New Releases: October 13th-19th, 2022

This week, Crash Bandicoot leaps onto Steam, Tiger Woods and Michael Jordon tee off in PGA Tour 2K23, while a roster of 40 Nickelodeon notables race their way onto consoles and PC. If these familiar faces don’t interest, perhaps the Switch releases of Fragment’s Note+ (pictured) or Isekai Tragic Love just might.

PlayStation 4
Asterix & Obelix XXXL: The Ram from Hibernia (digital, $39.99)
Baldo: The Guardian Owls: Three Fairies Edition (physical, $34.99)
Dragon Ball: The Breakers (physical, $29.99, digital, $19.99-$29.99)
Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed (physical & digital, $39.99)
Kao the Kangaroo: Oh, Well! (DLC, $6.99)
Life in Willowdale: Farm Adventures (digital, $39.99)
Nickelodeon Kart Racers 3: Slime Speedway (physical & digital, $49.99)
PGA Tour 2K23 (physical & digital, $59.99)
Psychonauts 2: Motherlobe Edition (physical, $69.99)
Star Trek Prodigy: Supernova (digital, $49.99)
The Witch’s House MV (digital, $14.99)
Them’s Fightin’ Herds (physical $49.99, digital $19.99-$39.99)
Winter Games 2023 (digital, $39.99)

PlayStation 5
A Plague Tale: Requiem (physical & digital, $59.99)
Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed (physical & digital, $39.99)
PGA Tour 2K23 (physical & digital, $69.99)
Them’s Fightin’ Herds (physical $49.99, digital $19.99-$39.99)

Switch
A Plague Tale: Requiem – Cloud Version (digital, $59.99)
Atari Mania (digital, $24.99)
Beeny (digital, $0.99)
BOT.vinnik Chess 2 (digital, $2.99)
Broken Universe – Tower Defense (digital, $9.99)
Bus Simulator City Ride (digital, $31.49)
Dragon Ball: The Breakers (physical, $29.99, digital, $19.99-$29.99)
Fallen Knight (digital, $14.99)
Football Cup 2022 (digital, $14.99)
Fragment’s Note+ (digital, $14.99)
God Damn The Garden (digital, $4.99)
Isekai Tragic Love (digital, $19.90)
Loot Box Simulator – RPG Anime Girls (digital, $2.99)
Mad Experiments: Escape Room (digital, $9.99)
Moonlight (digital, $3.99)
NASCAR Rivals (physical & digital, $49.99)
Nickelodeon Kart Racers 3: Slime Speedway (physical & digital, $49.99)
Paradise Marsh (digital, $9.99)
Pill Baby (digital, $12.00)
Pnevmo-Capsula (digital, $3.99)
Reky (digital, $9.99)
RichMan 11 (digital, $18.99)
Star Trek Prodigy: Supernova (digital, $49.99)
Super Funky Bowling (digital, $2.99)
Temp Zero (digital, $8.99)
The Witch’s House MV (digital, $14.99)
Them’s Fightin’ Herds (physical $49.99, digital $19.99-$39.99)
Tinhead (digital, $4.99)
Trifox (digital, $19.99)
Ultra Mega Xtra Party Challenge (physical, $34.99)
ValiDate: Struggling Singles in your Area (digital, $14.99)
Winter Games 2023 (physical & digital, $39.99)
Witchcrafty (digital, $7.99)

Xbox One
Asterix & Obelix XXXL: The Ram from Hibernia (digital, $39.99)
Dragon Ball: The Breakers (digital, $19.99-$29.99)
Dying Light 2 Stay Human: Bloody Ties (DLC, $9.99)
Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed (physical & digital, $39.99)
Kao the Kangaroo: Oh, Well! (DLC, $6.99)
Kovox Pitch (digital, $6.99)
Nickelodeon Kart Racers 3: Slime Speedway (physical & digital, $49.99)
PGA Tour 2K23 (physical & digital, $59.99)
Star Trek Prodigy: Supernova (digital, $49.99)
The Darkest Tales (digital, $24.99)
The Last Hero of Nostalgaia (digital, $24.99)
The Witch’s House MV (digital, $14.99)
Them’s Fightin’ Herds (physical $49.99, digital $19.99-$39.99)
Trifox (digital, $19.99)

