New Releases: October 10th-16th, 2024

This week, Metaphor: ReFantazio (pictured) transports players to the United Kingdom of Euchroni in an effort to mend matters after the king has fallen into deep slumber. If fantasy role-playing doesn’t interest you, there are plenty of other offerings, with Darksiders II making an appearance on PS5 and while RPG Maker WITH arrives on Switch. Here’s the complete list of what’s inbound for PC and console owners:

PlayStation 4

8-Bit Adventures 2 (digital, $19.99)
Amanda the Adventurer (digital, $8.99)
Crow Country (digital, $19.99)
Dagon: Complete Edition (digital, $9.99)
Drova (digital, $24.99)
Metaphor: ReFantazio (digital, $69.99)
Neva (digital, $19.99)
Nick Jr. Party Adventure (digital, $39.99)
Arcade Archives: Super Volleyball ’91 (digital, $7.99)
Transformers: Galactic Trials (digital, $39.99)

PlayStation 5

Darksiders II: Deathinitive Edition (digital, $29.99)
Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero (physical & digital, $69.99)
Just Dance 2025 Edition (physical & digital, $49.99)
Metaphor: ReFantazio (physical & digital, $69.99)
Nikoderiko: The Magical World
Squirrel with a Gun (physical & digital, $29.99)
Starship Troopers: Extermination (physical & digital, $49.99)
Undisputed (digital, $59.99)
Wingspan: Special Edition (physical & digital, $39.99)

Switch

8-Bit Adventures 2 (digital, $19.99)
9 R.I.P. (digital, $49.99)
Arcade Archives: Super Volleyball ’91 (digital, $7.99)
Bandit Buster: Western (digital, $3.99)
Big City Driver: Truck Parking Simulator (digital, $4.99)
Bloodless (digital, $14.99)
CAD Pretend (digital, $25.00)
Casual Sport Series: Hockey (digital, $2.39)
Cats and Seek: Osaka (digital, $2.99)
Cats in Boxes (digital, $4.99)
City Bus Simulator (digital, $9.99)
Crasho Cars (digital, $6.99)
Crazy Traffic: City Parking Simulator (digital, $4.99)
Crow Country (digital, $19.99)
Dagon: Complete Edition (digital, $9.99)
Drova (digital, $24.99)
EGGCONSOLE Templo del Sol: Asteka II PC-8801 (digital, $6.49)
El Panadero -The Baker- (digital, $7.99)
Europa (digital, $13.49)
FAITH: The Unholy Trinity (digital, $14.99)
Farmer Survivors (digital, $4.99)
Ghost in the Pool (digital, $5.99)
GhostlyRyokan (digital, $2.99)
Gym Business: Fitness Empire Simulator (digital, $9.99)
Miss Rosen’s Wowtastic! Marching Band (digital, $11.99)
Mourning Tide (digital, $2.10)
My Big Sister: Remastered (digital, $7.99)
Neva (digital, $19.99)
Nick Jr. Party Adventure (digital, $39.99)
Nikoderiko: The Magical World (digital, $29.99)
RPG Maker WITH (digital, $49.99)
Son of a Gun (digital, $9.99)
Stable Stories – Forest and Meadow Ride (digital, $14.99)
The Escapee (digital, $3.99)
Transformers: Galactic Trials (digital, $39.99)
UFO Robot Grendizer – The Feast of the Wolves (digital, $39.99)
Viking City Tycoon (digital, $9.99)
Wingspan: Special Edition (physical & digital, $39.99)
Wizards Owl: Magic Delivery (digital, $5.99)

Xbox One

8-Bit Adventures 2 (digital, $19.99)
Amanda the Adventurer (digital, 8.99)
Arsene Lupin – Once a Thief  (digital, $29.99)
Crow Country (digital, $19.99)
Dagon: Complete Edition (digital, $9.99)
Drova (digital, $24.99)
Killing Time: Resurrected (digital, $24.99)
Metaphor: ReFantazio (physical & digital, $69.99)
Neva (digital, $19.99)
Nick Jr. Party Adventure (digital, $39.99)
Transformers: Galactic Trials (digital, $39.99)

Xbox Series S/X

Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero (physical & digital, $69.99)
Just Dance 2025 Edition (physical & digital, $49.99)
Metaphor: ReFantazio (physical & digital, $69.99)
Undisputed (digital, $59.99)

PC

Backyard Baseball ’97 ($8.99)
Casual Sport Series: Hockey ($TBA)
Decline’s Drops ($15.19)
Diceomancer ($13.49)
Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero ($69.99)
Last Time I Saw You ($16.99)
Metaphor: ReFantazio ($69.99)
Nick Jr. Party Adventure ($39.99)
Simulakros ($12.74)
Sky Oceans: Wings for Hire ($22.49)
Spear Song ($13.49)
Storage Hunter Simulator ($19.99)
Tipston Salvage ($15.29)

Rob’s Pick: An Atlus role-playing release feels like a new film from a celebrated director. Obviously, there’s a potential for greatness, as nearly all of the MegaTen games have demonstrated. And even in the case of a slight misfire like Soul Hackers 2, there are generally enough interesting qualities to make it a mandatory purchase for role-playing fans (at a discount, of course!).

Obviously, Metaphor: ReFantazio will fare far better than Coppola’s Megalopolis, even if it doesn’t include anything as offbeat as Adam Driver delivering Hamlet’s famous soliloquy.  So far, it’s more allegorical than metaphorical, but if you can get past that, it feels like developer Studio Zero is aiming for a sister franchise that rivals the richness of Persona. If time permits, I’ll also be delving into Last Time I Saw You and Sky Oceans.

Matt S’ pick (editor, DigitallyDownloaded): At a very surface level, Metaphor resembles Persona. That’s entirely deliberate, too, as the development team has built on all that they’ve learned from many years making those games. But that is just the surface level. Once you start digging into the narrative you realise that Metaphor isn’t just a different game to the Persona series, in so many ways it’s much deeper. Prepare for a lot of thinking as you play this one, because it has a lot to say.

I also can’t help but recommend RPG Maker With. Where RPG Maker is an accessible and potentially commercial tool for indie developers on PC, on console, where the limitations are quite obvious, it’s more a toybox to play around with. You’re not going to be commissioning artists to create custom assets so you can release something on Steam with RPG Maker With. Instead, you’ll create (and even collaborate with friends!) fun little things where the limitations mean you can simply enjoy it as a toy. That’s actually kind of liberating, with no “pressure” behind what you create here, and I actually enjoy playing around with this series on console more than serious tools on PC for that reason, this new one is no different in that regard.