New Releases: July 16th-22nd, 2020

Beyond Ghost of Tsushima and Paper Mario: The Origami King’s arrival, this brings a number of other notable releases. Superhot: Mind Control Delete is a free download for the roughly two million players who purchased the original, while Rock of Ages 3: Make & Break is ACE Team’s third iteration in the boulder rolling, defense-collapsing franchise. For retro fans, the appearance of Sun Electronics 1982 arcade hit, Kangaroo might me a reason to jump (and punch) for joy.

Header image: White Wings, PC

PlayStation 4
#Funtime (digital, $14.99, $11.24 PS+)
Arcade Classics Kangaroo (digital, $7.99)
Fight of Gods (digital, $19.99)
Ghost of Tsushima (physical and digital, $59.99)
Neversong (digital, $14.99)
Radical Rabbit Stew (digital, $15.99)
Rock of Ages 3: Make & Break (physical and digital, $29.99)
Sniper (digital, $9.99)
Superhot: Mind Control Delete (digital, free for Superhot owners, otherwise $24.99)
Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus (physical and digital, $39.99)

Switch
#Funtime (digital, $14.99)
Aircraft Evolution (digital, $7.99)
Caretaker (digital, $7.99)
Explosive Dinosaurs (digital, $7.99)
Get 10 Quest (digital, $2.99)
Golf (digital, $9.99)
Home Run High (digital, $14.00)
Never Breakup (digital, $7.99)
Neversong (digital, $14.99)
One Dog Story (digital, $14.99)
Panzer Paladin (digital, $19.99)
Paper Mario: The Origami King (physical and digital, $59.99)
Power Racing Bundle (digital, $16.99)
Radical Rabbit Stew (digital, $14.39)
Starlit Adventures Golden Stars (digital, $19.99)
Tales from the Dragon Mountain 2: The Lair (digital, $9.99)
Tanky Tanks (digital, $5.99)
Ultra Hat Dimension (digital, $4.99)
Waifu Uncovered (digital, $5.59)
Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus (physical and digital, $39.99)
We Should Talk (digital, $6.99)

Xbox One
#Funtime (digital, $14.99)
Aircraft Evolution (digital, $7.99)
Dunk Lords (digital, $19.99)
Radical Rabbit Stew (digital, $15.99)
Rock of Ages 3: Make & Break (physical and digital, $29.99)
Superhot: Mind Control Delete (digital, free for Superhot owners, otherwise $24.99)
Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus (physical and digital, $39.99)
We Should Talk (digital, $6.99)

PC
Aeolis Tournament ($12.74)
Beyond A Steel Sky ($TBA)
Blood Metal ($TBA)
Dig Bombers ($TBA)
GolfTopia ($TBA)
Gridiron ($TBA)
GUNPIG: Firepower For Hire ($TBA)
Panzer Paladin ($19.99)
Paws and Soul ($TBA)
Radical Rabbit Stew ($15.99)
S.C.A.R ($TBA)
Sakura Succubus 2 ($TBA)
Superhot: Mind Control Delete (digital, free for Superhot owners, otherwise $24.99)
Tobari 2: Dream Ocean ($TBA)
Twin-Turbo Supercharged Nitro-Fueled Papamobile ($TBA)
We Should Talk ($6.99)
White Wings ($TBA)
World of Contraptions ($7.19)

Robert’s Pick: Like many others, I’ll be picking up Ghost of Tsushima this Friday. I know some people, like my colleague Matt, are concerned about the game’s departures from historical accuracy. But regrettably, games are a medium that I have little expectation for truthfulness. Give me some scenic vistas, tense swordfights, and some pulpy dialog and I can overlook some of the game’s creative liberties. That said, I’ve read some of the game’s haiku, and I also expect cringe mixed in with my kenjustu. Perhaps I’m overly optimistic, but if Tsushima can spur developers from different territories to work together, then a few shortcomings are forgivable.

