New Releases: August 18th-24th, 2022

This week, heavy hitters like Madden NFL 23 and Saints Row begin the run-up to the holiday release season. But savvy players will also keep their eyes on less hyped fare, with titles like Yars: Recharged, Light Fairytale Episode 2 (pictured), Ikonei Island: An Earthlock Adventure, and SD Gundam Battle Alliance arriving this week.

PlayStation 4
Arcade Archives: Metro-Cross (digital, $7.99)
Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader? (digital, $26.99)
Cursed to Golf (digital, $19.99)
Madden NFL 23 (physical and digital, $59.99)
Midnight Fight Express (digital, $TBA)
My Hero Ultra Rumble (digital, free to play)
Path of Exile: Lake of Kalandra (DLC, free to play)
RPG Time: The Legend of Wright (digital, $29.99)
Saints Row (physical & digital, $59.99)
Slaycation Paradise (digital, $19.99)
We Are OFK (digital, $17.99)
Yars: Recharged (digital, $9.99)

PlayStation 5
Madden NFL 23 (physical and digital, $59.99)
Saints Row (physical & digital, $59.99)

Switch
Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader? (digital, $26.99)
Arenas Of Tanks (digital, $4.99)
Blob Quest (digital, $4.99)
Chameneon (digital, $3.99)
Cursed to Golf (digital, $19.99)
Dyna Bomb 2 (digital, $15.99)
Hobo: Tough Life (digital, $29.99)
Home Deco Puzzles (digital, $5.99)
Irresistible Mistakes (digital, $29.99)
Islets (digital, $19.99)
Japanese Escape Games The Fortress Prison (digital, $4.99)
Kid Ball Adventure (digital, $4.99)
Light Fairytale Episode 2 (digital, $7.49)
Litguy Adventure (digital, $3.99)
My Divorce Story (digital, $7.19)
Pretty Girls Four Kings Solitaire (digital, $5.99)
PROJECT: KNIGHT 2 Dusk of Souls (digital, $6.74)
RITE (digital, $6.99)
RPG Time: The Legend of Wright (digital, $29.99)
Secrets of Magic 5: Back to School (digital, $19.99)
Slaycation Paradise (digital, $19.99)
Strike Buster Prototype (digital, $6.99)
Sweet Bakery Tycoon Extended Edition (digital, $5.99)
The Room Two (digital, $9.99)
Thymesia – Cloud Version (digital, $29.99)
Treehouse Riddle (digital, $13.49)
We Are OFK (digital, $17.99)
Yars: Recharged (digital, $9.99)
Zumba Garden (digital, $2.99)

Xbox One
A Tale of Paper: Refolded (digital, $19.99)
Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader? (digital, $26.99)
Cursed to Golf (digital, $17.99)
Fallen Legion: Rise to Glory / Fallen Legion Revenants (digital, $TBA)
Flat Heroes (digital, $7.99)
Islets (digital, $19.99)
Midnight Fight Express (digital, $TBA)
Path of Exile: Lake of Kalandra (DLC, free to play)
Saints Row (physical & digital, $59.99)
Slaycation Paradise (digital, $19.99)
The Bonfire: Forsaken Lands (digital, $7.99)
Tilesweeper (digital, $7.49)
Yars: Recharged (digital, $9.99)

PC
Bounty of One ($3.99)
Cursed to Golf ($17.99)
Expedition Agartha ($19.99)
Far Away From Home ($17.99)
Hush Hush – Only Your Love Can Save Them ($TBA)
Ikonei Island: An Earthlock Adventure ($13.49)
Islets ($19.99)
Madden NFL 23 ($59.99)
Midnight Fight Express ($TBA)
Prime of Flames ($TBA)
SD Gundam Battle Alliance ($59.99)
Sir Whoopass: Immortal Death ($14.44)
The Ascent – Cyber Heist (DLC, $TBA)
Thymesia ($22.49)
Warriors of the Nile 2 ($TBA)
We Are OFK ($17.99)
Zookeeper ($7.99)

Rob’s Pick: Originally intended as a port to 1980’s Star Castle, Yars’ Revenge was reshaped into one of the best titles in the Atari 2600 library. But the game wasn’t always held in such high regard. It was panned by most of the gaming magazines of the era. As such, I wouldn’t discover Yars’ Revenge until years after the game’s release, but immediately fell in love with the genre-bending effort.

