New Releases: July 13th-19th, 2023

This week, stalk the undead as a samurai, sumo Wrestler, or ninja in Ed-0: Zombie Uprising or mend the fissure between Gensokyo and the outside world in Touhou: New World (pictured). But if action isn’t your thing, there’s always Atelier Marie Remake: The Alchemist of Salburg, which lets you revisit the inaugural entry in GUST’s well-liked franchises.

PlayStation 4
Agriculture (digital, $4.99)
Atelier Marie Remake: The Alchemist of Salburg (digital, $49.99)
BPM: Bullets Per Minute (physical, $39.99)
Exoprimal (physical & digital, $59.99)
Farm Together Deluxe Edition (physical, $29.99)
Gravity Circuit (digital, $21.99)
LISA: The Definitive Edition (digital, $24.99)
REMEDIUM: Sentinels (digital, $3.99)

PlayStation 5
Dyschronia: Chronos Alternate Episode III (digital, $19.99, PS VR 2)
Ed-0: Zombie Uprising (digital, $29.99)
Naraka: Bladepoint (digital, free to play)
Operation Wolf Returns: First Mission VR (digital, $29.99, PS VR 2)
Viewfinder (digital, $TBA)

Switch
Agriculture (digital, $4.99)
Atelier Marie Remake: The Alchemist of Salburg (digital, $49.99)
BLEED: Arcade Arena Shooter (digital, $9.99)
Car Detailing Simulator (digital, $15.99)
Chaos Galaxy (digital, $19.99)
Crafting Block World: Magic Dungeons Adventure (digital, $9.99)
Cramped Room of Death (digital, $14.99)
Crime O’Clock (physical, $34.99)
EarthNight (physical, 29.99)
Elder Sister’s Love Training (digital, $19.90)
Eroblast: Waifu Dating Sim (digital, $14.99)
Farm Together Deluxe Edition (physical, $34.99)
Football Cup 2023 (digital, $9.99)
Gravity Circuit (digital, $21.99)
LISA: The Definitive Edition (digital, $24.99)
LISA: The Joyful – Definitive Edition (digital, $9.99)
LISA: The Painful – Definitive Edition (digital, $19.99)
Madshot (digital, $19.99)
Mail Mole (physical, $34.99)
Manic Mechanics (digital, $24.99)
Needy Princess Nerd Club (digital, $19.90)
Race Boat Simulator – 3D Stunt Racing Driving Ship in Ocean (digital, $12.99)
REMEDIUM: Sentinels (digital, $3.99)
Risky Woods (digital, $9.99)
Robot VS (digital, $19.80)
Sacred Zodongga Defense (digital, $14.99)
Spirit Hunters: Infinite Horde (digital, $9.99)
Strike Team Gladius (digital, $9.99)
Subway Simulator – Underground Train Ride Station Ultimate Driving Games (digital, $11.99)
Touhou: New World (digital, $22.49)
UltraGoodness (digital, $4.99)
Wood Cube Block: Classic Casual Puzzle (digital, $9.99)

Xbox One
Agriculture (digital, $4.99)
Exoprimal (physical & digital, $59.99)
LISA: The Definitive Edition (digital, $24.99)
LISA: The Joyful – Definitive Edition (digital, $9.99)
LISA: The Painful – Definitive Edition (digital, $19.99)
Police Simulator: Patrol Officers (physical, 39.99)
REMEDIUM: Sentinels (digital, $3.99)
Skullgirls: 2nd Encore (digital, $24.99)
Words of Wisdom (digital, $4.99)

PC
Blackout Protocol ($TBA)
Catch & Cook: Fishing Adventure ($TBA)
Exoprimal ($59.99)
Full Void ($TBA)
Gravity Circuit ($15.29)
Jagged Alliance 3 ($35.99)
Krzyżacy – The Knights of the Cross ($TBA)
PuPu’s Adventure Park ($TBA)
Surrounded ($TBA)
Techtonica ($TBA)
Testament: The Order of High Human ($29.74)
Touhou: New World (digital, $22.49)
Viewfinger ($TBA)
Yet Another Zombie Survivors ($7.99)
Xenonauts 2 ($TBA)

Rob’s Pick: Over the last few years, the output from some publishers has become increasingly homogenized, marked by superfluous sequels and unnecessary remakes. I truly miss the days when you weren’t confronted with terms and conditions agreements, tons of microtransactions, and a succession of patches just to get the game running. Luckily, smaller development teams seem to get this right, allowing the sights, sounds, and storyline to be the focus.

