New Releases: October 7th-13th, 2021

Beyond the much-anticipated appearance of Metroid Dread, this week brings a number of notable new releases. Both Far Cry 6 and NHL 22 deliver the obligatory follow-ups for each franchise, while Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Hinokami Chronicles provides an interactive adaptation of Studio Ufotable’s anime. But be sure to inspect our picks, which highlight several less prominent titles.

Header: Pretty Girls Mahjong Solitaire, Switch

PlayStation 4
Back 4 Blood (physical & digital, $59.99)
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Hinokami Chronicles (physical & digital, $59.99+)
Far Cry 6 (physical & digital, $59.99+)
Monster Crown (digital, $29.99)
NHL 22 (physical & digital, $59.99)

PlayStation 5
Back 4 Blood (physical & digital, $59.99)
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Hinokami Chronicles (physical & digital, $59.99+)
Far Cry 6 (physical & digital, $59.99+)
NHL 22 (physical & digital, $69.99)

Switch
Balloon Pop (digital, $14.99)
Bouncy Bullets 2 (digital, $4.99)
Business Tour Deluxe (digital, $7.99)
Catty & Batty: The Spirit Guide (digital, $3.99)
Creepy Tale 2 (digital, $14.99)
Critadel (digital, $19.99)
Drum Box (digital, $7.99)
Disco Elysium – The Final Cut (digital, $39.99)
Enigmatis 3: The Shadow of Karkhala (digital, $14.99)
Gang Beasts (digital, $29.99)
Immortus Temporus (digital, $4.99)
InfiniteCorp: Cyberpunk Card Game (digital, $7.19)
Jack Axe (digital, $14.99)
Lord of the Click II (digital, $4.99)
Lotus Bloom (digital, $2.99)
Lumione (digital, $11.69)
Medieval Tower Defense (digital, $6.99)
Metroid Dread (digital, $59.99)
Monster Crown (digital, $29.99)
No Longer Home (digital, $11.99)
PandaBall (digital, $13.99)
Panmorphia (digital, $5.99)
Prehistoric Life Puzzles (digital, $4.00)
Pretty Girls Mahjong Solitaire (digital, $4.99)
Slice of Life (digital, $6.99)
Sophia’s World (digital, $9.99)
Starlight Alliance (digital, $9.90)
Tetris Effect: Connected (digital, $39.99)
The Lightbringer (digital, $14.99)
The Adventures of Spunk Dodgers and Splat (digital, $1.99)
The Marauder Chronicles: Curse Over Valdria (digital, $4.99)
Toroom (digital, $14.99)

Xbox One
Atom RPG (digital, $15.19)
Back 4 Blood (physical & digital, $59.99)
Catty & Batty: The Spirit Guide (digital, $3.99)
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Hinokami Chronicles (physical & digital, $59.99+)
Far Cry 6 (physical & digital, $59.99+)
Lord of the Click II (digital, $4.99)
Monster Crown (digital, $29.99)
Moonglow Bay (digital, $TBA)
No Longer Home (digital, 11.99)
RainCity (digital, $5.39)

PC
Aeon Must Die! ($TBA)
Age of Darkness: Final Stand ($17.59)
Back 4 Blood ($59.99)
Book of Travels ($TBA)
Blade of Darkness ($TBA)
Critadel ($19.99)
Despot’s Game ($TBA)
Dungeon Encounters ($23.99)
Eternium (Free)
Heaven Dust ($7.99)
Guile & Glory: Firstborn ($9.99)
The King of Warriors ($14.99)
The Last Campfire ($13.49)
The Lightbringer ($14.99)
Whisper Trip – Chapter 1 ($4.49)

Rob’s Pick: There’s something quite engrossing about seeing a handful of heroes take on a legion of foes. Most games employ individual bosses to represent near-unconquerable adversity. But Age of Darkness: Final Stand takes a different approach, rendering up to 70,000 simultaneous on-screen enemies. Cinematic characters like Jason Voorhees, Leatherface, or Michael Myers are creepy because of their murderous fixations and invulnerability. But the hordes of George A. Romero’s Dead films were truly scary because of their sheer numbers. You might be able to outrun a lumbering guy carrying a chainsaw, but the mob will inevitably encircle you.

Protecting fortresses also taps into our lizard brains, and Darkness’ depiction of siege warfare looks to be satisfying, with defenses igniting large groups of marauding Nightmares. While the game’s set-up and day/night cycle might evoke comparison to Atari’s 1990 classic Rampart, Final Stand modernizes things with roguelike randomizations and bones for surviving the troubles it throws at you.

