New Releases: September 16th-22nd, 2021

This week, visual novel aficionados might Find Love or Die Trying, which could indicate a case of Lost Judgment, especially if you’re playing to travel Eastward in search of a Metallic Child.

Header: Find Love or Die Trying, PC

PlayStation 4
Apsulov: End of Gods (physical & digital, $29.99)
Aragami 2 (digital, $39.99)
Kena: Bridge of Spirits (digital, $39.99)
Lost Judgment (physical & digital, $59.99)
Nexomon (digital, $9.99)
Project Winter (digital, $19.99)
SkateBIRD (digital, $19.99)
Song in the Smoke (digital, $TBA, PS VR)
Street Outlaws 2: Winner Takes All (digital, $39.99)
Tails of Iron (digital, $22.49)
The Amazing American Circus (digital, $19.99)
World War Z: Aftermath (digital, $39.99)

PlayStation 5
Lost Judgement (physical & digital, $59.99)

Switch
Beyond Enemy Lines – Remastered Edition (digital, $19.99)
Bubble Shooter FX (digital, $3.99)
Classic Logical Bundle (4in1) (digital, $9.99)
Crisis Wing (digital, $7.99)
Dojoran (digital, $4.99)
Eastward (digital, $22.49)
Elva the Eco Dragon (digital, $10.91)
Endless Puzzle Fun Collection (digital, $11.99)
Family Vacation 2: Road Trip (digital, $9.99)
Galactic Invasion (digital, $3.99)
Love Colors (digital, $3.99)
Marble Parkour (digital, $4.99)
Match 3 Adventure Collection (digital, $14.99)
Metallic Child (digital, $23.99)
Murder Diaries (digital, $9.99)
Nexomon (digital, $8.99)
Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom Prince’s Edition (digital, $59.99)
Poker Pretty Girls Battle: Texas Hold’em (digital, $5.99)
Project Winter (digital, $19.99)
Push-Ups Workout (digital, $4.99)
Razion EX (digital, $19.95)
SkateBIRD (digital, $19.99)
Squabble (digital, $14.99)
Street Outlaws 2: Winner Takes All (digital, $39.99)
Super Arcade Football (digital, $9.99)
Tails of Iron (digital, $22.49)
The Amazing American Circus (digital, $19.99)
TOEM (digital, $17.99)

Xbox One
Apsulov: End of Gods (digital, $23.99)
Aragami 2 (digital, $39.99)
Earth Marines (digital, $4.99)
Golf Peaks (digital, $4.99)
I Am Fish (digital, $17.99)
Lost Judgment (physical & digital, $59.99)
Murder Diaries (digital, $9.99)
Nexomon (digital, $9.99)
Project Winter (digital, $19.99)
SkateBIRD (digital, $19.99)
Street Outlaws 2: Winner Takes All (digital, $39.99)
Tails of Iron (digital, $22.49)
The Amazing American Circus (digital, $19.99)
World War Z: Aftermath (digital, $39.99)

PC
Aragami 2 ($29.74)
Eastward ($22.49)
Find Love or Die Trying (Free)
Gamedec ($TBA)
I Am Fish ($15.99)
Metallic Child ($22.49)
Rift Adventure ($5.99)
SkateBIRD ($19.99)
Slime Factory ($TBA)
Slime’s Journey ($3.99)
Swing Dunk (Free)
Tales of Iron ($22.49)
The Amazing American Circus ($19.99)
Timberborn ($22.49)
TOEM ($TBA)
Trap Genesis ($TBA)
WRC 9 FIA World Rally Championship ($39.99)

Rob’s Pick: One of Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio’s best traits is the ability to simultaneously offer a serious, pulpy plotline alongside wonderfully silly side-games. Thankfully, this week’s release of Lost Judgment doesn’t break that trend. On one hand, you have Takayuki Yagami attempting to exonerate a man accused on sexual assault and murder in a judicial system where the accused are almost always found guilty. Expectedly, your exploration sends you down a rabbit hole of intrigue, with the fictious towns of Kamurocho and Ijinch standing in for Kabukicho and Yokohama’s Isezakichō district right down to the Cosmo Clock 21 in the latter.

