New Releases: March 2nd-8th, 2023

This week, Richter Belmont crosses over into Dead Cells: Return to Castlevania, Little Witch Nobeta brings adorable broom riding to PlayStation and Switch, while Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty further demonstrates Team Ninja’s Soulslike prowess.

PlayStation 4
Dead by Daylight: Tools of Torment (DLC, $11.99)
Dead Cells: Return to Castlevania (DLC, $9.99)
Demon Gaze EXTRA Day One Edition (physical, $59.99)
KartRider: Drift (digital, free-to-play)
Little Witch Nobeta (digital, $44.99)
Mayhem in Single Valley (digital, $TBA)
No Longer Home (digital, $14.99)
PowerWash Simulator: Midgar Special Pack (digital, free)
Pretty Girls Breakers! PLUS (digital, $6.99)
Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty (physical & digital, $59.99)

PlayStation 5
Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty (physical & digital, $59.99)

Switch
Aery – Calm Mind 3 (digital, $9.99)
Bonfire Peaks Lost Memories (DLC, $14.99)
Chess Pills (digital, $2.99)
Dead Cells: Medley of Pain Bundle (digital, $31.99)
Dead Cells: Return to Castlevania (DLC, $9.99)
Dead Cells: Return to Castlevania Bundle (digital, $22.99)
Demon Gaze EXTRA Day One Edition (physical, $59.99)
Disaster Detective Saiga: An Indescribable Mystery (digital, $24.99)
Dream Park Story (digital, $12.60)
Gunman Tales (digital, $6.99)
Hike Valley (digital, $4.99)
Little Witch Nobeta (physical $49.99, digital, $44.99)
Little Witch Nobeta: Bunny and Bear Kigu Skin Bundle (DLC, $3.99)
Live Factory (digital, $10.49)
Meg’s Monster (digital, $13.49)
Notes + Stickers (digital, $12.99)
PowerWash Simulator: Midgar Special Pack (digital, free)
Pretty Girls Breakers! PLUS (digital, $6.99)
Pronty (digital, $13.49)
Puss in Boots: Interactive Book (digital, $4.99)
Railway Islands – Puzzle (digital, $3.99)
Rider Among Dead – Mad Zombie Killer Machine Survival (digital, $4.99)
Rô (digital, $0.50)
Ruku’s Heart Balloon (digital, $8.79)
Scrap Games (digital, $4.49)
The Atla Archives (digital, $11.24)
The Smile Alchemist (digital, $17.99)
Urban Flow Platinum Edition (digital, $17.99)
Vanaris Tactics (digital, $9.99)
Void Scrappers (digital, $3.99)

Xbox One
Dead by Daylight: Tools of Torment (DLC, $TBA)
Dead Cells: Return to Castlevania (DLC, $9.99)
Iris and the Giant (digital, $13.49)
Jurassic Pinball (digital, $2.99)
KartRider: Drift (digital, free-to-play)
Mayhem in Single Valley (digital, $TBA)
Meg’s Monster (digital, $13.49)
PowerWash Simulator: Midgar Special Pack (digital, free)
The Smile Alchemist (digital, $17.99)
Vanaris Tactics (digital, $9.99)
Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty (physical & digital, $59.99)

PC
Apex Point ($TBA)
Contraband Police ($TBA)
Garten of Banban 2 ($TBA)
Hotel Renovator ($19.99)
King of the Castle ($4.99)
Meg’s Monster (digital, $13.49)
One Military Camp ($22.49)
ONI: Road to be the Mightiest Oni ($TBA)
Outlanders ($TBA)
Patch Quest ($11,24)
The Outer Worlds: Spacer’s Choice Edition ($TBA)
Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty ($59.99)

Rob’s pick: I wish I could appreciate Soulslike games as much as most friends. Although I appreciate a healthy challenge, those demanding boss battles can test my patience. But Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty is helping to covert me. At least part of the stimulus is rooted in how the game rewards exploration and mitigates the frustration of defeat. Instead of customary RPG-like levels for your character and enemies, your Morale Rank increases as you tackle tougher foes. It can also drop when you’re killed but it never falls below a Fortitude Rank. The result is a push toward exploration and away from conventional grinding. Factor in stamina gauge-free guarding culled from Ninja Gaiden, and it seems like Team Ninja has a hit of their hands, especially if you appreciate technical play. I think Ryan and possible Matt S. are going to love it, if Japanese voice acting is chosen. Maybe I will, too.

Meanwhile, Meg’s Monster shows J-developer Odencat tackling the Pixar formula. The characters here are a helpless girl who has fallen into the underworld and the eponymous Monster who must prevent her from crying, or else Armageddon will kick off. And while there’s turn-based combat, the game is just as much a poignant visual novel as a traditional role-playing game.

Matt S’ pick (editor, DigitallyDownloaded): Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty, or “Chinese Nioh” as I like to call it, is an exceptional game. It takes a setting that I have always been fascinated with (Three Kingdoms China) and applies a Soulslike action system to it. And does it ever bring the spectacle. This game is fast, as though Koei Tecmo was as inspired by Sekiro as anything else. The storytelling style and events of Three Kingdoms China also lend themselves nicely to the soulslike, and the game is gorgeous to look at. Koei Tecmo has firmly established itself as second only to FromSoftware in this genre, and Wo Long solidifies that reputation further.

I’m also vaguely interested in Vanaris Tactics. I’m not expecting anything world-shattering, of course, but I do like my FFTA-style tactics JRPGs, and this one looks like a very earnest and genuine effort at doing one of those. Also, the game’s own description on Steam says that it’s “short,” and I like games that are bravely willing to be as long as they need to be, rather than padded out for the sake of content. Support short games!

Ryan’s pick: There were a lot of things I really liked about Nioh 2 as I immediately transitioned to that game once I finished Demon’s Souls. Team Ninja really did a great job to make the game feel unique in its own right, but still retained the leg-slapping difficulty moments and forced you to play cautiously. Then there was the Ki Pulse mechanic. But I guess I got over it, and eventually got good and even enjoyed some of the DLC after finishing the game. I was actually just thinking about Nioh 2 recently and how great the character creation system was. My Elden Ring character looked like my Nioh 2 character’s stunt double with a hangover, so I am 100% ready to try Wo Long: Final Dynasty with the hopes that I can rekindle my main character moe by scrutinizing over nose position and how far apart her eyes will be. What I’m expecting gameplay-wise is something kind of like Elden Ring but with a Nioh feeling to it. I’m curious to see how the offense/defense mechanic will work, as it sounds a bit more like Sekiro in that regard. Just don’t fight the first gigantic boss you find.

I’ve lost count of the times I’ve mentioned Dead Cells in my weekly picks, but I’m here once again to suggest this game if you enjoy roguelikes. I found the game to be the most addictive out of the other roguelikes, and in general seems to always find a way to keep each run fast and fun. Dead Cells: Return to Castlevania is on my must-play list as I really have enjoyed all of the DLC for this series and am pretty excited to see what this collaboration has to offer. There’s a lower layer of quirkiness that exudes from this game, and I think that’s one of my favorite things to experience with each DLC and release of its new weapons.