I’ll probably eventually pick up Paper Mario: The Origami King, which I’m slightly indifferent about. The reason? I’m an unabashed role-playing traditionalist and enjoy efforts with engaging combat systems and characters interaction that results in stimulating ethical dilemmas. Paper Mario has consistently favored a more lighthearted approach, with simplistic battle mechanics and plotline filled with punchlines rather than any kind of substance. I’m sure Origami King is worthwhile, but the approach doesn’t completely align with my leanings. This week my tastes will probably be called into question. Shikata ga nai… (“it cannot be helped”).

Matt S’ Pick (Editor, DigitallyDownloaded): As Sony fans have made abundantly clear to the detriment of my ability to sleep and general mental health, I’m not allowed to have thoughts on Ghost of Tsushima. Unless, of course, they’re uncritically positive thoughts, complete with a nice green score so that I’m doing the right thing and unbiasedly doing the work of the Sony marketing team to unbiasedly boost the game’s Metacritic score. That way they can enjoy the game knowing that no one on the planet disagrees with them.

So instead, I’ll talk about Paper Mario: The Origami King. As someone who was deeply disappointed with Color Splash on the Wii U, it’s nice to have a game that refocuses on the series’ strengths; that sense of humour. It is overwhelmingly the focus of The Origami King, and every second of it is a delight to play because of it. The combat system may not gel with a lot of people – and fair enough, it is quite innovative and “out there”, and the game has done away with most of the JRPG elements to instead focus on the humour, exploration, and world-building, but that encapsulates the Paper Mario series perfectly, if you ask me; creative, different, willing to try things, and backing it up with some of the best humour writing we see in video games. With the world being as miserable as it is right now, that’s come at just the right time.

Oh, also – Rock of Ages 3. Tower Defence + Monkey Ball + Party game antics + Monty Python. You can’t beat that combination, and yes I’m very much keen for even more of it.

Ryan’s Pick: Visual Novels and all the wonderful nijigen joy they bring are definitely one of my guilty pleasures. While there are certainly many great high caliber game titles this week, I’m going to go for the visual novel White Wings by new studio Pureworks Japan. While this particular game seems to focus on quality and polish, if you are looking to indulge your innate need to satiate your lucky sukebe, then look no farther than Sakura Succubus 2. I mean, who wouldn’t want an elegant actress and tennis player added to their harem? There’s even a miso soup CG.

What really has drawn me into White Wings are the visuals and the animated CGs. For those that are into gal-games and RPGs, we know how much that animated 2D scenes add to the overall value and appeal for the game. But make no mistake, I still can appreciate pure 2D CG stills. I think that for this first release Pureworks Japan has chosen to release a more emotionally charged story with lots of visual polish and animation, so I am very curious to see what type of high quality VNs they will bring in the future. There is also an OP song by the Japanese singer Chata, so by all means please give this one a try if you like high quality gal games. Lastly, if gun-kata is your poison this week, Superhot: Mind Control Delete seems like a great reason to slowly get closer and closer to the television until a family member has to intervene for your own personal safety, again. For some reason my mind goes to that dad jumping and bear grabbing his television while using VR. If you haven’t seen that yet, I suggest you check that out.

Matt C’s Pick (editor, Shindig): Panzer Paladin looks extremely cool. Tribute Games knows their way around action platformers well as we saw in the likes of Flinthook and Mercenary Kings, and now they’re turning their attention to a game about big mechs and Zelda II-esque swordplay, all dressed up in a colorful 8-bit art style.

There’s also a neat-looking weapon system that gives me Kirby vibes, of all things. Panzer Paladin‘s demonic enemies sport a wide variety of weapons; steal one, and you earn yourself a new set of abilities unique to that weapon. You can also break stolen weapons to cast powerful spells, and the promise of arms aplenty in each level suggests liberal use of those sword-shattering spells will be a big part of the game. I’ve grown tired lately of the sheer volume of retro platformers, but Panzer Paladin has me more than a little intrigued.

I also have to give Paper Mario: The Origami King a nod. The RPG spin-offs are Mario at its best, and with its humorous antics and creative battle system, The Origami King is a welcome reminder of why that’s the case.