Then, there’s Lost Judgement’s quirky moments, with Yagami going undercover at a high school. Here, you’ll tackle skateboarding, boxing, and even dancing. Knowing Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio, they’ll be some jokes about a person obviously in their 30’s trying to blend among fresh-faced teens and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

This week I’ll also be taking the reins of the tragically named Rona, star of Metallic Child. Sure, the Steam servers are overflowing with action roguelikes (and rogue lites), but few with such a distinctly vibrant visual style and a control scheme so fluid you’d think that Platinum Games had a hand in its production. If you appreciate games with tense, responsive combat, and a plotline that pits a lone android against a succession of robotic siblings, take a moment to scope out Child.

Ryan’s Pick: Metallic Child gets my vote this week. Highly saturated contrasting colors, motion blur, and an infinitely cute metallic heroine that wields massive weapons has led me to this conclusion. To be honest I haven’t picked up a roguelite in quite some time, as the majority of the titles I’ve been playing lately have been more in the AAA spectrum, so it’s high time I got back to experiencing some new material and old-fashioned robot moe.

The feature that immediately has drawn me to this game is the art and visual effects the game has. I really like the UI, and a lot of the choices they have made in regards to the materials and the overall design choices they made for the characters, enemies, and environments. I absolutely am getting a bit of a visual Mega Man feel from not only the main playable character but also the bosses, but that is not necessarily a bad thing in that this series is an isometric roguelite and different in its own right.

Matt S’ pick (Editor, DigitallyDownloaded): Lost Judgment is very much my thing. The original Judgment took everything I loved about Yakuza, and put it in the context of noir detective fiction rather than classic yakuza cinema. As a major fanboy for Raymond Chandler, this was an irresistible blend. The good news is that Lost Judgment amps it up even more, making it my favourite game in this extended series so far.

For something a little lighter, I have got to say that Nexomon is a delight. I enjoyed Nexomon: Extinction on the Switch plenty. I enjoy this one in much the same way. Hundreds of super-cute monsters to collect (most of which call to mind the earlier eras of Pokemon), backed up with an uncomplicated, but amusingly subversive little narrative and some lovely world aesthetics (which also hearken back to the early era of Pokemon). Sometimes you just need to kick back and catch some ‘mons, and Nexomon will tide me over until the next proper Pokemon title.

Finally, since it’s an absolutely packed week. SkateBIRD! SkateBIRD! SkateBIRD!. I am not, on any level whatsoever, a fan of skateboarding games. Yes. That includes the series featuring Mr. Hawk. But put birds on them boards and suddenly I’m a lot more interested in it. I’ll be terrible at SkateBIRD, I know that. But I also expect that I’ll love every second of it.

Matt C’s pick (editor, Shindig): There are few things quite like a good arcade-style skateboarding game—the more over the top, the better. And what’s more over-the-top than swapping out boring old humans for extremely cool and cute birds? And boring human-sized skate parks for desktops with carefully arranged stationery and cardboard cutouts, Micro Machines style? SkateBIRD is coming in hot this week to scratch a couple of very specific itches, in a match made in heaven for anyone who grew up on Tony Hawk and the novelty of everyday objects turned into game levels.

It’s got cute birds in silly hats, a surprisingly heartfelt story about trying your best, lots of issues of Thrusher magazine, plenty of secrets to find in each level, neat bird-sized skateparks, and of course, all manner of sweet skate tricks that look so much more adorable when they’re accompanied by excited wing-flapping.

This week also brings Kena: Bridge of Spirits, a charming-looking action adventure about a young spirit guide trying to help the dead cross over as she explores the remains of a lost civilisation. With its ruin exploration, environmental puzzles, and parkour, it looks a bit like a Tomb Raidery sort of deal, only with a dose of magic and a more cartoony finish. It doesn’t hurt to have a bunch of cute companions in the form of the Rot that aid Kena in her journey, and it’s refreshing to see “rot” treated as a vital part of the life cycle of nature, too, rather than synonymous with corruption and evil.