While I generally like the Far Cry series, I don’t feel Ubisoft has done enough to develop the series. Yes, clearing enemy strongholds was fun a few entries ago. But now we are reaching diminishing returns and iterations that are offering smaller deviations from formula. Speaking of familiarity, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Hinokami Chronicles sure looks beautiful, but CyberConnect2’s traditional formula of abridged story recaps and arena battle blueprint is growing a bit wearying.

Ryan’s Pick: When it was announced in early 2019 that the latest Metroid game would be delayed it was a bit disappointing in that I had been really excited to see how the series would evolve on the Switch. Over two years later Metroid Dread is here, and despite the delay I’m absolutely going to be playing it. Out of all of Nintendo’s IPs I just find this series the most interesting. I guess I just like space, and maybe I’m just a bit biased because Metroid II: The Return of Samus is my favorite Gameboy game of all time. The game was amazing.

At first glance addition of the E.M.M.I. devices that hunt you as you traverse planet ZDR does feel like it was tacked on, but hopefully through some storytelling and plot development these enemies will be woven into the story. Speaking of the story, this is the chronological ending to the five-part main series, so I have high hopes, although I will probably need a refresher since I played Metroid Fusion through the 3DS Ambassador program almost a decade ago. My only hope is that the team got a chance to take notes from Hollow Knight which in my opinion really offered a mountain of content in terms of length, exploration, and endings. Likewise I am hoping for a decent challenge like the final boss in Metroid Prime on Gamecube. I think I stayed up until like 4 a.m. trying to defeat that boss.

I also must give a nod to Back 4 Blood. I loved the Left 4 Dead series and think that this game looks absolutely terrifying and fun at the same time. When the endless hordes were running at me in L4D I remembered how real it looked, so I can only imagine how it is on current-gen. That witch also gave me nightmares when you could hear her groaning in the levels. It still creeps me out to this day.

Matt S’ pick (Editor, DigitallyDownloaded): As the far-left wing Che Guevara fanboy in the group, it is really quite naughty of me that I haven’t played Disco Elysium yet. I know it’s meant to be the game for people of my particular persuasion, but I just haven’t gotten around to it as of yet. I’ll make sure that the Switch release is the excuse I have to make amends there.

As for new releases, I’ve been steadily working my way through Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Hinokami Chronicles. I am a passionate fan of Demon Slayer, so I was always going to play a game that bore the license. I must admit that I was disappointed when I heard that “the Demon Slayer game” was a CyberConnect2 title, because – and this is a hill I’ll die on – this developer sucks. Its brawlers are about as respectful to the base material as Funko Pop figures, in that it’s a one-size-fits-all methodology that never captures the underlying quality of the property. With that being said, and without breaking embargo on the game, this one is less CyberConnect2 than normal. Or perhaps I’m just hypnotised by Nezuko. It really could be either case, but either way I’m enjoying myself.

In a week that is otherwise “just ignore the big Ubisoft release, the really good stuff is coming the week after,” Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Hinokami Chronicles is the one I’m recommending to you all. You’ll need to be a Demon Slayer fan, of course, but since the only people who aren’t Demon Slayer fans are people who haven’t yet seen Demon Slayer, binge your way through the anime and get ready for some entertaining brawler action in the coming week.

Matt R’s pick (editor, Shindig): I’m cautiously optimistic about Metroid Dread. I adore Metroid, and I still haven’t grown weary of “Metroidvanias” the way everyone seems to have (understandably, given the sheer abundance of them at the moment). But at the same time, I really didn’t vibe with Metroid: Samus Returns, which seemed to entirely miss the point of Metroid 2 while also injecting a bunch of unnecessary extra features that brought nothing to the game except needless frustration. So to see the same developer in charge of the first new 2D Metroid game in so many years makes me a little worried…

But it’s still the first new 2D Metroid game in 16 years, and that’s exciting. For all that I disliked about Samus Returns, it showed promise and potential, and Metroid Dread seems like a good chance to deliver on that without the constraints of the 3DS and its limited control scheme. If Mercury Steam can stick the landing on this, it’s going to be a very good week to be a Metroid fan. Here’s hoping!

But if you want a recommendation that doesn’t come with so many strings attached: Moonglow Bay. All the lighthearted whimsy and wholesome joy of a game like Story of Seasons, only built around fishing rather than farming? Take me to Moonglow Bay immediately.