New Releases: February 15th-21st, 2024

This week, Mario vs. Donkey Kong climbs its way onto Switch while Skull and Bones sets sail for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S/X, and PC. If both of those titles are too dull for you, don’t worry. Both Nie no Hakoniwa – Dollhouse of Offerings (pictured) and Spirit Hunter: Death Mark II look to provide plenty of scares.

PlayStation 4
A Little to the Left (digital, $14.99)
Gunvolt Records: Cychronicle (digital, $13.49)
PlateUp! (digital, $19.99)
qomp2 (digital, $19.99)
Slave Zero X (digital, $29.99)
Spirit Hunter: Death Mark II (digital, $49.99)

PlayStation 5
Balatro (digital, $14.99)
King Arthur: Knight’s Tale (digital, $44.99)
Slave Zero X (digital, $29.99)
Skull and Bones (physical & digital, $69.99)
Smalland: Survive the Wilds (digital, $34.99, $29.74 PS+)
Spirit Hunter: Death Mark II (digital, $49.99)
Survivorman VR: The Descent (digital, $19.99)
The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III / IV Deluxe Edition (physical, $69.99)
The Lost Legends of Redwall: The Scout Anthology (digital, $24.99)
Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate – Daemonhunters (digital, $44.99, $38.24 PS+)

Switch
A Time Traveller’s Guide To Past Delicacies (digital, $3.99)
Art of Glide (digital, $4.39)
Banchou Tactics (digital, $17.99)
Balatro (digital, $14.99)
Bandle Tale: A League of Legends Story (digital, $24.99)
Birth (digital, $10.99)
Bucket Crusher (digital, $4.99)
Caveman Ransom (digital, $4.99)
Cyber Taxi Simulator (digital, $12.99)
DIY Makeup (digital, $4.99)
Drift Master Simulator 2024 – Driving Sim (digital, $11.99)
EGGCONSOLE Ys PC-8801mkIISR (digital, $6.49)
Fit My Cat (digital, $9.99)
Foot Clinic: Fishy Edition (digital, $5.99)
Froggie – A Retro Platformer (digital, $4.99)
Genso Chronicles (digital, $13.49)
Gunvolt Records: Cychronicle (digital, $13.49)
Hex Cats (digital, $2.99)
Hopping Bunny (digital, $0.99)
Knights & Guns Definitive Edition (digital, $15.99)
Line Color World (digital, $2.99)
Maid of the Dead (digital, $19.99)
Mario vs. Donkey Kong (digital, $49.99)
Metro Simulator 2 (digital, $14.99)
Moto Rush GT Definitive Edition (digital, $15.99)
Party Party Time 2 (digital, $5.00)
PlateUp! (digital, $19.99)
Pretty Girls Klondike Solitaire PLUS (digital, $5.99)
qomp2 (digital, $19.99)
Scream and Steel – Horror Story Shooter (digital, $13.99)
Sea Port Tycoon 2024 (digital, $4.99)
Slave Zero X (digital, $29.99)
Snap Together: New Challenges (digital, $9.99)
Spirit Hunter: Death Mark II (physical & digital, $49.99)
Swords and Adventures (digital, $6.50)
Tenderfoot Tactics (digital, $14.99)
Top Web Search 23 (digital, $2.29)
Trash Punk Deluxe Edition (digital, $10.99)
Twilight Survivors (digital, $2.99)
Witch’s Rhythm Puzzle (digital, $4.49)
Your Majesty (digital, $4.99)
Z War Apocalypse Shooter (digital, $9.99)

Xbox One
A Time Traveller’s Guide To Past Delicacies (digital, $3.99)
Balatro (digital, $14.99)
Bandle Tale: A League of Legends Story ($24.99)
BBQ Simulator: The Squad (digital, $TBA)
Call of Heroes: Tower Defense (digital, $11.99)
Caveman Ransom (digital, $4.99)
Edge of Reality (digital, $3.99)
Exorder (digital, $19.99)
Gunvolt Records: Cychronicle (digital, $13.49)
Mayhem Heroes (digital, $1.99)
qomp2 (digital, $19.99)
Return to Grace (digital, $14.99)
Rounds (digital, $8.49)
Skull and Bones (physical & digital, $69.99)
Slave Zero X (digital, $29.99)
Tenderfoot Tactics (digital, $14.99)
Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate – Daemonhunters (digital, $38.24)

