games are actually good, for goodness sake give it a better title. There are a lot of hard-passes this week but what we are getting is salivating.

The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II comes to the PS4, and the 3DS finally has its swan song in Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth. It’s actually tough to pick between them. Other than Theatrhythm I haven’t picked up my 3DS in over a year, I’m all in on the Switch but I always planned for Persona Q2 to be my final 3DS review. On the other hand, the PS4 is as strong as ever (except for the nasty censorship business) and The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II sets the scene for Cold Steel III finally making its way West later this year.

If you don’t mind the slow burn of world-building, and play games particularly for character-driven narratives then you should definitely check out Trails of Cold Steel I & II.

Ryan’s Pick: You can’t ever really go wrong with a Meowtroidvania, that’s what I always say. Doinksoft’s Gato Roboto on the Nintendo Switch is my clear choice this week. Crash landed on a mysterious planet, you take the role of a cat named Kiki who has to save their stranded captain in order to escape. The cat also pilots a mech, which is pretty awesome. Aside from Metroid inspired art and gameplay, I’m getting some good nostalgic Blaster Master vibes with the ability to exit your mech to help solve puzzles and explore maps.

I really also like the music from what I’ve heard so far. When I first saw the art, I felt like they would naturally go with a chiptune soundtrack, but there is some definite variation in styles, from downbeat, to jazz, and techno even. The choice to add some exposition via of chat boxes is also pretty interesting, which reminds me a bit of SOTN.  While this is my first CatMechtroidvania, I definitely can’t wait to see what this one has to offer.

Matt’s Pick (Editor, DigitallyDownloaded): It sure is a tough pick this week. My esteemed peers above have all mentioned some very fine games indeed (well, except for 30-in-1 Game Collection. Bad Jay for even bringing that up).

In the interest of recommending something different to the others, I’m going to go with Kotodama: The 7 Mysteries of Fujisawa. The title makes the subeditor in me go a little crazy (YOU SPELL OUT NUMBERS LESS THAN 10, PQUBE), but the game is great. It’s a light hearted visual novel with some stunning art, and a Match-three game where you race to match icons as quickly as possible to remove the clothes off your favourite boy or girl.

It works, too. You should see how fast I can strip Yukino down to her stunning taste in delicates. I set all kinds of speed records there. Make this an eSport and I’m gunning for the world titles. It’s not a game that’s going to have you dwelling on the deep-and-meaningfuls in life, but Kotodama is a hugely entertaining first outing by PQube into the world of game development.