New Releases: March 21st-27th, 2024

This week, Rise of the Ronin lets players loose in a Bakumatsu period recreation of Edo, Kyoto, and Yokohama, while Dragon’s Dogma 2 purportedly offers a game map that’s four times larger than its predecessor. If both of those are a bit too intense, then Princess Peach: Showtime! delivers some eased adventuring that should keep blood pressures from peaking.

PlayStation 4
Bulwark: Falconeer Chronicles (digital, $19.99)
Contraptions Collection (physical & digital, $19.99)
Grandia HD Collection (digital, $34.99)
Ikonei Island: An Earthlock Adventure (digital, $24.99)
Krimson (digital, $9.99)
Sunny Café (digital, $14.99)
The Legend of Legacy HD Remastered (digital, $49.99)

PlayStation 5
Dragon’s Dogma 2 (physical & digital, $69.99)
Front Mission 1st Remake (physical, 39.99)
Rise of the Ronin (physical & digital, $69.99)
South Park: Snow Day! (physical & digital, $29.99)

Switch
Aha! Let’s Photo Hunt! (digital, $2.99)
Air Traffic Sim: Airport Dispatcher Simulator (digital, $4.99)
Animal Buddies – Party Beasts (digital, $13.99)
April’s Diary (digital, $14.99)
Attack of the Karens (digital, $4.99)
Bad Chicken (digital, $19.99)
Crypt Stalker (digital, $6.99)
Demon Drop DX (digital, $2.99)
Farming Simulator Kids (digital, $29.99)
Flower Shop: Winter In Fairbrook (digital, $9.99)
Hebereke Enjoy Edition (digital, $8.99)
Hentai Girls Panic (digital, $4.19)
Krimson (digital, $9.99)
Mortal Fight: Lethal Revenge (digital, $9.99)
Multi Maze 3D (digital, $4.99)
Not Tonight & Not Tonight 2 (digital, $14.16)
Not Tonight 2 (digital, $14.99)
Paper Dash – City Hustle (digital, $9.99)
Portal Shot Gun Teleport (digital, $11.99)
Princess Peach: Showtime! (physical & digital, $59.99)
Pull the Pin: Ball Physic Puzzle (digital, $4.99)
Reaper Survivors (digital, $4.99)
Scott Whiskers: the Search for Mr. Fumbleclaw (digital, $14.99)
Sector 98 (digital, $0.99)
Shockman Collection Vol. 1 (digital, $10.99)
South Park: Snow Day! (digital, $29.99)
Special Forces Strike: Tactical Swat Shooter (digital, $4.99)
Stunt Paradise (digital, $6.79)
Sunny Café (digital, $14.99)
Sushi Battle Rambunctiously (digital, $17.99)
Sushi Shot Online (digital, $1.80)
Terra Memoria (digital, $19.99)
The Legend of Legacy HD Remastered (digital, $49.99)
Virtual Girlfriend Dating Simulator (digital, $9.99)
Western Frontier (digital, $2.00)

Xbox One
Bulwark: Falconeer Chronicles (digital, $19.99)
Front Mission 1st Remake (physical, 39.99)
Grandia HD Collection (digital, $34.99)
Ikonei Island: An Earthlock Adventure (digital, $24.99)
Krimson (digital, $9.99)
Stunt Paradise (digital, $6.79)
Sunny Café (digital, $14.99)

PC
4D Golf ($TBA)
Age of Water: The First Voyage (free)
Amedama ($TBA)
Artifact Seeker ($TBA)
Bears in Space ($TBA)
Bulwark: Falconeer Chronicles ($19.99)
Chill Town ($TBA)
Distant Bloom ($TBA)
Dragon’s Dogma 2 ($69.99)
Go Fight Fantastic ($TBA)
Horizon Forbidden West Complete Edition ($59.99)
Kādomon: Hyper Auto Battlers ($TBA)
Midnight Ghost Hunt ($6.79)
Necrosmith 2 ($TBA)
Reverse Collapse: Code Name Bakery ($TBA)
Terra Memoria ($19.99)
The Legend of Legacy HD Remastered ($49.99)
Thunder Helix ($17.99)

Rob’s pick: For some odd reason, I’ve never clicked with massively multiplayer games. Sure, I appreciate the idea of playing a dedicated role on a squad, with success hinging on a commitment to the team rather than my individual goals. But rarely does it play out that way (unless I’m playing The Division 2 with persistently thoughtful Ryan; but those opportunities are tragically fleeting). So, I really liked the original Dragon’s Dogma, which provided the impression of cooperation, albeit with CPU-controlled pawns.

This week, Capcom let you and your companions revisit its medieval-themed open-world. Notably, the sequel allows Hideaki Itsuno to pursue some of the ambitions that weren’t possible for the original game- and it’s always fascinating when a game director gets that opportunity. I’ve also been playing The Legend of Legacy HD Remastered. It’s not revolutionary, but sometimes an RPG that delivers the fundamentals doesn’t have to be. The lure of an exploratory dungeon crawl along with turn-based encounters is engaging – especially when rendered in an eye-pleasing painterly style. Lastly, if you’re old enough to remember the Dynamix sims, Thunder Helix is a gratifying throwback to those early air combat titles.

Ryan’s pick: They say that variety is the spice of life, and this week Dragon’s Dogma 2 looks as if it will be able to deliver that. The Warfarer class in the game has me particularly interested because they have the ability to utilize all the weapons and various skills from different vocations. Even with Elden Ring I found myself sticking to a singular build throughout the whole game, so I like the ability to mix and match things in a class to play the game how you want. The pawns are equally a fun experience, as I often enjoy giving my NPC friends feedback on their performance, which is usually me just being overly critical when I make a mistake and blame it on them.

I’ve been on a bit of FPS kick as of late, which started with my brother getting me to join him for swashbuckling shenanigans on the high seas in Sea of Thieves. Releasing on Steam this week is Bears in Space which pits two seemingly unrelated subjects together in a bullet-hell style FPS game. The game certainly appears to throw a lot at you in the form of enemies and massive round bullets, but for me the faster things are, the more fun they tend to be in a FPS. I also like the ability to purchase loot crates to unlock things in the game, so I think this could be worth a look if you enjoy fast FPS games. As a final quick note, the Grandia HD Collection is releasing on PSN, so if you haven’t ever played the games from this series, they are certainly worth investigating.

Matt S’ pick (editor, DigitallyDownloaded): I enjoyed Princess Peach: Showtime! so much more than I thought I would. Unsurprisingly, it’s not the most difficult game out there, but Nintendo’s charm is present in spades, the magical girl-like costume system is a delight to mess around with, and I love the way all the levels are designed to mimic theatre. It’s a classy, whimsical, charming game and possibly the best step forward for Peach as a character independent of Mario yet.
Otherwise, I really must recommend Dragon’s Dogma 2. This is a big, ambitious, beautiful mess of a game. It barely manages to hold on to its creative dynamism at times, and while it is a stark contrast to the magnificent, immaculate Final Fantasy VII Rebirth a few weeks ago, the untamed creativity that went into this game is a rare thing to see these days. At a time when the blockbuster space is risk-averse to the point where developers seem to be terrified of putting ideas into their games, Dragon’s Dogma 2 is bursting with them.