New Releases: October 6th-12th, 2022

This week, Kamiwaza: Way of the Thief slinks its way onto console and PC, offering an updated version of Aquire’s 2006 PlayStation 2 title. No More Heroes III makes the move from Switch to other systems, offering the expected visual upgrades. For fans of visual novels, the release of CHAOS;HEAD NOAH and CHAOS;CHILD should me missed offering two more great entries from the Science Adventure series. And if you’re fluent in Korean, you might want to look into Her World (pictured).

PlayStation 4
Asterigos: Curse of the Stars (digital, $39.99)
Falling Out (digital, $14.99)
Kamiwaza: Way of the Thief (physical & digital, $39.99)
L.O.L. Surprise! B.B.s Born to Travel (digital, $39.99)
No More Heroes III (physical & digital, $59.99)
PGA Tour 2K23 (physical & digital, $59.99 and $99.99)
Unusual Findings (digital, $19.99)

PlayStation 5
No More Heroes III (physical & digital, $59.99)
PGA Tour 2K23 (physical & digital, $69.99 and $99.99)
Train Life: A Railway Simulator – The Orient-Express Edition (physical, $39.99)

Switch
A Frog’s Job (digital, $4.99)
Aquarist (digital, $9.99)
Bassmaster Fishing 2022: Super Deluxe Edition (physical, $39.99)
Billiard: Classic 8 Ball Pool (digital, $9.99)
Bloodwash (digital, $9.99)
Brick Breaker Ball Shooter (digital, $9.99)
CHAOS;CHILD (digital, $22.49)
CHAOS;HEAD NOAH (digital, $22.49)
CHAOS;HEAD NOAH / CHAOS;CHILD DOUBLE PACK (physical $49.99, digital, $44.99)
Clock Maker: My Clock  (digital, $1.00))
CosmoPlayerZ (digital, $10.99)
Cyjin: The Cyborg Ninja (digital, $9.99)
Endless Memories (digital, $19.99)
Falling Out (digital, $14.99)
Frogy World (digital, $2.99)
In Sound Mind (physical, $39.99, digital, $34.99)
Isekai Bride Hunting ～ Meir Edition (digital, $7.99)
Jewel Diamonds (digital, $2.99)
Josh Journey: Darkness Totems (digital, $13.99)
Kamiwaza: Way of the Thief (physical & digital, $39.99)
LawnMower: Mortal Race (digital, $9.99)
LEGO Bricktales (digital, $TBA)
L.O.L. Surprise! B.B.s Born to Travel (physical & digital, $39.99)
Lost Dream: Memories (digital, $4.99)
Maze Blaze (digital, $6.99)
Memory (digital, $19.99)
NieR:Automata The End of YoRHa Edition (physical & digital, $39.99)
No Man’s Sky (physical & digital, $59.99)
Pink Explorer (digital, $4.99)
Poker World: Casino Game (digital, $9.99)
Prodeus (digital, $24.99)
Space Roguelike Adventure (digital, $4.99)
Splatter – Zombiecalypse Now (digital, $7.99)
Super Jagger Bomb (digital, $4.99)
Taiko no Tatsujin Rhythm Festival (physical, $49.99)
The Battle of Polytopia (digital, $14.99)
The Battle of Polytopia- Special Tribes (DLC, $4.99 each)
Trash Sailors (digital, $19.99)
Ultra Mega Xtra Party Challenge (digital, $24.99)
Unusual Findings (digital, $19.99)
Warpips (digital, $19.99)
Wizorb (digital, $4.99)
Youropa (digital, $13.49)

Xbox One
Asterigos: Curse of the Stars (digital, $39.99)
Bloodwash (digital, $9.99)
Dragon Prana (digital, $14.99)
Falling Out (digital, $14.99)
Paper Flight – Super Speed Dash (digital, $9.99)
L.O.L. Surprise! B.B.s Born to Travel (digital, $39.99)
No More Heroes III (physical & digital, $59.99)
PGA Tour 2K23 (physical & digital, $59.99 and $99.99)
Space Roguelike Adventure (digital, $4.99)
Unusual Findings (digital, $19.99)

Xbox Series S/X
PGA Tour 2K23 (physical & digital, $69.99 and $99.99)

PC
Asterigos: Curse of the Stars ($34.99)
Chasm: The Rift ($TBA)
Eville ($TBA)
Her World ($14.99)
Kamiwaza: Way of the Thief ($39.99)
LEGO Bricktales ($TBA)
Maze Blaze ($6.99)
No More Heroes III ($59.99)
PGA Tour 2K23 ($59.99)
Priest Simulator ($15.99)
One More Gate : A Wakfu Legend ($TBA)
Sker Ritual ($13.49)
Stunt Legends ($2.99)
Super Jagger Bomb ($2.99)
SuperPower 3 ($TBA)
Unusual Findings ($19.99)

Rob’s Pick: Steadily, this industry is shifting. Often, today’s games are less focused on expressing an idea and more concerned with launching revenue streams dedicated to season passes, merchandising, or multimedia properties. At times, the over-commercialization of it all is worrying, with so much bandwidth dedicated to the supplements rather than the actual games.

