New Releases: September 28th-October 4th, 2023

This week, it’s time to return to the item world in Disgaea 7 and fight for the Waxing Moon in Fate/Samurai Remnant. Alternatively, Infinity Strash: DRAGON QUEST The Adventure of Dai brings the anime into interactive form, while Secret Agent (pictured) provides a bit of visual magnificence.

PlayStation 4
Chipmonk! (digital, $9.99)
Cocoon (digital, $24.99)
Diorama Dungeoncrawl – Master of the Living Castle (digital, $9.99)
Disgaea 7: Vows of the Virtueless (digital, $59.99)
Disney Speedstorm (digital, free to play)
Dolphin Spirit – Ocean Mission (digital, $26.99)
Everhood Eternity Edition (digital, $12.99)
EA Sports FC 24 (digital, $59.99)
Fate/Samurai Remnant (digital, $59.99)
Freedom Planet 2 (digital, $24.99)
Frogun Encore (digital, $TBA)
Hum (digital, $TBA)
Infinity Strash: DRAGON QUEST The Adventure of Dai (digital, $59.99)
Mail Time (digital, $19.99)
Ninja Kidz: Time Masters (digital, $19.99)
PAW Patrol World (digital, $39.99)
Read Only Memories: NEURODIVER (digital, $TBA)
Survivor – Castaway Island (digital, $26.99)
Vampire: The Masquerade – New York Bundle (digital, $59.99)

Switch
4×4 Mud – Offroad Car Simulator & Truck (digital, $11.99)
A Tiny Sticker Tale (digital, $9.99)
Abomi Nation (digital, $19.99)
Afterdream (digital, $10.99)
Ancient Mahjong (digital, $2.99)
ANGEL WHISPER – The Suspense Visual Novel Left Behind by a Game Creator (digital, $9.99)
Anime Poly Puzzle – Sci-Fi Maidens (digital, $2.99)
Before the Night (digital, $20.69)
Bilkins’ Folly (digital, $19.99)
Boaty Tanks (digital, $6.99)
Chipmonk! (digital, $9.99)
Cocoon (digital, $24.99)
CounterAttack: Uprising (digital, $14.99)
Crowns and Pawns: Kingdom of Deceit (digital, $17.99)
CyberTD (digital, $19.99)
Deflector (digital, $22.99)
Digitris (digital, $9.99)
Dinobreak (digital, $19.99)
Diorama Dungeoncrawl – Master of the Living Castle (digital, $9.99)
Disgaea 7: Vows of the Virtueless (digital, $59.99)
Dolphin Spirit – Ocean Mission (digital, $26.99)
EA Sports FC 24 (digital, $59.99)
Elder Story (digital, $4.99)
Encore Rally (digital, $4.99)
Faerie Afterlight (digital, $19.99)
Fate/Samurai Remnant (digital, $59.99)
Firefighting Simulator – The Squad (digital, $34.99)
Foot Clinic (digital, $4.99)
Forgive Me Father (digital, $24.99)
Freak Crossing (digital, $4.99)
Games Advent Calendar – 25 Days – 25 Surprises (digital, $14.99)
Gothic Classic (digital, $29.99)
Humans vs Tigers (digital, $4.99)
Indoor Kickball (digital, $14.99)
Infinity Strash: DRAGON QUEST The Adventure of Dai (digital, $59.99)
Kumakichi’s Birth ☆ Destruction God (digital, $1.00)
Love Kuesuto (digital, $4.99)
Mechs V Kaijus (digital, $12.99)
My Heart Grows Fonder
Ninja Kidz: Time Masters (digital, $19.99)
Paint Pro for Kids 0+ (digital, $14.99)
PAW Patrol World (digital, $39.99)
PictoPull (digital, $4.24)
Pizza Possum (digital, $6.99)
Quilts and Cats of Calico
Rise of the Triad: Ludicrous Edition (digital, $19.99)
Roman Sands RE:Build
RPG Bundle (digital, $14.99)
Sentry City (digital, $4.99)
Shark! Shark! (digital, $14.99)
Silent Hope (digital, $35.99)
Supfly Delivery Simulator (digital, $7.49)
Survivor – Castaway Island (digital, $26.99)
Synergia – NextGen Edition (digital, $19.99)
Tiny Whaley (digital, $0.99)
Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong physical & (digital, $59.99)
Virtual Mom – Job Simulator Manager (digital, $11.99)
World of Outlaws: Dirt Racing ’23 Edition (digital, $49.99)