Ankake Spa, the doujin circle behind Touhou: Scarlet Curiosity, gets things right with Touhou: New World. The game’s character models bring favorites like Reimu Hakure and Marisa Kirisame to life, offering an ample supply of frilly dresses and adorable little witch hats. Likewise, Gensokyo is lovingly rendered, with immaculate urban spaces and fantastic pastoral environments filled with enemies that range from drones to notable oni (and it looks amazing on Steam Deck). But it’s the gameplay that I am truly enjoying. New World provides plenty of ranged cool-down based-attack options at the disposal of the main characters. And don’t let Touhou’s bullet hell roots put you off. Sure, bosses can emit a ton of projectiles, but here Reimu can hop right over them. I feel bad not giving Atelier Marie Remake: The Alchemist of Salburg the nod, but New World’s charm and playability are downright magical – plus, it always feels good to support fan-made titles.

Ryan’s pick: Satisfying explosions birthed from my rogue’s imbuements go on the shelf this week, as I’m trading daggers for a Viewfinder it would seem. The unique mechanics of Viewfinder got me interested in trying out this game this week, as it seems like a pretty unique and surreal FPS puzzle game to try. Games that utilize depth and perception in their mechanics always seem to allow for some really interesting types of puzzles and inevitably force me to use different parts of my brain that go unused while gaming. From what I’ve seen, the levels and things you can do in this game produce some pretty surreal results. Count me in.

One other game releasing on Steam this week that I felt could be worth a quick look is the 2D platformer Gravity Circuit. The sprites and animation in the game immediately sparked some nostalgia with parallels drawn to Zero from the Mega Man series. For me there’s a lot to like in terms of the amount of detail present in the art, animation, menus, and especially with the sound. In general, I think that if you like Mega Man this may be worth a look as much of the inspiration behind the game appears to stem from this series.

Matt R’s pick (editor, Shindig): It’s been a while since I’ve done one of these! Life and day jobs, huh? But I digress.

The clear choice this week is Atelier Marie Remake: The Alchemist of Salburg. Atelier Marie was the game that started it all, kicking off one of Gust’s most beloved and enduring series more than 25 years ago. It’s never officially been released outside Japan before now (though there are fan translations floating around), so that alone makes this remake noteworthy. Beyond that, it’s got all the usual stuff you’d expect from a remake: a complete visual overhaul, various playability improvements, and so on. There’s also an optional new “Unlimited” mode that does away with the original’s in-game calendar deadline, allowing a more relaxed approach more akin to recent Atelier games.

If you’re willing to spend a bit extra on a deluxe version, you’ll get the original Atelier Marie, too, complete with its first official translation. A remake, no matter how good, can never wholesale replace the thing it’s remaking, and I’d go as far as saying there’s a moral imperative for any publisher going down the remake path to make sure they keep the original readily available, too. I’d prefer if the classic Marie was just a standard part of the remake package rather than a bonus used to spice up a special edition, but Koei Tecmo’s still taking a step here that too many publishers disregard entirely.

Matt S’ pick (editor, DigitallyDownloaded): Atelier Marie Remake is such a wholesome, sweet, good-natured thing. I have been concerned that with the Ryza series Gust was leaving the “classic” Atelier formula behind. I don’t begrudge the success of Ryza or the desire to continue to capitalise on it, but as an older-school Atelier fan, I missed that. Marie brings it all back and then some, showing that Gust and Koei Tecmo are committed to straddling a line between the old and the new as this series continues on into the future.

I’m also very intrigued by Ed-0: Zombie Uprising. This is a game developed by Lancarse, my favourite of the ultra-niche Japanese developers, and published by D3, the legends of B-game concepts. While Ed-0: Zombie Uprising looks like it lacks the fan service of the likes of Onechanbara and School Girl/Zombie Hunter (both D3 productions), I see some of that B-heritage and grindhouse in it, and the idea of going on zombie hunting expeditions through the Edo period is undeniably appealing. The early access reviews on Steam have been about as expected for something this niche, so I expect I’ll absolutely love it.