Xbox Series S/X
PGA Tour 2K23 (physical & digital, $69.99)
Pnevmo-Capsula (digital, $3.99)

PC
Azure Striker Gunvolt 3 ($26.99)
Beautiful Mystic Survivors ($TBA)
Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time ($TBA)
Cultic ($9.99)
Dragon Ball: The Breakers ($19.99)
Fueled Up ($17.99)
Lost Eidolons ($34.99)
Nickelodeon Kart Racers 3: Slime Speedway ($49.99)
Nitro Kid ($TBA)
Paradise Marsh ($8.99)
PGA Tour 2K23 ($59.99)
Potionomics ($TBA)
Sunday Gold ($19.79)
The Case of the Golden Idol ($16.19)
Triangle Strategy ($59.99)
Trifox ($TBA)
Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection ($49.99)

Rob’s Pick: I rarely turn down the opportunity for action platforming, especially if a game can fill the screen with plenty of sprites while applying a few layers of parallax scrolling backdrops. Inti Creates is one of those teams that still understands the allure of these things and this week’s release of Azure Striker Gunvolt 3 looks to quench my thirst for 16/32-bit style action. Pleasingly, the game isn’t without innovation, and if you’re able to bring things to a boisterous boil, you’re rewarded with a rousing vocal track. It’s a technique that never fails to get me all pumped up.

I also have a hard time denying business sims built around a creative premise. Certainly, Potionomics seems promising, where you are tasked with not only brewing high quality concoctions but also dealing with low-balling customers. To assist with the latter, Potionomics provides some deck management option that can provide a helping hand for dealing with some of the insufferable clients. There’s even the option for romancing your rivals, ensuring the game doesn’t completely mirror dual majoring in business and pharmaceutical studies.

Ryan’s pick: My retro inspired FPS spree continues this week with my pick Cultic. Much like last week’s pick, this 90s FPS definitely captures the look and sound of the era particularly well, and I could definitely see why publisher 3D Realms was interested in this game. One immediate thing I like about the game is the sound. The explosions, sounds of the guns, and the sound of enemies getting blown up is spot-on for that era. There are plenty of other visual homages present, including the dynamite bundle with lighter seen in Blood, a version of the mighty foot Duke Nukem 3D, and a double-barrel shotgun which was made famous with the super shotgun in Doom. It certainly looks like it plays fast and wants you to plow your way through enemies whilst throwing dynamite and bullets everywhere, and that’s what I’m into this week.

It’s no secret that I’m an 80’s fan when it comes to synthwave music and the mid-80’s Miami aesthetic, so I’m going to give a quick recommendation for the roguelike deckbuilder called Nitro Kid. I will be the first to admit that I’m quite the greenhorn when it comes to deckbuilding games, but the visuals and animations were the first thing that made me consider this game. I think a lot of the attacks, the enemies, and the UI seem pretty well thought-out, and isometric grid view equally seems to work pretty well for the game when it comes to large grid-based attacks. For some reason the main character also reminds me a bit of Pit Fighter for some reason, so this game has that going for it too. It wouldn’t be an 80’s inspired game without synthesizers, and I think the soundtrack is really well done and absolutely worth giving a listen to on YouTube if you are into synthwave.

Matt S’ pick (editor, DigitallyDownloaded): I don’t have big expectations for Saint Kotar as a video game. I don’t think it’ll win my GOTY award or anything like that. HOWEVER, it is the season for spooky things and curses in rural Croatia is certainly right up there with the kind of setting that works for me during Halloween. I also like that it’s a detective/adventure game thing rather than an action title, and indeed the screenshots have a whiff of the classic Lovecraftian point-and-click, Necronomicon, about them. If it can deliver that, then I’ll be happy.

Meanwhile, I’m very interested in seeing how Them’s Fighting Herds turns out. Was that the game that started out as a My Little Pony fan project? It looks like it. Now I’m not brony, but I do like the idea of the Ponies beating one another to a bloody pulp, so you can see the appeal of Them’s Fighting Herds to me. I’ve been itching for a new fighting game to really hook me in again, so who knows? This might just be oddball enough to do that. We’ll find out soon.