No More Heroes III doesn’t tackle this worrisome trend head-on. But it does something just as insightful, satirizing our lust for permissible depictions of sex and violence while simultaneously providing a game that doesn’t feel like an aloof lecture. Almost everything about the series feels like a critique on gaming, with Travis Touchdown’s fondness for anime, wrestling, violence, and figure collecting holding up a mirror that reflects our own interests. We all smile like fools as we hack someone up with a beam sword, marveling at the geyser of digital blood that we just generated. And occasionally, No More Heroes whispers, “take a look at yourself”. (I’ve always assumed that Travis’ actions outside of the isolation of his apartment are pure, Patrick Bateman-esque fantasies).

So, as you work your way back up the Galactic Superhero rankings in No More Heroes III, expect to laugh at so many of the in-jokes. Referencing everything from Kamen Rider to a softcore actress who always seemed to be on Cinemax, it’s surprising that so many of these land. Suda told us that “punk’s no dead” fifteen years ago. It’s still on life support and barely hanging on, but the third entry reminds us that the show’s not over yet. If you want more mindless fun, No More Heroes III provides. But just beneath all the mayhem is a bit of sociological musing, if you’re interested.

At times, CHAOS;HEAD NOAH and CHAOS;CHILD offer a surprisingly similar thesis, with Takumi Nishijou’s delusional thoughts about an anime character a rather shrewd way to examine our obsession with fantasy. There’s a lot to unpack with this collection (and some of the most unsettling fiction you’ll read this month) but this bundle delivers some delightful cerebral stuff that demonstrates visual novels aren’t just digital books with pretty pictures. Valve really screwed up by not allowing NOAH on Steam. I feel that’s an indelible stain on the goodwill they have generated with Steam’s refund system and the Deck.

Ryan’s pick: Chasm: The Rift which is releasing on Steam on the 10th was created way back in 1997 and is exactly the type of nostalgia I’m looking for this week. That era had so many great FPS games and graphically this one definitely seems to be on the same level as Blood which also was released that same year. Visually it reminds me a lot of the 3D Realms Duke Nukem 3D engine mixed with a bit of Quake. There’s a lot to like about this game for 90s PC fans, and I’m quite sure that it would have been popular had it released back then.

Each FPS in the 90s had specific mechanics and signature features added to set their game apart from the rest, and the Blade Gun in this game feels like it’s version of that. When using that weapon it’s equally interesting that the enemies do not just die when limbs are cut off, so again had this been released back then it probably would have gotten noticed for this mechanic. Other noteworthy features include weather and the fact that the original game is also included when purchased and is able to be emulated through DOSBox. I suppose that alone is a reason for me to pick it up. Having to start your computer with a boot disk to be able to play a game in DOS is just something that doesn’t happen anymore, so I’ll consider that the next best thing.

Matt R’s pick (editor, Shindig): LEGO Bricktales is very refreshing in that it’s a LEGO genre that actually involves, y’know, building stuff. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy the TT Games stuff as much as anyone, but their connection to the beloved brick toys is mostly superficial.

By contrast, Bricktales is very specifically a puzzle game about building LEGO contraptions, one brick at a time. With a limited selection of bricks—and no instruction sheet to follow—each puzzle asks you to build a functional bridge, helicopter, roller coaster, or some such, with a particular mind to the physics of it. A bridge that’s not sturdy enough to support the weight of a minifigure isn’t much good; nor is a helicopter that’s too unbalanced to fly straight. It comes from the same folks behind the Bridge Constructor games, and that DNA feeds so naturally into the whole idea of construction toys that Bricktales feels like the most authentic LEGO game in a long time.

In some ways, Kamiwaza: Way of the Thief feels like a throwback to Tenchu. Not just because it’s a stealth game set in feudal Japan, but the level layouts, sneaking mechanics, atmosphere, and a visual style that harks back to the PS2 era—this is a remaster of a Japan-only PS2 game, after all—call to mind Acquire’s classic. At the same time, it’s a clever twist on that foundation, trading assassinations for theft, pickpocketing, and when times get desperate, dumping your haul to make a clean getaway. In a time Assassin’s Creed and its ilk have streamlined, modernised, and polished away so much of what makes stealth games interesting, Kamiwaza is a welcome return to form.