PC
A Dragon’s Tale: Fading Light ($TBA)
A Little to the Left ($14.99)
Balatro ($14.99)
Buckshot with Friends ($TBA)
Cividle ($free)
Colonize ($12.23)
Craftomation 101: Programming & Craft ($TBA)
Empires Shall Fall ($TBA)
Epstein ($TBA)
Fossilfuel 2 ($TBA)
Goat Simulator 3 ($19.49)
Gunvolt Records: Cychronicle (13.49)
Helskate ($22.49)
Nie No Hakoniwa – Dollhouse of Offerings ($29.99)
Nidus ($TBA)
Nukitashi 2 ($TBA)
Pricolage -IDOLIZED- ($TBA)
Recolit ($TBA)
Skull and Bones (Ubisoft Store, $59.99)
Slave Zero X ($29.99)
Smalland: Survive the Wilds ($24.99)
Yohane the Parhelion – NUMAZU in the MIRAGE – ($TBA)

Rob’s pick: Between the Gunvolt Records rhythm game and Yohane the Parhelion’s take on deckbuilding’s there’s a pair of noteworthy spin-offs arriving this week, propelling Azure Striker Gunvolt and Love Live! Sunshine!!’s characters into new genres. While I would have loved to see Gunvolt gone turn-based and would have up for some more tapping along Love Live!’s note highways, I’ll take my cuteness where I can get it. So given Cychronicle’s constrained 15-track set list, NUMAZU in the MIRAGE gets the pick this week.

That said, I’ve got my eye on Slave Zero X. When the original Slave Zero came out two months after the Dreamcast’s debut, I was weakened by the promise of 3D mecha action. What I discovered was a tedious game with one of those late 90’s horrible cameras that never stopped swaying. I’m really hoping that Poppy Works does something significant with the disregarded property. A transition to 2D is a step in the right direction. And if the play can channel some of the controlled chaos of Miramasa’s swordplay, I’d be very interested.  And like Ryan, there’s a special place in my heart for SNK-style spritework.

Ryan’s pick: I naturally gravitate towards games with longer titles. I suppose it’s my deep appreciation for publishing and localization, in that case sensitivity, hyphens, double exclamations, and en dashes are constantly under the QA lens when wearing marketing and PR goggles. Naturally, Yohane the Parhelion – NUMAZU in the MIRAGE -, immediately caught my eye and I gave it a look. It seems like this is the developer’s second game, and from the animated bust ups, card visuals, UI, and procedural generation, a lot has gone into this game. Graphically the art style and enemies remind me slightly of the Atelier series, but that’s certainly not a bad thing. After pouring a lot of time into the Genshin Impact TCG, I’m interested in giving this one a try to compare and contrast.

Perhaps it’s the hivemind speaking, but I’m in agreement with Robert that Slave Zero X equally looks good. For me, the sidescrolling and saturated art reminds me a lot of Sengoku or Samurai Showdown for NEO GEO, which naturally has me interested. From a visual standpoint, it looks like it could certainly have been a game in the arcades in the ‘90s, so please give it a look.

Matt S’ pick (editor, DigitallyDownloaded): Death Mark 2 is a brilliant horror visual novel. Picking up where its predecessor left off, it’s not only a continuation of the excellent characters and “urban legend” approach to very Japanese horror, but it’s also a continuation of the impeccable art, the intense themes and the quality mysteries that pop up along the way. It is the closest to The Ring we have in video games, and it works on every level.

I’m also quite keen to give King Arthur: Knight’s Tale. I grew up with King Arthur being a major part of my early years – the first book I remember owning and reading (and re-reading and re-reading again) was a retelling of the Arthurian tales for kids. This RPG take on the character and setting look quite good – I bought it on PC when it launched some time ago and just never found the time for it. Perhaps I will play on PlayStation instead.