New Releases: February 8th-14th, 2024

This week, Helldivers II makes a simultaneous descent on PlayStation 5 and PC, while Tomb Raider I-III Remastered lets players relive Lara’s early adventures. For those uninterested in those titles, KONOSUBA – God’s Blessing on this Wonderful World! Love For These Clothes of Desire! arrives on console, while Dungeon Travelers: To Heart 2 in Another World (anime adaptation pictured) receives a long overdue PC port.

PlayStation 4
Airhead (digital, $17.99)
Arzette: The Jewel of Faramore (Digital, $19.99)
Cannibal Abduction (digital, $11.99)
Invector: Rhythm Galaxy (digital, $44.99)
KONOSUBA – God’s Blessing on this Wonderful World! Love For These Clothes of Desire! (digital, $44.99)
Lords of Exile (digital, $19.99)
Resident Evil 4: Gold Edition (digital, $TBA)
Shanghai Summer (digital, $14.99)
Tomb Raider I-III Remastered (digital, $29.99)
Ultros (digital, $24.99, $22.49 PS+)

PlayStation 5
Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden (digital, $59.99)
Helldivers II (digital, $39.99)
Jubilee (digital, $8.99)

Switch
.T.E.S.T: Expected Behaviour (digital, $7.99)
Alpaca Wonders Why (digital, $3.99)
Arzette: The Jewel of Faramore (Digital, $19.99)
Borzoi Adventure (digital, $3.99)
Bullion – The Curse of the Cut-Throat Cattle (digital, $24.99)
Cannibal Abduction (digital, $11.99)
Croc’s World 4 (digital, $4.99)
Deathly Dangerous (digital, $4.99)
Dreamland Solitaire (digital, $5.99)
Dungeonoid 2 Awakening (digital, $8.99)
Football Simulator 2024 (digital, $9.99)
Forklift Simulator 2024 (digital, $12.99)
Frozen Honey ASMR (digital, $4.99)
God of Light: Remastered (digital, $4.99)
Golfinite (digital, $12.99)
Invector: Rhythm Galaxy (digital, $44.99)
Jubilee (digital, $8.99)
Lords of Exile (digital, $19.99)
KONOSUBA – God’s Blessing on this Wonderful World! Love For These Clothes of Desire! (digital, $44.99)
MakOS New Operating System (digital, $19.99)
Meta Meet Cute!!!+ (Digital, $17.99)
Mustache In Hell (digital, $4.99)
Neet Girl Rehabilitation Plan (digital, $19.90)
Pirates: Caribbean Chronicles (digital, $4.99)
Police Car Driver: City Parking Simulator (digital, $9.99)
Prisonela DX (digital, $4.99)
Shanghai Summer (digital, $14.99)
The Nom (digital, $4.99)
Tenement (digital, $9.99)
Throne of Egypt (digital, $4.99)
Tomb Raider I-III Remastered (digital, $26.99)
West Hunt (digital, $9.99)

Xbox One
Airhead (digital, $17.99)
Cannibal Abduction (digital, $11.99)
Deathly Dangerous (digital, $4.99)
Invector: Rhythm Galaxy (digital, $44.99)
Jubilee (digital, $8.99)
Lords of Exile (digital, $19.99)
Tomb Raider I-III Remastered (digital, $29.99)

PC
And the Hero Was Never Seen Again ($TBA)
Arzette: The Jewel of Faramore ($19.99)
Captain Firehawk and the Laser Love Situation ($TBA)
Dragon Quest Builders ($27.99)
Dungeon Travelers: To Heart 2 in Another World ($19.99)
Echo Tokyo: Reaper ($TBA)
Fight Crab 2 ($TBA)
Helldivers II ($39.99)
Islands of Insight ($TBA)
Lords of Exile ($19.99)
News Tower ($TBA)
Pixel Noir ($19.99)
Slaves of Rome ($TBA)
SpellRogue ($TBA)
The Inquisitor ($39.99)
Tomb Raider I-III Remastered ($23.99)
Ultros ($22.49)

Rob’s pick: I don’t mention puzzlers very often. That’s not because I don’t appreciate them, but the majority seem to be variations on an existing theme. This week, Islands of Insight attempts to inject some novelty into the genre by scattering brainteasers around an open world. So instead of a succession of similar headscratchers, you’re constantly shifting your approach as you tackle different kinds of conundrums. That’s a lofty ambition, but I hope the game can make good on the concept and avoid the typical open-world emptiness.

More in line with my subjective tastes, I’ll be tackling Dragon Quest Builders and Dungeon Travelers: To Heart 2 in Another World. The former was released back in 2016 and I recall liking how the sandbox-style crafting was meshed with the structure of a role-playing game. The latter is another one of those gorgeous looking dungeon crawls, spun-off from the romance-driven To Heart 2 visual novel.

Ryan’s pick: It’s pretty rare for me to not finish a game once I’ve invested a lot of time into it, but a few of the original Tomb Raider games fall into this category. I’m going to take this opportunity to finally finish them with Tomb Raider I-III Remastered. While the graphics did get an improvement, I am curious to see if the up-res will help with being able to figure out where to go at times in the game. I think that was what made the puzzles so difficult in the 90s with these games, as the geometry added an extra level of difficulty when it came to solving puzzles. That and haphazardly firing your guns in the air when you couldn’t see the bats flying around. It’s still a very classic series and full of interesting puzzles, so it’s worth adding it to your collection.

Fight Crab 2 gets a quick nod as I just think crabs are hilarious in general. This sequel touts improved controls, a campaign mode, and online multiplayer, so I think it could be a fun one to play on game night or if you need to channel your aggressions in a very niche and focused manner. I don’t expect a riveting narrative with this one, but I think the subject matter alone will be enough to keep me focused and or frustrated for plenty of short-burst sessions.

Matt S’ pick (editor, DigitallyDownloaded): I remember really enjoying Dungeon Travelers: To Heart 2 in Another World on PlayStation Vita. Now it’s on PC (which means that it’s on my ROG Ally), I’m looking forward to playing it again. We just don’t get enough of those silly anime fan service games anymore (outside of the shovelware asset flips, of course), and Travelers is one of the all-time greats in that particular genre. It should be fun!

Meanwhile, I am looking forward to dusting off the old Tomb Raider games. Not that I ever thought they were brilliant, but they are historically relevant to the video game industry and its development, and that’s often the reason I play retro games. Plus, it’ll sit nicely against the Metal Gear Collection (and yes, I do know that this one will be a better collection).