New Releases: June 1st-7th, 2023

This week, Diablo IV lets players return to Sanctuary and Loop8: Summer of Gods transports us back to rural Japan, circa 1983. Beyond these two titles, We Love Katamari REROLL+ Royal Reverie offers a remake of the 2005 original while the Etrian Odyssey Origins Collection (pictured) ports the one-time DS exclusives to Switch and PC.

PlayStation 4
Amnesia: The Bunker (digital, $24.99)
Diablo IV (physical & digital, $69.99)
Gunfire Reborn (digital, $19.99)
Homebody (digital, $19.99)
Killer Frequency (digital, $24.99)
Loop8: Summer of Gods (physical & digital $49.99)
Nocturnal (digital, $19.99)
Raiden III x MIKADO MANIAX (physical $39.99, digital $29.99)
SENSEs: Midnight (digital, $14.99)
Shantae (digital, $TBA)
Skatebird (digital, $19.99)
Street Fighter 6 (physical & digital, $59.99)
Super Mega Baseball 4 (physical & digital, $49.99)
Terminal Velocity: Boosted Edition (digital, $11.99)
Toodee and Topdee (digital, $19.99)
We Love Katamari REROLL+ Royal Reverie (physical & digital, $29.99)

PlayStation 5
Cozy Grove (physical & digital, $29.99)
Diablo IV (physical & digital, $69.99)
Killer Frequency (physical & digital, $24.99)
Raiden III x MIKADO MANIAX (physical $39.99, digital $29.99)
Super Mega Baseball 4 (physical & digital, $49.99)

Switch
7 Horizons (digital, $12.99)
Aery – The Lost Hero (digital, $9.99)
Boxville (digital, $9.99)
Brain Show (digital, $14.99)
Constellations (digital, $4.99)
Cozy Grove (physical & digital, $29.99)
Dreamy Trail (digital, $4.99)
Etrian Odyssey HD (digital, $39.99)
Etrian Odyssey II HD (digital, $39.99)
Etrian Odyssey III HD (digital, $39.99)
Etrian Odyssey Origins Collection (digital, $79.99)
GyroGunner (digital, $5.76)
Hidden Bunny (digital, $0.99)
Japanese NEKOSAMA Escape The Sweets Shop (digital, $4.99)
Johnny Trigger: Sniper (digital, $3.99)
Killer Frequency (physical $39.99, digital $24.99)
Kitten Island (digital, $9.99)
Korokoro Harley (digital, $2.00)
Kuroi Tsubasa (digital, $4.99)
Loop8: Summer of Gods (physical & digital $49.99)
LotionSamurai (digital, $2.99)
Move The Box: Classic Block Puzzle (digital, 9.99)
Nocturnal (digital, $19.99)
Powers of Hex (digital, $0.99)
Prison Simulator (digital, $19.99)
Project Nightmares Case 36: Henrietta Kedward (digital, $19.99)
Raiden III x MIKADO MANIAX (physical $39.99, digital $29.99)
SENSEs: Midnight (digital, $14.99)
Super Mega Baseball 4 (physical & digital, $49.99)
We Love Katamari REROLL+ Royal Reverie (physical & digital, $29.99)

Xbox One
Amnesia: The Bunker (digital, $24.99)
Diablo IV (physical & digital, $69.99)
Homebody (digital, $19.99)
Killer Frequency (physical & digital, $24.99)
Loop8: Summer of Gods (physical & digital $49.99)
Minabo – A Walk Through Life (digital, $14.99)
Paper Flight – Beyond Time (digital, $9.99)
Raiden III x MIKADO MANIAX (physical $39.99, digital $29.99)
Slayers X: Terminal Aftermath: Vengance of the Slayer ($15.29, Game Pass)
Speed Truck Racing (digital, $9.99)
Super Mega Baseball 4 (physical & digital, $49.99)
Sugar Tanks (digital, $9.99)
Super Mega Baseball 4 (physical & digital, $49.99)
We Love Katamari REROLL+ Royal Reverie (physical & digital, $29.99)

PC
Battle Talent ($19.99, VR)
CityDriver ($TBA)
Driftwood ($9.59)
Homebody ($19.99)
Jumbo Airport Story ($TBA)
Killer Frequency ($19.99)
Mislight ($7.99)
Myriads: Renaissance ($17.99)
No More Rainbows ($19.99, VR)
Pile up! ($TBA)
Slayers X: Terminal Aftermath: Vengance of the Slayer ($15.29)
Street Fighter 6 ($59.99)
TailQuest Defense ($8.99)
The Elder Scrolls Online: Necrom ($TBA)
Tiny Thor ($TBA)
We are One ($19.99, VR)
We Love Katamari REROLL+ Royal Reverie ($29.99)

Rob’s pick: Occasionally, picking a single game from the weakly breakout was easy. The marketers like to make sure to minimize the overlap of release dates. So, what the hell happened this week? As a retro aficionado, We Love Katamari REROLL+ Royal Reverie and Raiden III x MIKADO MANIAX are obvious choices. Although rolling up increasingly large balls of junk and a tense vertical STG have little in common, each held me captive for a short period, whether for the sheer creativity or technical prowess.