Xbox One
Abomi Nation (digital, $19.99)
Cocoon (digital, $24.99)
Chipmonk! (digital, $9.99)
CyberTD (digital, $19.99)
Disney Speedstorm (digital, free to play)
Dolphin Spirit – Ocean Mission (digital, $26.99)
EA Sports FC 24 (digital, $59.99)
Everhood Eternity Edition (digital, $12.99)
Freedom Planet 2 (digital, $24.99)
Frogun Encore (digital, $TBA)
Hum (digital, $TBA)
Indoor Kickball (digital, $14.99)
Mechs V Kaijus (digital, $12.99)
Ninja Kidz: Time Masters (digital, $19.99)
PAW Patrol World (digital, $39.99)
Read Only Memories: NEURODIVER (digital, $TBA)
Rise of the Triad: Ludicrous Edition (digital, $19.99)
Survivor – Castaway Island (digital, $26.99)

PC
Afterdream ($TBA)
Boaty Tanks ($6.99)
Coccon
Diluvian Ultra ($TBA)
EA Sports FC 24 ($69.99)
Fate/Samurai Remnant ($59.99)
I Expect You To Die 3: Cog in the Machine ($22.49)
Infinity Strash: DRAGON QUEST The Adventure of Dai (digital, $59.99)
Kingdoms Of Ereloth ($TBA)
PAW Patrol World ($39.99)
Pizza Possum ($6.99)
Savant – Ascent REMIX ($TBA)
Secret Agent ($TBA)
Super 56 ($TBA)
Wildmender ($22.49)

Rob’s pick: Like many other dedicated Disgaea fanatics, I wasn’t happy with the direction of the last series entry. Between the auto-grinding and graphical modes that forced sacrifices on the Switch, it looked like one of my favorite franchises was starting to falter. Smarty, Disgaea 7: Vows of the Virtueless scales back on auto-battling, which helps to incentivize some old-fashioned item world grinding. And while the new cast flirts with formula, offering a familiar collection of demonic leads with a safeguarded soft side and a resident dreamer, the interplay is spirited. The big lure here is the ability to Jumbify, turning combatants into kaiju for a few turns. In keeping with Disgaea custom, the ability can occasionally break the game’s mechanical balance. I’m sure purists wouldn’t want it any other way.

When taking breaks from grinding through Hinomoto, Savant – Ascent REMIX offers some notable twin-stick shooting, with the action taking place of platforms. Before Owlboy made a splash, this was D-Pad Studios inaugural game and it’s every bit as addictive, offering charming pixel art and just enough challenge to make every one of your missteps a gut punch. Lastly, I had a lot of fun with Super 56, which feels a lot like a PC version of WarioWare.

Ryan’s pick: Type-Moon’s Fate series never fails to entertain, so the easy choice this week is Fate/Samurai Remnant. The story and character development in each Fate series has made me a fan, as I really have enjoyed each new story over the years. While there is an overarching universe of heroic spirits that help form a commonality between each installment of the series, you can pick up each without necessarily being privy to previous wars and still enjoy the story. Gameplay-wise, I do like how this one does have some hack’n’slash moments along with RPG elements, so I think that there will be a good balance of story and action as masters battle it out in the Keian era in Japan. I think my favorite part about this series is the interpersonal quirks each master and servant share together, and for me it’s hard not to begin to become partial to a specific servant for their personality and or talents. Again, I think there’s a lot to be enjoyed with this one story-wise, so please give it a look.

Diluvian Ultra was one other first-person shooter that looked really vibrant so that one also may be worth looking into if you liked fps games in the 90s. Specifically, the game reminds me a lot of Hexen in terms of the graphics, but with a bit of Perfect Dark style futuristic weapons. I could never get enough of fps games when I was growing up, so I am always open to giving new ones done in a retro style a shot. One final thing worth noting was the soundtrack had some pretty heavy synth tracks, so if you appreciate synthesizers you should also put this one on the radar.

Matt S’ pick (editor, DigitallyDownloaded): Having returned from Japan I’m apparently now going to be drowning myself in video games again. My pick for this week is very much Fate/Samurai Remnant. Like Persona 5 Strikers, it really highlights just how far Koei Tecmo can now push the “Musou” formula, and it’s combined with all the qualities of everything that you love about Fate (sans Rin Tohsaka, unfortunately).

I’m also really looking forward to getting stuck into Infinity Strash: DRAGON QUEST The Adventure of Dai. Saw that briefly at TGS, and it really drew me in. All Dragon Quest does, really. This one looks like it might just become one of the better spinoffs in that particular series.