Adamvision Studios’ applies most of its typical modernizations to the release of Yars: Recharged. This isn’t a perfect remake by any means, with some balancing issues and sound bugs in the current build. But there’s something about playing as a prone insectoid who chips away at a well-fortified enemy that’s deeply satisfying. This time out, the Zorlon Cannon takes different forms and you have fleeting power-ups to assist in the David vs. Goliath-esque battles, making the ten-dollar purchase justifiable.

Naturally, I’m also interested in SD Gundam Battle Alliance. The game’s miniature mobile suits are absolutely adorable and I’m always up for some accessible action. In staying faithful to the source material, variety stems from unlocking new Gundam rather than customizing the ones you already own. So, while Armored Core, Front Mission, and even Custom Robo helped develop an appreciation for mech outfitting, sometimes a bit of straightforward battling is a nice holdover.

Matt S’ pick (editor, DigitallyDownloaded): If you imagine the last couple of weeks as a storm, with the likes of Xenoblade Chronicle 3, Soul Hackers 2, Sword and Fairy: Together Forever and Digimon Survive (among other things), then this week would seem to be the eye of the storm passing overhead, before we get battered again. The breather is appreciated! But there’s not too much for me this week.

I guess if you were going to force me to pick something, I may as well go with Hush Hush – Only Your Love Can Save Them. Firstly, that is a most excellent name for a game. But also, what the developers are trying to do with it is, at least, interesting. It’s a visual novel/dating simulator, where you need to manage a bunch of statistics and, if you don’t do that well, tragic ends are on the horizon (do it well and of course the happy ending is on the table). Also, the art is not terrible so… sure. Let’s go with that one this week.

I’m also somewhat interested in Ikonei Island: An Earthlock Adventure. The original Earthlock wasn’t terrible! It wasn’t overly memorable either, but it was an alright game and an alright time. With an Earthlock 2 in development, I might as well keep an eye on the series and play this spinoff thing.

Matt R’s pick (editor, Shindig): My pick isn’t on the list because it’s not technically a new release, but I’m going to run with it anyway. The latest major update for Final Fantasy XIV comes out next week, bringing with it the usual array of new raids, dungeons, and story quests. But this update is particularly noteworthy because it also introduces the Island Sanctuary: a new minigame that basically turns FFXIV into Story of Seasons (or Stardew Valley, or Harvest Moon—pick your favorite farm life sim point of reference). It’s a completely self-contained thing, unrelated to gear progression or gil-making, that looks substantial enough that it could be a standalone game.

In a similar vein, I’m curious about Ikonei Island: An Earthlock Adventure. I wasn’t a big fan of Earthlock itself, which struck me as a rather superficial attempt to replicate classic JRPGs while lacking the substance that made those classics memorable. But it brought life to an interesting enough world, and a bit of quiet, cozy farming in said world and like it could be a decent time. I’m sure there’ll come a time when I get sick of how prolific these sorts of games are, but I’m not there yet—so give me some fields to till, and I’ll till them.

Ryan’s pick: I do love gunpla, so I am going with SD Gundam Battle Alliance for my official pick this week. The confirmed Gundam series list in the game is pretty impressive, so I think that the game sure has a lot to offer. SD Gundams have been around for quite some time and their chibi designs are loved by most gunpla aficionados across the world. I think the game will have a lot to offer if you can appreciate mechas, or if you’re looking for a flashy action rpg to try out. I really like the way they have set up the game’s UI with the ability to see character portraits at the margins, and equally ready to battle against some of the more famous characters in the series. I always like the Zaku Gundams and the MS-14 Gelgoog, so I am pretty excited to give this one a play.

Whenever a new Saints Row game comes out, I feel obligated as a proponent of absurdity to see how much chaos I can create. There’s just so much going on, and the frequency of jokes and unscripted randomness is relentless. Sometimes those moments of pure levity are exactly what I need in a game, especially after countless deaths in Noita. The weapons in this series equally like to present the fourth wall to you as a player and often birth new avenues of creativity as you freely use them to spread mayhem. I really liked the ability in previous games to adjust settings such as adjusting the pitch of characters’ voices down. It had me crying laughing when my character sounded like the main character from the series Delocated. The more I think about it, the game offers just enough extra that it sets itself apart from the GTA series, yet still allows you to have that same type of open world fun.