Since I mentioned the PC release of Etrian Odyssey last week, I won’t mention the Switch iteration. Instead, I’ll advocate for Loop8: Summer of Gods, which offers such as great context: rural Japan in the 1980s. Even if the game doesn’t deliver on the RPG mechanics, I’m curious where Marvelous takes the Groundhog Day-style, time do-over. I’m really hoping for some tokusatsu and toy references.

Then they are Dhalsim’s elephants in the room: Street Fighter 6 and Diablo IV. I’ll eventually pick up and probably love both, just like I have with previous entries in both franchises. Oddly, I just don’t feel much urgency toward both games. That said, Gunfire Reborn is also a lot of fun. While I love playing it on the go, I could see myself enjoying it at home, on a larger screen.

Matt R’s pick (editor, Shindig): Etrian Odyssey IV was my proper introduction to a genre that’s become one of favourites in recent years. I’m a little too young to have grown up with the Wizardry experience of mapping out a dungeon on grid paper, but Etrian Odyssey’s touchscreen-based interpretation of that was all it took to make me a dungeon crawler convert. I never did get around to playing the earlier games in the series, so the HD trilogy will be a welcome addition to my Switch library—especially with the touchscreen mapping function kept intact for this version.

My days of going to fighting game tournaments are largely on hold these days, but that doesn’t stop me from being very excited about Street Fighter 6. From what I’ve seen so far, it looks like the culmination of every lesson about how to approach designing a fighting game for the modern day: a fighting system that’s easy enough to grasp on the surface but with untold depth once you dive into its nuances; a careful balance between the needs of experienced players and newcomers that avoids compromising the experience of either; and a wealth of decent single-player stuff for the folks who just aren’t that interested in duking it out with other players. This could be the best Street Fighter has ever been.

And also, very quickly: Super Mega Baseball 4, because I don’t think even an acquisition by EA could dampen Metalhead Software’s knack for balancing cartoony, arcade-ish baseball with the intricacies of the real sport; and Loop8, for all the reasons Robert already mentioned.

Matt S’ pick (editor, DigitallyDownloaded): I’ve already mentioned both Super Mega Baseball and Etrian Odyssey in previous week’s wraps, so I won’t do that again. That means my pick this week has got to be We Love Katamari REROLL+ Royal Reverie. Katamari will forever be the ultimate in quirkiness, but the idea of rolling around and collecting up everything in an ever-growing ball of stuff is both compelling and hugely entertaining, and we need more quirky entertainment in a games industry that becomes increasingly homogenised by the year.

I’m also keen to check out Loop8, even though I know very little about this game. I’ve largely missed the news and info about it, but the idea of an JRPG set in rural Japan is always a good one. The setting of Persona 4 was a big part of the reason I loved that game so much, for example. If Loop8 can be even close to as compelling as that masterpiece then I’ll be a very happy guy indeed.

Finally, of course I’m going to check out Street Fighter VI. I really don’t like the aesthetics and I cannot stand what they’ve done to Sakura, but I’m also quite certain that the fighting game action in Street Fighter will be impossible to put down.

Ryan’s pick: After the open beta and then the server slam, I am feeling pretty ready to jump into Diablo IV. Overall, I enjoyed my time playing through about four different character classes and found the rogue to be the most fun in terms of being able to leverage different styles of playing. Playing the server slam on PS5 was a tough experience when it came to fighting the world boss, as I logged in for three different attempts to not get the boss down before the timer ran out. During the first beta the boss’s HP seemed to scale the group size and amount of damage being shelled out, making the encounter less nail biting when it came to beating the clock. Fingers crossed that the experience translates well to the retail version. Aside from new world bosses and the occasional other player running by, the game felt pretty close to Diablo III for me in terms of visuals and gameplay, so I’ll be giving this a go this week.

I must give praise where it’s due, and Katamari REROLL+ Royal Reverie is definitely worth your time. My first experience with it was in Japan when playing the PS2 version. I had no idea what was going on as I rolled around, but it was absolutely hilarious hearing the sumo-san constantly repeating ‘gotsusan desu’ as he rolled around in the mass. One other really notable thing about the series that sticks out for me is the music. It’s quite upbeat, and in general really helps make the experience unique. So when RNG gets you down in Diablo, I think this game is a great escape.